Though Ray Power FM recently rolled out the drums to celebrate its 25 years anniversary, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME, examines the high and low points of a sector, which has become the flagship for privatisation enthusiasts
Has Nigeria gained anything from liberalisation of the media space? Foremost Mass Communication teacher Prof Ralph Akinfeleye says yes and no. For him, while the pluralism of the media ownership has boosted the nation’s profile, it is, however, still a long walk in the dark as far as content is concerned.
Akinfeleye should know. He is not only a teacher from the nation’s foremost and second generation university, University of Lagos, he is also chairman of the school’s Television (Multimedia and Cinematography) and radio station: UNILAG Radio 103.1FM. He noted that though Nigerian broadcast industry has witnessed steady growth in private ownership in the last 25 years, there is still a huge gap in content.
“Yes, we have ownership pluralism in … radio but regrettably, we don’t have content pluralism. There are more people owning radio stations but such is at the expense of content. He blamed the regulator – National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for the shoddy outcome. It appears the NBC over regulates and trades the nation’s air space instead of regulating it. They should understand that the airwave is not for sale,” he said.
Akinfeleye, a member of the Council of the World Journalism Congress (CWJC), who spoke on Ray Power FM’s 25th anniversary on the radio’s Fact File, stressed that content is key to any meaningful and sustainable radio operations.
Akinfeleye scored Ray Power FM high as pioneer private radio station in the country, but urged the organisation to work harder to sustain its leadership position.
“The station had won the NMMA awards one or two times as ‘Radio Station of the Year’. They need to work harder to sustain it because now there is a lot of competition and everyone is working hard to get there. Ray Power FM should invest more on programmes, most especially sports.
He urged owners of broadcast stations to invest more in the sector, train and retrain their staff to cope with the challenging terrain in broadcasting worldwide. They also need to improve more on their reach, capture more audience and update their equipment.
“Ray Power FM started well, but there is need for a reorientation, so that the radio station can continue to fend off competition and retain its No. 1 position,” he said, challenging the owners to go back to the drawing board.
In his assessment of Radio as a Catalyst for Development: The Ray Power Example, NBC’s Director of Monitoring Prof Armstrong Idachaba said NBC is proud of Ray Power, which it nurtured without any regulatory compass.
He said since the 1990s, NBC has tried to develop appropriate regulatory structures that ensured a level-playing field in radio broadcasting.
“As a regulator, we are proud that the Ray Power we midwifed and nurtured in the early 1990s have grown … From that one experiment, Nigeria now has over 700 broadcasting stations…these could not have been possible without a creative and development-minded regulator. As regulator, we have enabled a sustainable broadcasting industry in Nigeria. We would not have been able to do that without a level-playing field for operators.
Group Managing Director of DAAR Communications Tony Akiotu said radio is a very potent vehicle for mass mobilisation. He argued that the advent of community radio stations has increased access to people in different parts of the country, adding that Ray Power FM played a key role in providing a platform for the voiceless by taking radio to the streets.
Akiotu believed private radio stations have justified the deregulation. He recalled that many people never believed that private radio stations could thrive.
“In the early 1990s, we were used to working for government stations. In those days, it was easier for the military coup to happen when a radio station is seized by Army boys. But people later realised that with the proliferation of radio stations, it would be a Herculean task for any coup d’état plot to succeed,” he added.
In terms of employment opportunities, Akiotu said there are thousands of graduates of Mass Communication who could not find employment. “But that vacuum has been filled. Some of us, who have risen to the pinnacle of our career, would probably not have gotten such opportunities. In more ways than one, it provided the much-desired tonic and vehicle for development,” he said.
Managing Director of Radio Services at DAAR Communications Mr. Ambrose Olutayo Somide described the 25-year journey of Ray Power FM in broadcasting as tough. He said the station has navigated through very turbulent times and conquered the fiercest battles to remain in business.
He stated that as pioneers in an uncharted territory, it was tough in the early days for people to accept the station. He said independent stations survived by taking on subjects and issues that government owned stations never dared.
“One major challenge is the cost of operation. For half the 25 years if not more, we have been running on electricity generating sets. There is also the issue of shrinking advertising revenue, among others which have become part of the burden of the station till date,” he said.
Reacting to questions on whether or not the expectations of the stations had been met at 25, Somide responded, saying: “I should confidently say yes. It has been met. The station was meant to be the voice of the voiceless, to be the platform for alternative views, a platform that would drive the process of change, a platform that would provide quality entertainment and good music and so much more. It has done all of that and more. We have not only become a major voice in Nigeria’s march to democracy, we are a go-to station for news and information.”
On how the station has met the demands of its audience in these changing times, Somide said such demands required them to invest in technology and capacity building. He identified these as major areas the station has focused on that enabled it to remain market leaders in the changing radio ecosystem of the last two decades, adding that the more ‘we grow, the more we understand the business.’
“The audience demands a lot especially with the over saturation of the market and multiplicity of channels but the investment in audience research makes responding to such demands easy to deal with,”
Ray Power FM has proved in its 25 years the importance of radio in shaping the lives of people. Despite frequent power outages hindering the free-flow of information, it has played a major role in providing knowledge and entertainment and building bridges across the country.
Though the operational licence was given in 1993 following the deregulation in 1992, it started operation in 1994, as the first private radio station in Nigeria. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Decree No. 38 of 1992 repealed the provision, which conferred exclusive monopoly of ownership of electronic media on the state. With this, private and independent ownership of electronic media became legalised bringing to an end 60 years of government’s monopoly of broadcasting.
Ray Power FM blazed 24 hours broadcasting and popularise outside broadcasting, bringing radio to the doorsteps of the people and dishing out entertainment to the delight of yearning listeners. News and information began to be treated in such a way that earn the confidence of the people. Ray Power’s signal was actually launched on December 15, 1993, while commercial broadcasting commenced on September 1, 1994.
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