ON AKINYEFA AND ILAJI FM…
I have read series of opinions on the ongoing drama between the new Ilaji FM and Ajibola Akinyefa, who resigned his appointment as General Manager of the Station recently.
The drama presents an opportunity for all of us Radio Industry leaders and practitioners to reflect on a couple of issues within our Industry.
I am penning this opinion as my contribution to the conversation and I hope to spur critical questions that should help us refine the industry.
My contributions to the conversation will be carefully outlined below:
1.
Most Radio Industry Leaders/Employers/Professionals need serious lessons in Human Resources Management.
Everyday, we see relationships between media employers and employees going awry because from inception, both parties did not align their expectations correctly.
Daily, we hear stories of OAPs receiving strange, and inhuman conditions of work from broadcast employers. In many of the cases, you discover that both parties lack basic human management, and corporate leadership skills.
If the Industry will continue to excel, especially in the light of the ongoing boom in the population of radio stations, all concerned must take lessons in human management and corporate leadership.
We cannot continue to run radio stations like we would run neighbourhood shops. There must be structures in place to protect both the employer and the employee.
2.
Further on human resources management…
I have wondered to no ends, what the conditions of employment may have been between Akinyefa and Ilaji, that allowed the relationship break down so quickly, returning him to the labour market, and Ilaji to the recruitment table.
The way their relationship ended does not do any of the parties any good. Were there no solid agreements that would protect both parties?
That brings me to a few things that have become pretty common in the radio industry.
For the allure of titles, and mouthed (but not documented) privileges, many OAPs have taken roles that ended up becoming nightmares.
For the purpose of making the headlines and disrupting the industry, many employers have ‘poached’ toxic people and landed on regrets.
For just the pleasure of announcing to the world that they have opened a new radio project, moneybags with radio licenses, have partnered with mediocre practitioners to open radio projects that soon hit the rock.
Whereas a radio station should be a typical corporate environment with clear corporate vision and strategic approaches, owing to the deeply professional nature of the job, radio is instead quickly becoming an ordinary marketplace where no corporate rules apply.
This is why you find OAPs who have spent so many years in the industry, yet have no single understanding of corporate culture.
Should we not sanitize now, and make sense of what we have left?
3.
Why do we like so much drama in the radio industry?
In so many other corporate establishments, people move around freely, without the drama that accompanies movement in our Media industry.
Should Employers make a mess out of severed relationships all the time? Should Employees drag former employers through the mud at every opportunity?
What is wrong with us? Can’t we sever relationships in peace, and move on like nothing has happened? Can’t old allies collaborate for success within our Industry?
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I should stop here.
However, the Akinyefa/Ilaji FM drama should make us introspect, instead of laugh on, while the industry that feeds us transforms into a dry joke.
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AT
2025-03-07