Let me do a little history here…
Oyo state is the state that used to boast of having the first radio station in Nigeria, after which some state-owned stations were added; (Radio OYO) comprising Radio 1 founded in 1976 & Radio 2, the first FM station in Nigeria, situated on top of the Mapo hill.
Yes, truly, Oyo State is a pace-setter state!
Fast forward to this very moment, there are more than 40 active radio stations in Ibadan!
Yes, you read right! They pop out like how a fertile brown layer hen lays its eggs! Probably it’s because Ibadan is the city of the brown roofs.
Anyways, it’s a win for the state; the more, the merrier.
But the influx of this ‘asoro gbesi’ has led to a cacophony.
Yes, some of them spend a lot on their studio setup, yet they sound like a rediffusion box brought in by Baba Obafemi Awolowo in 1955.
I kid you not; immediately they switch from playing music to their live mics, the difference is what you get when you suddenly crush a stone while eating a delicious meal of beans.
For some of them, their presenters talk on and on, no time checks; you can measure the ego of a presenter by counting the number of times they mention their own name compared to the name of the station; some don’t even do!
So you could be listening to a presenter from one of the 40+ radio stations for ten minutes and not know which of them you are listening to!
You actually get the feeling of a man with multiple wives who tells one of the kids in his compound with a gentle voice, ‘Won’t you start going to your house; your parents must have been looking for you oo,’ and the kid with a bewildered look says, ‘I live here now; you are my father.’
Which is which?
I only hope these newbies won’t be serving good food in a dirty plate oo. What’s the essence of a good setup with bad audio and presenters with the level of an Alaga Iduro Alagboole standard?
What do I know; I don’t own a station ke; I’m just an avid listener and silent observer with skills to make a radio sound like real frequency modulation (FM) and not like the one colonial masters started in 1955.