I spent few days in Ibadan to celebrate this joyous season with my family before I moved back to my station in Abeokuta days ago and as a media person and radio lover I listened to some of the newly established radio stations because have been in eager to listen because my city is getting bigger day by day especially in terms of media world and I am very very happy I did.
After I listened to many test transmission and those that have started fully, I can selectically tell those that can pull, push and sell Ibadan market and those that might not really persuade the audience most especially in terms of quality sound, jingles, location, and the way some employed/employing staffs and also OAPs and contents repetition for those that have fully started.
In Ibadan categorically have 4 types of Radio station.
1. The front runners
2. The middle belt
3. The dead and want to rise
4. The coming ones
With the newly/upcoming radio stations, Ibadan is now a very good competitive media environment just like Lagos and this will make each station to step up there games in terms of catchy program contents with sound/young quality OAPs.
The price range of upcoming radio might still be relatively low with low pricing strategy in other to have much customers to entice, pull and push the market.
Now Hijacking of OAPs or Poaching of OAPs from older stations to the newly established ones:
What I see is that even new Radio Station only want to hijack OAPs from other stations to start their own which I think is very wrong idea. Using existing OAPs at old stations especially old OAPs will bring in new audience but will not bring new contents, It will still be same voice and personality.
I am not saying using the well established OAPs is bad to start a new station, but u can just have like 2 to support the younger and well experience ones that u will employ base on merit, experience, program ideas and must atleast be working with a middle belt station or worked before instead of using big big money to entice bigger OAPs from the front runners stations, well u can do that if u have the influence and u know ur station will not pack off in next 2 yrs wen they are not delivering and u cant pay them again.
But what I am saying is, you can groom your own OAPs that will know the core values of your company very well than old ones bringing in their own contents of another station to yours, do u know that they can even multi-task and that will even reduce some monthly costs/budgets.
All OAPs have their fan base , but you can take OAPs from the fans but can’t take fans away from a station. The worst is the fans will start listening to both Radio Station of their loved OAPs and listen also to the radio station they love b4 their beloved OAP left.
Oh yes! You will surely get audience but that will not reduce audience of the other.
Newly established stations should learn from YES FM Ibadan, EAGLE FM Ilese ijebu, both are newly established radio stations not even up to A year but are shaking the media market and are battling with the front runners.
Do you know why? Because they pushed vacancy outside for OAPs, interviewed them through the media gurus and employed the younger oaps based on merit, experience, ideas and they didn’t even forget to added the limited established ones to the team as there staffs and also the bigger bigger freelances are there that will be giving the stations money.
And don’t forget to pay ur staffs well and their welfare should always be important to u, so that ur company too will always be the first on daily basis.
ADEYEMI OJO is my name (mc prince, prince of sports, Mr POS)
Indigenous OAP/sports journalist/News journalist
SMASH 88.1FM Abeokuta.