Now living a tranquil life at his ancestral home in Ubakala, an outskirt of Umuahia metropolis, Alaoma Nwaogbe returned home after 35 years working with Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) since 1977. At the time, Radio Nigeria 2 was the only FM radio station in the country. A brilliant broadcaster, Nwaogbe spoke about his early years and the evolution of broadcasting in the country, what the profession has become over the years and what’s lacking that needs being fixed among mushrooming radio station. He spoke to ANOTE AJELUOROU in Ubakala, Umuahia.
What was experience on radio before retirement?
Before we joined radio, we heard the advertisement on radio, too: Those interested in broadcasting career should come for an interview on a particular day. Forms were given out, and we applied, filled them and sent back. Now, after going through the forms, they broadcast our names and asked us to come for an interview. They were looking for Disk Motivators, which was what it was called at the time. We went for the interview, and it lasted for more than one day because they could not interview everybody. Out of all the people who came for the interview, only five of us were taken. But five of us were not taken as Disk Motivators, but as Studio Managers. We started asking them what it was about, and they said they would put us through so we could get used to it before they would put us in the area we desire.
So, we started as Studio Managers, and those five — Alaoma Nwaogbe, late George Curtis Okoli, MacPherson Agofure, Akin John and one other guy whose name I can’t remember. And amongst the five of us, I was the only one who stayed on till retirement age. George Curtis left when he was retrenched and worked for Insight Communications, founded by Biodun Shobanjo, before he also left before he died. I stayed in as Studio Manager, and worked until I became a presenter, up to becoming a network news reader, and that was my last position before I retired. That 35 years was for gathering of experience in all the areas of broadcasting. There was this boss of mine, now late, Mr. Patrick Egbe who called me ‘activity,’ because any area you want to feature in I’m there – if it’s production, studio managing or presentation – mention it. It has been a very huge experience and I thank God for that, because as a broadcaster, you open your eyes and vista to big things, and that makes you understand every bit and part of every other thing that is not your profession, or your calling, and that’s exactly what broadcasting did to me.
From 2012 till now, it’s been 12 years since I retired from Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
So what have you been up to since retirement?
I’ve been consulting, and I still want to consult more. I don’t want to go into routine, every day job. I should be doing something, maybe thrice a week, and the area I find interesting. I can be useful, not only to any station, would be in the area of training. That’s exactly what I want to do. There is this radio station, their station manager called me, and he asked someone to give me his card to call. I took the card and called and told him, ‘I’d been listening to his station and I’d listened to others, and there is this other station that I find lacking and backward, but your station is okay and I don’t need to come to your station to do what I want to do’. He was asking if they weren’t qualified, and I said they were. They are not doing badly, but there’s this station I want to go and prop them up, and I want to see the proprietor of that place. That’s exactly what I want to do, and that’s what I intend to do. It’s just to train their staff, because some of the things I hear on radio, oh no; they are not good.
But why not you rather set up a training school and reach out to all these stations, because this man who called you also has need for your services, or haven’t you thought about it that way?
Yes, they have need for it, because it’s not everything that is good, but this particular one really needs help more than they do. But setting up a training school? I looked at it and said no; it’s better I go there.
Which of the arms of radio did you join in 1977?
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, but not it properly. But it was when this new FM station, the first FM station was arranged. It was NBC 2 when it started, and then FRCN, then Radio Nigeria 2, before they became Metro FM. That was the station I joined under Federal Radio Corporation of (FRCN). At that time, they were at 45 Martins Street, where everything was bubbling; it was the centre of the city of Lagos. We were there until the place got burnt and we had to move to another place, a compound in Ikoyi which now houses the FRCN. That was where we stayed until this moment; they are still there.
And now, we have almost hundreds in each state, and you listen to them because that is your field. What do you hear when you listen to radio now?
Honestly, I think even the practitioners now, and people who want to go into broadcast think that broadcasting is just to open your mouth, get a microphone and say anything. No. Broadcasting is more than that. Broadcasting needs training, retraining and retraining. Training and training and training; that’s what makes broadcasting, because without it, honestly, you will find out that you are not even in the scheme of things. That was why I said I have listened to so many things and there are so many things that the people who are coming into broadcast do not know, and those who are employing them and taking them do not know. I have even tried to listen to radio stations; I don’t want to call any by name. Well, some of the radio stations are really trying, and the state radio station, Broadcasting Corporation of Abia (BCA), they also given training.
I think these FM stations all over the country, the proprietors don’t have the wherewithal to send their staff for training and retraining. When we were in broadcasting, and the time comes for training, be it studio managers, be it presenters, be it producers, be it news writers, journalists, everybody will have a training schedule, normally six weeks training. Its going to be a comprehensive one, and people come from different stations all over the country. Initially, we had people coming from outside Nigeria to Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Training School at Shogunle, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos where we have our training school, and they are housed there. We have people from Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia; they came for training there, but it got to a stage where everyone wants to do their thing their own way, and they now felt this was giving revenue to Nigeria and making them to prosper, and they themselves would be lacking, and they stopped.
For those of us in Nigeria, the radio stations in Nigeria, they have refused to send their staff for training, because there are some little things you hear them say that they shouldn’t say on radio – are fundamental things that they should know as a broadcaster, but they don’t have it. So the problem with us actually is everybody trying to go into broadcasting, whether you have the flare, whether you have the knowledge, it doesn’t matter anymore, as long as that person feels he can do what that person on radio is doing, they will jump in. During our own time, they tell you broadcasters are born, they are not made. You have to have the flare before you go into it.
For example, from (Radio Nigerian 2 – RN2), I recruited for both Radio 1 and Radio 2. There are certain things that you see in those who apply and you know who fits in Radio 1 or 2. Radio Nigeria 2 — now Metro FM is music based, and if you have to be on that station, you have to be free, fluent and easy-going. You don’t have to be rigid. There are so many things you look into before you decide who goes where. The kind of training I want to give to my own people here now, because I have seen their flaws and I have seen what their problem is.
The problem of staff here is ‘provincial affectation’, and it’s really hitting hard, and I noticed that this thing didn’t just start; it started from the primary school they attended, the teachers who taught them, because whatever your teacher did is what you are going to do. If, for example, I want to say, ‘go and lie down on the bed’; for most, it will be, ‘go and lie down on the ‘bade’. That’s what I call ‘provincial affectation’. Every state has theirs, and I have noticed that of ours in Abia. Even at Radio Nigeria, there were certain things you would do or say and we would know that this person is incorrigible. You cannot change that person; you will not employ that person, because if you do the person will not change no matter how you correct that person; it’s there, inbuilt in him or her. There are so many things you put into perspective as you are doing this job.
And you didn’t look into setting up your own radio station. Why is that?
Hmmmm. It’s not a small project, actually, and I’m really not in the position to dabble into what… As you see me, I don’t start what I can’t finish. I look at something and say, ‘yes, this thing could be done’, and I do it. I don’t think anything is impossible; that’s the way I look at things. But when I look at other parameters surrounding that thing I want to do, whether funding or studio logistics and find out it wouldn’t work, I will just give it up. Right now, I’m not looking into the area of setting up a radio station.
The lack of training and retraining that you’ve noticed among these new stations, it would seem as if the drive to setup those stations is just monetary. shouldn’t there be a framework to drive professionalism?
I would not say you are wrong. I have that impression, too. It’s just like the proliferation of churches, too. Why do people go into setting up churches, to go and convince somebody, to tell him that there is Jesus and then there is God? The person knows that already. If he doesn’t know it, he won’t be a Christian. You setting up that church were in a church. Why are you leaving that church to go and set up another one? The incentive is money. It’s all for money; no other thing.
You can say you want to win souls for Christ. Yes, but you can also win souls for Christ by staying where you are and then preach to people. So, setting up radio station is basically about money. ‘Who do you want to help’, according to all these young boys. Who do you want to help by setting up another radio station? You are simply doing business.
Initially, radio stations were meant to be a social service to the people, and that is what it is, and it is the government that should run that thing, because it’s a social service. But at a time, it became difficult for government to do that. That was when money became a determining factor, and that’s when people started setting up their own radio stations. Some people set up their own radio stations to project their own image or themselves. Even though they don’t come out there to tell people so, but you know who owns this or that radio station. Just like this man from Edo State, Raymond Dokpesi who owns RayPower FM. So the things is monetary.
What does the idea of a community radio station mean and what does it entail and who is practising it at the moment from what you see?
I have heard of community radio stations and I have not seen anyone active up till now. They would come up, and after sometime you don’t hear about them. What is driving them away or what is taking them into oblivion? It’s lack of money.
So is it that maybe the catchment area is not viable enough to sustain community radio station?
Yes, yes, they cannot sustain themselves, even when government is running a radio station, pumping money into it, they still find it difficult, because you have to pay salaries, you have to employ people and you continue to employ every time. So, if the money is not there any more to pay these people, many of them will just leave, and that will be the end of that radio station, whether community or whatever you call it. But these community radio stations, when they start, it’s always nice, because you serve the community, but do people of the community, do they have the wherewithal to sustain that station? They don’t. They might even be looking at you as somebody who should be giving them something free. And if you don’t have to give to them, that’s trouble…
So what’s the connection between a vibrant economy and the survival of a radio station?
For example, look at what is happening in Nigeria now. For a radio station to be on, you need to have a generator, a very big one that will keep everything running. You have to buy fuel. How many commercials do you run in a day? How many do you play? How much do you get from commercials? I’m even wondering how some of these radio stations survive in our present economy, because that is the basis of the whole thing.
If the economy is not good, there is no way you can sustain whatever you’re doing running a radio station. You need money to keep running a radio station, unless it’s a place when there are billionaires who just want to run a radio station for people to come to advertise themselves, finish. They keep pumping in money to keep the place running; they don’t care whether they make money or not.
There is no power, and you have to run on diesel. If the national power is there supplying electricity, people will have less problems running their radio stations.
How has life been with you since retirement?
Since retirement, I am living a cool life. If you live in Lagos, it’s full of hustle and bustle. For example, I can stop a vehicle here, and the vehicle will run past me, stop and reverse, but it’s the other way round in Lagos. The bus will be running, and you will be running after it, and you still have to struggle with other people to get in. Is that not enough hustle and stress for the human being? Now at my age as a retired person, I had a car, but I left it with my son in Lagos, and since this petrol issue started, I have been thanking my stars and my God (laughter). Honestly, I’m just happy about leaving my car behind. This thing has turned around to be a blessing to me. To not own a car now is luxury. Initially, I was not happy.
My son is a young lawyer and he needs to move around in Lagos, and he needs a car to do that; so when I was coming, he even made it possible that I didn’t come with the car, because I didn’t need it much here, because we don’t struggle for buses here. We just stay at the bus stop, enter coolly, alight at your bus stop and you walk away unlike Lagos. Since I came back, I’ve been very happy that I left the car in Lagos, because I don’t bother myself; I don’t worry about fuel, battery and all that, and I can get anywhere I want with ease.
