Weytin bi dis?
At age 19, I could have fathered a child at the time and by now, I may even have had a grandchild or two. Exactly 30 years ago was what it was! While living at Kisseman here in Accra and playing with the dial, we chanced upon a ‘red light’ on my brother’s sound system ‘SONY’, the inscription under the ‘unprecedented’ red light was ‘stereo’! The sound was smooth and very clear! They say it is called JOY FM, a new radio station!
Why J.O.Y?
A presenter explained the name JOY to mean ‘J’ for Jesus. ‘O’ for Others, and ‘Y’ for Yourself (‘JOY’ FM), and I think this solid foundation has been upheld and to date. Needless to say: ‘Until you hear it on JOY FM, then it may not be credible’, i.e if it is about a news item or a new or vintage music.
Good Morning Accra, or?
Prior to the emergence of JOY FM in May 1995, we were ‘monopoli-tically’ hooked on to only the then Radio GAR. One could not miss Charlie Sam’s Good Morning Accra as GBC journeyed on their locational transmissions from various areas in the Capital and Charlie Sam of blessed memory set the agenda for the City and he had a massive following. Charlie Sam was a tough BBC-standard interviewer and from matters of sanitation to matters of discipline in the Capital, I always listened to him while home selling akpeteshie in our drinking bar, ‘Shegelege Spot’ just a few months after I had completed Motown on December 20, 1994 awaiting results.
What changed?
Everything was so smooth and I was like how? Abraham Zogbenu, my senior brother whose love for good sounds knew no bounds was perpetually glued to this channel as we powered the radio system with a car battery in the absence of electricity in Kisseman then.
Why listeners converged at Shegelege Spot?
Shegelege spot was one of the two leading drinking spots in Kisseman. The other one was older called Alfred Store. Shegelege became the leader in booze points noted for one thing – good and available music so it attracted the youth not for drinking but for music and academic cum related important socio-economic discussions – students on vacation were always around!
People from all walks of life from Legon campus and surrounding suburbs Anunmle, Christian Village, Ghana Airways flats came around the blue kiosk located in front of ‘2 by 4 house’ just come and either booze and or enjoy good radio. My siblings loved good music and we invested heavily in sound systems though we were poor and I was mainly the DJ.
The Sony Coincidence and Stereo effect
My Brother would buy Toshiba today and change it to Tobico tomorrow and the one purchase that coincided with the emergence of JOY FM was the proper Sony. Buoy! That sound system was an attraction to many boozers and non-boozing students. Not too big but the sizeable speakers attached churned out sweet sounds – of course courtesy the red spot light – it’s stereo! Wow!
UTAG strike and the fame of JOY FM?
At the time, all the universities were on a long break due to the UTAG strike that lasted 9 months so students already at the university and those of us waiting to enter had our convergence point in in the drinking bar and other places in town to entertain ourselves and also waiting to know when the universities would reopen so that we too can enter vars!
Many young and old folks became my friends because we loved music, but my brother didn’t have a problem with their presence as he believed we had one thing in common – Education, in spite of our conspicuously different levels.
Radio Univers lurking in the shadows?
We mostly engaged in conversations around good music on JOY FM blurring from the sound system. Just prior to that time, there was Radio Univers transmitting from Legon campus.
Then all of a sudden, the dial started settling on 99.7 FM transmitting on STEREO not MONO. ‘Mono’ didn’t have a red light prior to JOY FM’s appearance on the airwaves.
Uncle Tommy Annan Forson’s humorously smooth voice saying ‘H3l33’, a corrupted version of ‘Hello’ to callers, was a delight to listen to. Suddenly, all attention was on JOY FM—the new ‘virus’ in the air—more viral than the virus that shook the world five years ago!
Yooryoryorrrr yoryor…. Azigiza on JOY…
One couldn’t miss it. Greetings o, Osofo wherever you may be, Sir.
Tommy started the Morning Show in an apparent new style and that started taking attention off Good Morning Accra, somehow.
Ei! I see….some of the jingles are still fresh to listen to, especially the cool soothing one that goes like: ‘We bring you jooyyyyyyyyy….on the raaaadio…….99.7 FM’ or something like that. Kofi Kum Bilson was in the seat hosting the Lunch Time Rhythms playing cool music. Tommy had a late-night programme called Midnight Express and that kept a lot of us awake. It was a must listen to as it competed with Fatimah Quaynor’s late Sunday night love-searchers’ programme ‘This is from me to you’ on Radio GAR’.
Dusty Wayne of blessed memory had a voice with some foreign accent, Kofi Tsakpornu, same, Fred Chidi, Cox Tamakloe, etc were all there some.
The No nonsense-Gabby Adjetey
Gabbiy Adjetey was the first Host of the Drive Time on JOY. He was such ‘no-nonsense’ guy. You couldn’t just phone in to a programme on air with your phone and be talking about Hearts and Kotoko when the subject under discussion was, say ‘What excites you about your Spouse?’; he would just cut you off right now in a subtle manner to signify how inattentive some callers could be! Commendable standards set ab initio!
Tommy Annan Forson
The late Komla Dumor often accompanied Tommy Annan Forson while he commuted from Legon Hall to JOY FM studios at Kokomlemle almost every morning. On Saturdays, Mawuko Zormelo was the King of NewsFile.
For some not-so-surprising reasons, a few years after I had entered the University, many people thought I was Mawuko Zormelo. Just look at my full name again and you would understand where the confusion came from!
When Komla Dumor took over fully
Komla Dumor (KD) took over the hot seat and made it hotter after Uncle Tommy had left to start Choice FM and KD was indeed the ‘Boss Player’ setting an arm-pit-exposure standards difficult for anyone to catch up with! There was this occasion Komla was off air for about a month and guess who sat in for him –KSM! Ala! Bra Panyin struggled…small! Hehehehe!
At the end of the first month, he confessed that God has a reason why every single individual’s thumbprint is different right from creation to date. Whaaat! He handed over peacefully and hurriedly to Komla Dumor when the latter returned from his one-month or so break. Bra Panyin couldn’t can’t because one must have been neck-deep into political and factually scandalous knowledge in the political and economic space and Komla was just the big deal – agbedefu vavan! But I later got to know there was some Tek-boy who was changing everything to make JOY FM churn out almost all the greatest programmes on radio – Sammens!
Komla Dumor to BBC World
Circa 2006, it was announced that Komla Dumor was leaving for the BBC and was to hand over to Kojo Oppong Nkrumahh, a young Cape Vars graduate with wisdom and maturity! Could he fit in? Oh yes, his thumbprints were indeed unique. His exit from the JOY Super Morning Show had a effect on the Joy SMS for a while before Kojo Yankson and Winston Amoah took over. Nonetheless during that period of getting another Kojo or Komla, we had Bernard Nasara Saibu, who for me, was not a bad replacement but the bars appeared to be too high at the time for him to jump over. Nonetheless JOY is JOY – take it or leave it’. My 7-year old Dzifa would say…even now!
Sedem Ofori was the engine oil
Sedem was the first rastaman with no hair at the time we met at KNUST in the same hall – Independence Hall. KON was largely produced by this finest and hardworking Producer, Sedem Ofori (a.k.a. Ras Obibini). Sedem Ofori, behind the scenes, knew his stuff. I recall a day when there was an on-going interview and there was the urgent need to talk to the P.R.O of a certain organization. In less than a minute, Sedem got the guy on air to clarify something. KON was exceptionally eloquent and balanced; ‘he walked in the middle of the road’ throughout his career as a Broadcast Journalist until…!
Other former JOY SMS Hosts
The JOY SMS also had the likes of Adwoa Aidoo, Nii Armah Dagadu, Benard Nasara Saibu who often sat in for KON anytime he was away on a brief break and eventually acted till Kojo Yankson, Ing. Daniel Dadzie, Sister Animwa etc!
The Queen of the Airwave, yes, she still is 30 years on. The humble ‘take-it-easy’ Queen Doreen Andoh knows how to study the general temperament and mood of the Capital City and played the appropriate music with the voice to match.
Israel Laryea’s voice was unmistakeable!
Need I say he became more popular as he doubled as a news anchor on TV3 at the time? He had the voice, attitude and looks that made you look at him again especially after he had often humbly settled an issue with you.
It’s Big
Kwabena Adisi (a.k.a Bola Ray) started off as a reggae presenter on Radio Univers circa 1997. He then moved on to Top Radio at some point and finally found himself at Africa’s BBC – JOY FM and took over the Drive-Time from Gabby Adjetey and as to whether he excelled or not, all I knew was that Bola Ray was BIG not only on JOY but TV3 as well! JOY FM and TV3 were almost like engine oil and gear box oil in terms of human capital.
Lexis Bill….yoo-yoo-yoo!
When in 2014, Bolex announced his exit from JOY FM– I personally screamed ‘Noooo’! Who could do an equally good job taking over from Bolex? But Charlie, Multimedia knows what ‘succession planning’ meant to their corporate objectives.
Then from Hitz FM and a regular sit-in for Bola Ray, surfaced. He is a Katangee and the muscles gave him up – Lexis Bill (Loius Kwame Sakyiamah) is the name. He stepped in the shoes of Bolex more than perfectly! And you and I are witnesses to the fact that Lexis, like his predecessor hasn’t disappointed anybody! Brother is just above the top of his game! SUPER! The only disadvantage of bringing Lexis on board was that his entry made most of us forget Bolex too quickly! That is the power of succession planning with the right talents!
Mr Black
DJ Black, where is that boy who did your jingle for you several years ago: ‘Mr Black, I will call your name 10 times?’ I want to see his beard now and how different it would look like from yours!
Friday nights and Saturday nights were owned by Mr Black – the man who could MC and DJ at the same time and earned a lot of respect and still does. He is still black…in complexion. Mr Black…how many times should I call your name? Hahaha! See you at Lagoon Bar this Friday night inside the Labadi Beach Hotel!
Shakespeare on JOY
The Sports Centre had the likes of Shakespeare Kojo Frimpong, the Grammarian! My first encounter with him was in 1994 when he came to Lower 6 Form in Achimota for some polishing after his O-Levels at Sekondi St John’s. This ‘boy’ liked arguing especially if it had to do with soccer. Alla! With brofo? I suwear! We had Eloyne Amande. Until I met him in Johannesburg a few years ago, I hadn’t heard from him since he became a lawyer. As for Eva Okyeree, Esq, I got the opportunity to meet her in the LLM/MA (Corporate and Commercial Law Class at the University of Ghana School of Law. With sports related discourses, Eva was super! Great great sports analyst Eva was on JOY!
Ridwan Ibrahim Asante and some of my most reliable friends at Multimedia, Nathaniel Attoh (Africa’s Boxing Michael Buffer), Rashida Kadiri aka Baaba Tandoh (where is my good friend now, Ghana’s Serena Williams, I mean? One of the hardest working female Sports presenters is Rashida Kadiri who was to become Baaba Tandoh!
The black white-man
Kwesi Anim Agyei, Joe Enuson (who started off as a Sunday presenter on Kumasi Luv FM on one of the most sought after programmes ‘Easy like Sunday Morning in Kumasi, Rami Baeti (the black white-man). His voice on the Weekend City Show, a magazine programme. If the end of his sentence does not end with ‘to-ono-‘, then the show was not over and he says it unconditionally unconsciously!
I met him at an old Achimota programme almost two decades ago and wondered if he belonged to Achimota or I belonged to Achimota. He was a complete white-man and I was a complete blackman. In jest, I asked which one of us should be rejected as an old Achimotan due to the different complexions. His response was that that both of us should be sacked because we are both ‘to-o-no’. Incomparable humour he possesses!
Can sponsors help us revive other flagship programmes such as the Skuls Reunion, a Night with the Stars, etc? JOY FM’s affiliates in Kumasi. Luv FM had the likes of DJ Apuzo, Okyeame Quophi, the Royal Baby Kofi Kum Bilson (now with Peace FM), Christopher Opoku (Columbus) of blessed memory, Oh buoy! Joe Enuson was such a delight to listen to even now as the General Manager of Skyy Power, Takoradi!!
To my other friends, past and present, Emefa Apawu, Cornelius Teye, Evans Mensah, Dzifa Bampoe (nee Gbeho), Sammy B, Rudy Kwakye, Sena Atoklo, Ken Arday, Akwesi Sarpong, Mamavi Owusu_Aboagye (Agbemabiese), Sammy Forson, Joseph Langabel, Rubbin Adarkwa, Kofi Hayford, Joshua Tigo; you have all helped build a solid foundation that seems unshakeable.
30 years on, if it is not on JOY then….
Is it not interesting to note that I have friends abroad, some of whom I haven’t seen before, and anytime they hear of anything that is happening in Ghana and want to verify, they send me messages. If the feedback I give them turns out to be true, their quickest reaction is ‘but I haven’t seen it on myjoyonline, so how can it be true? ’ I find this a very strong endorsement of international credibility and a source of reliable information! Kudos to Team JOY. Greetings to my big Man, Mr Hen Ansah, Chief Operating Officer of the Multimedia Group. I typed Ken, but if for some reason, you saw ‘Hen’, you need to see an eye specialist because ‘take it or leave it – JOY IS JOY!
Happy 30th Anniversary to JOY FM and its affiliates!
Disclaimer: For any noticeable factual errors or omissions in this piece, I stand to be corrected please!
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