“Honestly without mincing words, the quality isn’t what it used to be. There
are loads of charlatans on Radio today, and the standards have continued to
deteriorate unabated. Back in the day, Radio was a veritable source for
knowledge and information. But in this current dispensation the industry
reeks of quackery and it is down to a combination of factors” – Ademola Adediji

It’s evident that radio plays a major role in how news, music and music
related conversation is consumed and opinion is shaped all over the
country. But it’s sad that huge chunks of the on-air personality that ought
to running in-depth incisive and balanced commentaries are shallow. Doctors
and engineers know the ethics and rudiments of their profession; they
constantly continue to learn but unlike the broadcasting industry, that’s
where you get the contrary. The optics of the OAP occupation has
overshadowed the content.

Sometimes you hear an OAP interviewing a subject and you feel a sense of
disconnect in the conversation. They find it hard to make constructive
assertions and engage in educating conversations.  But despite the
emptiness in this industry, there still exists some very exceptional
people. One that ticks all the boxes for being outstanding is Ademola
Adediji of Naija Fm in Ibadan. Popularly known as Demosha the-god on radio,
the depth of knowledge he operates from during his daily show ‘Morning
RUNS’ from 6am -11am is on a higher frequency. His newly launched music
sharing blog also vindicates his professionalism. I recently sat with him
to hear his story.

The man Ademola

Describing myself isn’t one of the easiest tasks for me, but let me put it
out there that I’m a maverick. I seem to be happy and lucky, but don’t be
deceived, I am very finicky. I do not know how all of these contrasting
attributes can be morphed into one individual and till date I’m still
curious myself.

I was born in Ajegunle but grew up in Ajangbadi, another suburb of Lagos. I
went to elementary and secondary schools in Lagos before I got a degree in
Botany from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye in Ogun state. Working
in the media had always been in the grand plan but I didn’t realize
it at the time. I grew up a bibliophile. Always wanting to know what is
making the news whether in sports, music, fads, politics and generally
current trends. I read all kinds of books on various subjects and if I
wasn’t reading in my spare time I was either listening to the BBC or
watching shows on
Television.

I learnt on the streets as well. That might explain why I am streetwise
too. Back then it was a ritual for me to stop at Newsstands on my way from
school to watch and listen to older people talk and argue about burning
issues. My reading habit was so bad that I pick up Newspaper clippings on
the road to read. There was this fateful day my mum saw me do it and I got
the
spanking of my life. As for the reason I got spanked: She said only
mentally derailed persons picks up paper on the road. These were the
formative days preparing me for life in the broadcast
industry.

Getting into mainstream media

After getting a degree and going through the rigours of the National Youth
Service Corp (NYSC) scheme, I took up employment as a teacher in a local
school where I met a friend who was doing freelance writing at the time.
After having interacted with me over a period of time, he told me to try my
hands in writing. I heeded his advice, wrote an article and the Sports
Editor of Daily Champion Newspaper liked my style and that was how I
started writing for
the publication. Eventually, I started writing for other dailies and
magazines such as The politico magazine.

After years of writing, I had the opportunity of doing a short stint at
Star FM, Lagos on a pidgin sports show – I sabi am. I also had another
spell at Unilag FM talking sports. But my break came when I joined
Sportvision, which is the foremost sports content provider in Nigeria. I
had the rare privilege of improving my skills with ace broadcasters such as
Deji Omotoyinbo, Akinbode Oguntuyi and the late Deji Tinubu. I was with
them for just over two years before I joined Naija FM Ibadan from inception
in 2015.

On the quality of content and presentation on Radio

Honestly without mincing words, the quality isn’t what it used to be. There
are loads of charlatans on Radio today, and the standards have continued to
deteriorate unabated. Back in the day, Radio was a veritable source for
knowledge and information. But in this current dispensation the industry
reeks of quackery and it is down to a combination of factors. First and
foremost, it starts with the proliferation of private broadcast outfits,
with media execs that are not willing to pay for quality or train and
retrain broadcasters while only looking to maximize profit.

Conversely most broadcasters and even the ones who are looking to make a
career out of broadcasting do not have quality to offer, they only want to
be celebrities overnight.  These days there is an unprecedented level of
blatant disregard for broadcasting standards or ethics. Worst still, most
guys on Radios do not read or do thorough research on the subject they talk
about. That’s the reason you find bigots, extremely opinionated, shallow
people on Radio. Content is king. But unfortunately that does not seem to
be the case for the Radio industry in Nigeria.

When the broadcast industry was deregulated, with government media outfits
struggling at the time to employ the use of new innovations and technology,
some of us thought the policy would be the game changer, alas we were
wrong. You’d be shocked to know that the government outfits are the ones
now adhering to standards.

And sadly this whole situation holds a grim future for Radio, with digital
media growing in leaps and bounds in the last few years. Satellite Radios
springing up in the west, it is only a matter of time before they make
their way here and that might just be the beginning of the end for
Terrestrial Radio.

* The Inspiration behind 234tunes*

In my line of work, you come into contact with artistes, managers, record
label execs and the likes. And at different times, some of these people
have complained about the dearth of knowledge of Nigerian music amongst
broadcasters. But somehow, after few minutes spent talking to them, the
feedback I get more often than not is ‘You know your stuff. Why don’t you
just start a show or something?’

So I gave it some serious consideration and then 234tunes was conceived to
document my knowledge of the music industry while also providing an avenue
for music lovers to get songs of their favourite
artistes and news about them on the go.

Second, I’m on a personal quest to promote music journalism. Music is a
very big industry around the world and it could be a major foreign exchange
for the economy, if we have the right people that are people with in depth
knowledge of music in its entirety working in the industry.

In the next one-year we want to be a reference for music blogging and
journalism and possibly go on to be one of the biggest music sharing and
distribution platforms in Africa.

– Sesan Adeniji