It Is Called Tiwa-n-Tiwa 106.6FM Radio
Music star, Yinka Ayefele has just set up a brand new FM Station in Ibadan, called Tiwa-n-tiwa 106.5FM Radio. And this is authoritative. This brings the total number of radio stations he owns to 8, namely: (1) Fresh 105.9fm (Ibadan) (2) Fresh 107.9fm (Abeokuta) (3) Fresh 106.9fm (Ado Ekiti), (4) Fresh 104.9fm (Osogbo) (5) Fresh 105.3fm (Lagos) (5) Fresh 102.9fm (Akure) (7) Blast 98.3fm (Ibadan and (8) Tiwa-n-Tiwa 106.6fm Radio (Ibadan).
Why is he in love with Radio, we asked him not too long ago? And he revealed how his love for Radio started on his bed. Many often forget that he is a veteran broadcaster. Music star, Yinka Ayefele is not only a popular musician who has been singing for decades, he has also made his mark in broadcasting. Call him a veteran broadcaster and you won’t be wrong. From being a Presenter he has grown to become a Radio owner with about 7 stations. He is the owner of all the Fresh FM stations across the South-West, in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ekiti and Ondo, Osogbo.
What many don’t know is that Ayefele loves Radio.
Only very few know that he started with Radio before he went on to playing music.
The take off of Fresh FM Lagos came about 2 years ago. How did he feel at that time? “I felt fulfilled because we have about 8 stations in about 5 cities in the South-West part of Nigeria. Coming to Lagos is like a home coming.
He now operates a Media house. He sees coming to Lagos as a great achievement for him as a person and for the entire members of staff of FRESH FM, Nigeria. We are trying to operate in a network station, but at the moment we are operating independently. Ibadan is operating independently.”
“Osogbo is on it’s own. Ibadan is on its own. Abeokuta is on its own. Akure is on its own. Ekiti is on its own. At the moment we are operating independently but hopefully we intend to apply for a network licence.”
“We are working on that. But I will prefer for all stations to stand on their own. That is what I will rather prefer instead of recycling the same content in about 8 stations. I will prefer for every station to be independent. Different contents on different stations.
What is the central content? Entertainment,” he says” I want us to majorly focus on Entertainment and the political aspect of it. We have to get it right. And presenting news like never before. News as it breaks. That is why we call it Fresh: Fresh News. News as it breaks. We want to be the first as far as news is concerned.”
Fresh FM Ibadan took off about 8 years ago. He actually started with internet radio. That is why he has the highest listeners abroad today as far as internet radio is concerned. “We have the highest listeners of international audience, as far as radio is concerned in Nigeria. You can confirm that from Nigerians in diaspora.”
“Taking off 7 years ago has not been easy. It was not easy. I have gained a lot of experience about this job. When I took off with Ibadan station, it was a little bit hectic. But when I took off in Ado Ekiti and Abeokuta it was easier, then later came other stations and I started getting it right”.
We asked him why many listeners say that listening to Fresh FM are addictive, because once they tune to any of the stations they usually find it difficult to tune fof. Waht is the secret? “That is deliberate. It is because of the kind of package we offer our listeners. That is what I call Professionalism nutured by excellence. That is our slogan. Many only see the music part of me. But there is a lot more. I have done a lot in Radio. I started with FRCN Ibadan (national station) as a broadcaster. I joined broadcasting in 1989. And I have gathered enough experience to drive these new stations.
I know how it works. I have worked with BCOS. I have worked with OGBC. I have worked with OSRC Akure. It was then OSRC. I have worked with several radio stations. So, I know what people want to listen to, and when they want to listen to it.”
“There are some programmes that are not for Afternoon belt. You have to work on the belt, and the particular content people want to listen to. My OAP’s are the best hands in the industry. All my OAP’s have their fan base already. So, I maintain that and gain that from my OAP’s. That is o ne of the reasons why I proper poaching, professionals, from where they are, and making them more comfortable. Working with Fresh FM. As for the Morning Belt, you will work on it from 5am, what people want to listen to till 10am. From 10am you should look at what is happening to people in town. Work on that. Ask yourself what do they want to listen to? Then give it to them. At mid day ask yourself what is happening to people at that time? Then give it to them. Then the Drive time, anything from 2pm, 3p, 4pm, 5pm. What will people want to listen to in their cars?”
“In the night, you have to consider people watching TV. They might not want to listen to radio. But I tell you that the way we have done it, if you are watching TV you will still want to listen to Fresh FM. You have to leep asking questions and finding answers what are they doing on TV at that particular point in time, that gets them glued to TV. So, I want to take them off TV and listen to what is going on Radio.”
“These are the things I worked on. I worked on the Contents and the Drivers. There are younger ones who want to work, but I don’t compromise QUALITY and STANDARDs and PROFESSIONALISM. I always prefer a professional hand to handle our programmes. There are Contents and there are Contents I know the kind of Content that I want on my Station. You might be doing it on another station. You might be doing it your own way. But I want to do it my own way. That is what I did in my kind of music. I sat down and I did my research. What is going on, on terrestial radio stations and what do people want to listen to.”
“We are in the South West, Lagos has the highest pidgin speaking audience, at the same time, the youth, the middle class, and the Yorubas, what do they want to listen to? There are some stations that are purely Urban. What are they giving the society? The market woman, the common people. Do they listen to urban? Those are the things I have to work on. So, who are my listeners? And who are the immediate society radio listeners of your station”.
So, who are his target audience of Fresh FM. “My target audience are basically the Yorubas. That is why in all our stations I make our content 80/20. Yoruba 80% and English or Pidgin 20%. There are so many Yorubas & Igbos who even speak Yoruba more than us. So, they still listen to that Yoruba language. Yoruba is rich. You can express so many things in Yoruba, more than English Language and some other languages. We are in South-West. That is why I am trying to cover all South-Western States so that we would be able to pass the message across to every nook and cranny of Yorubaland.”
