In Ibadan right now, Fresh FM is the preferred choice for many radio listeners. It is not only because the station is owned by popular musician Yinka Ayefele but more because he has brought his age long professionalism to bear on the running of the station. He has a clear picture of what Ibadan people want to hear and he has packaged the programmes of the station to suit their needs. Not only that, Ayefele, himself a veteran broadcaster, went round all the existing stations to poach all the good hands in the industry. He today has an assembluge of the very best broadcasters in the South West. Many of the big names in FIBAN have slots on his station.
Yinka Ayefele himself presents programmes weekly on Fresh FM and this attracts listeners to his station. A few months back, City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE spoke to Ayefele on the success secrets of Fresh FM.
Though you are an accomplished and talented musician you have also been in love with broadcasting, so much so that you own a popular radio station in Ibadan that is doing well. How do you juggle both?
You know my fame started from Broadcasting. It was a broadcast job I was going for when I had my accident. I need to remain in this industry. I like Broadcasting so much. Yes, Yinka Ayefele is a musician, but I have to continue broadcasting.
Even I don’t have a radio station I would have still been with other radio station as a Presenter. It is just an opportunity for me having my own radio station to exhibit the potentials and skills that I have gathered when I was with FRCN Ibadan national station.
How easy was it to break into the competitive radio market in Ibadan? What was your strategy?
It’s so simple. I have always had my idea of what a radio station like Fresh FM should be doing. And I worked on a very good team I have the best hands. As far as broadcasting is concerned, I have good studio equipments at the same time coupled with the brand, the name. Yinka Ayefele is a brand. Everybody might want to listen to his station. I think that added to what really made our tentacles to spread.
How were you able to assembly all the good hands in the industry, especially all the FIBAN Big Boys?
The secrets is that I proached nthem from other radio stations. Its like what happens nin football when you buy footballers forming a team that is tight, you need brilliant hands, brilliant people. Formidable people that will be able to handle it, the way you want it handled. If you have your dream, you will know how you want it to look like. I listened to other stations that have been in this business before us I have met a lot of talents whilst on stage, they came to perform on my stage and I discovered them. I was able to pick out the ones that will be good on radio. Those are the things I worked on and I put them together.
At the time you set up Fresh FM, what was the idea you had in mind?
I wanted to change the face of broadcasting. I don’t want it to be the normal conventional broadcasting stuff. I wanted something different. And I know people would want to ask me for the difference I have made.
Yes. If you listen to Fresh FM, you can’t say that we are based specifically on Entertainment. We cover Entertainment, Sport, News and all other things around us. That is what brought about our name Fresh. We report Fresh things. We let people know fresh things, fresh happenings. That is our focus. Those are the things, which we do differently, from other stations. We are unlike other stations.
If you ask them they will tell you they are political stations, they will tell you they are sports stations, they are a commercial stations. Basically, what we try to do is to touch the lives of everybody.
Many people don’t know you present programmes on Fresh FM?
Yes I do. I present Opeyemi on Sunday night. Opeyemi practically shuts down Ibadan, every Sunday night. Its a kind of giving testimony of what has happened to one before. You will just come on my programme to narrate your ordeal, narrate your problems and how God saved you from dying. That is what Opeyemi stands for.
I have another one on Tuesdays. Its a chit-chat programme with one of my staff here. We call him E.O.B. The programme is called Lets Talk About It. Its very popular as well. It shuts Ibadan down every Tuesdays. Those are the two major programmes I present. There are other programmes being anchored by my colleagues and other staff. They are all doing very fine.
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