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As The New LTV General Manager
The broadcast industry in the country has produced many remarkable female broadcasters. A lot of them have gone on to assume top leadership positions in some of the biggest media organizations in the land. One of such outstanding female broadcasters is the absolutely brilliant Sola Kosoko. She is the pretty face that’s been gracing the screens of LTV for as long as many can remember. She has this trademark adorable smile that she beams in between her presentations which has endeared her to millions f viewers over the years. Today, Sola Kosoko has evolved into becoming one of the most respected broadcasters in the country.
But that is not the news. The big news is that Sola Kosoko has been appointed the new General Manager of LTV. The appointment came a couple of months ago and Sola has since settled in and is fully charged and motivated to start firing on all cylinders. She is set to turn the fortunes of the state owned television station around and bring back it’s glory days.
Two weeks ago, at the City People annual Award for Excellence, Sola Kosoko was honoured and she was present at the event to receive her award. Just before she picked up her award, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) spoke with the warm and delectable Sola Kosoko. She shared with us how she intends to rejig the programs contents of the station. Here are excerpts of the interview.
You are an accomplished woman who has brought joy to many via the screens of LTV. Exactly how long have you been in the profession?
Unofficially I started 1992, officially I started 98, and I started after my service with EKO FM when I came to serve and I was absorbed in 1999 then I crossed to Television in 2001, but even while I was doing radio, I was doing a bit of television, but it wasn’t much of television. I had the opportunity then of working with then Clapperboard. I did a few things then in NTA 2 Channel 5, some children’s programmes Teenyboppers and the likes of them. Yes, so that’s how far. That’s how I started.
Okay it’s been an interesting journey, pretty long one, but obviously full of accomplishments. Right now you are the GM of Lagos television. That’s a milestone.
How do you feel looking back at all that you have put in through the years and where you have gotten to today?
Hmm personally I think what worked for me was the fact that I didn’t see being in the broadcasting as doing a job; I loved it, I enjoyed it. So it was like you finding out your flair and being paid for it. So that was how I started and I think my love for it helped me to maintain and long for more knowledge. And it also helped me to stand out, I also had the opportunity of working with fantastic people.
Jimi Odumosu, Lekan Ogunbanwo, Tinu Ayobadejo, Tokunbo Ojekunle. You can imagine those set of people. So I think it was part of what helped me and definitely when I want to write my story I will thank them because they were the stepping stone to where I am today. Getting to this point I think it’s been a roller coaster of events.
There have been ups and downs but I thank God because I am able to take up this responsibility because of the wealth of experiences that I have passed through. The people that I have passed through. The things that I have picked from them. They have shaped me, they have helped me, it’s not like it’s been rosy all through so I would say those people, my love for the job, my yearning for more and then those people also gave me the opportunity to be who I am. What I mean is you can get into an environment and they see that you have skills and they allow you to express yourself, not everybody does, so this set of people allowed me and particularly Lekan Ogunbanwo and Jimi Odumosu, they allowed me express myself. If I wake up and I say, sir, I think this and this can work, they would say go ahead let see,.if it fails then you correct yourself. So I had the opportunity of spreading my wings. Opportunity of building and seeing things, opportunity of being creative. And learning to see what really works and what really sells, and I think that is what has helped me to be where I am. Because television is about thinking, it’s about creativity, it’s about networking and it’s also who you know and it is also whether you love what you are doing, its about the passion.
How would you say you evolved into who you are today? Did you show traits as a young girl growing up that people could tell then that this child would end up in broadcasting?
There were two things l did well in my primary school and my secondary school then. I was a sprinter and I stood out when it comes to debating for the school. So fortunately, at my secondary school, I was the first set of Lagos State Model College, so we were just JS 1 and 2 so from JS 2 I was the Sport prefect till SS3 but I also did something, they also gave me the opportunity because they saw that I could represent the school in debating, I will represent the school in oral presentation, I will represent the school in penmanship and I did very well.
So most of the social events were organized by my very self. So people were like they don’t expect anything different. Sola is never scared of the camera. I have never been scared of crowd. Even when some of my teachers saw me they just kept saying they knew this was were I was going to end up. You’ve been doing it since you started, if you had chosen another path we would have been surprised.
I have always been meaning to ask you this question from the very first time I got familiar with you on TV long ago, I have always known you as Sola Kosoko I can’t remember knowing you by any other name and I have always wondered, are you from the illustrious Kosoko family or is it that you were already married into the Kosoko family?
I got married January 2001. All the time I was in Radio I was not Sola Kosoko, I was Sola Olaogunbiyi but because.. you know the TV has a way of blowing you up and so by the time I was going to cross to TV in December I was already Sola Kosoko so that was the name that stuck.
So I am not a Kosoko by birth, I am married to them and there is only one Kosoko it is a big family name in Lagos. So I am married to them . So that explains it.
The second one, you’ve always looked like this I don’t know how you’ve done it, you’ve always looked like this, ageless, beautiful, modest, simple, yet gorgeous. How have you managed this?
I am more comfortable in my own skin. I am not a person who likes to follow fashion trends, I don’t do it. I like to be as comfortable as possible, that’s one. So even if everybody is wearing it, if I don’t feel comfortable in it I won’t wear it.
Then staying like this I really can’t say. I just think it’s grace and maybe the genes that I have. I think that’s it and then I know what it is to stay fit. I have always been a sprinter so I would not let that go, I am still holding to some of the rules that guide you to stay fit.
Now you are GM, it’s been how long now?
I got my letter late August this year, so it’s just a few months.
What are those immediate challenges that you are looking to address in your little way to see how you could also up the ante? What are those things you are looking to change?
Number one, Lagos Television has always been a indigenous television, over the years I think we gradually lost it, so I am trying to bring us back there. At the same time in this time and age you find out that a lot of people who are in charge of brands are young minds so if you really want to stay ahead in the business you need to produce things that keeps them glued. So the first few things I did was to rejig a lot of our content. We take care of Lagosians, we also take care of the youth and then we build a social media platform. Gradually we are getting to it, we are going to start passing new programs, you are going to start creating new contents, we are going to give you Lagos the way you are supposed to see it and then we are going to give you entertainment the way you are suppose to see it.
So it is a gradual process but we would get there. We have our little problem, it’s a government owned establishment, so we are restricted to a level but we are working on it and I thank God for the set of executives we are working with in Lagos, they believe so much in the station, it’s been on their lips everywhere.
Lagos television has to go back to the way it was. We need that glory back so I think having picked me was also strategic. I have known that station for over 25 years. I know how it has metamorphosed, so I know what it needs. So we are working on that right now. You are going to be seeing a lot of changes.
That’s great. A lot of us grew up waiting for Fridays, The Marathon Entertainment.
Back then every young kid waited for that moment, Friday to early Monday morning. And then you had movies, I remember Evil Ecounter by Jimi Odumosun. I know it’s a different scenario now. Do you see LTV in the next two years under your leadership coming close to where you were years ago?
In the next one year we are going back because we have started work already. If you pay a visit to my office and you ask them what was the first thing I said? The first thing they will tell you is she wants the marathon entertainment back, I said it.
So gradually we are beginning to create content. What I also want to do is, I don’t just want to put the content there because I also need the internal generating revenue to sustain it. You know, I am not in subvention, so I am generating my own revenue and I am paying my own staff’s salary. So I am saddled with two major responsibilities. That’s why it’s going to be gradual. Assuming I don’t have to worry about paying salary, I can go ahead and say let’s change this. But I have to be conscious of the revenue drive and generation right now, but we are still on that. And then gradually we fill up that time. Gradually before the end of next year it will be Entertainment from Friday to Sunday, even if there will be serious talks in it, but there would be talks that will interest every viewer, cause I really want to get the viewers back. We need to get the viewers back, so we are working on that, don’t worry. Even the likes of Jimi Odumosu I have gone to him several times, I know that people might say oh movies have moved beyond that, but we have classics, they can be put under the category of classics, so all these things I want to bring them back, all the game shows need to come back.
And I am particular about the children’s belt, most TV stations don’t have the children’s belt and we grew up with the children’s belt. I was a member of the set of people who graced the face of the screen during the children’s belt. I did a children’s programme for over 12 years with Tee A and it was very popular. We need to go back there and I am making the connection, doing the leg work to see companies that we can actually collaborate with to create more interesting content for traditional television.
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