PEACE FM...Bringing radio to the ordinary Ghanaian

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday June 10, 2009
Some sixteen years ago, Ghana returned to constitutional rule after 11 years of military dictatorship. At that time the media landscape was very restricted particularly for private operators; it was the culture of silence that prevailed for both the print and electronic media and private media operators in the country.

In the print media domain we had just the two main state owned newspapers, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times in operation. And when it came to radio and television, only the state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) had the license to operate.

Then came constitutional rule which took off officially on January 7, 1993 and the air waves was liberalised. Many organisations, institutions and wealthy individuals took advantage of this liberalisation to set up radio or FM stations.

Radio Universe operated by University of Ghana was the first privately owned radio station to hit the air waves in 1994. Like prisoners released from detention, the proliferation radio of station was rapid. Joy FM, Radio Sunshine (now Choice), Radio Gold and Groove FM (now Adom) all appeared in quick succession.

Then appeared on the scene, Peace FM, which commenced business modestly with a 104.3 frequency. It is however evident that after 10 years of quality broadcasting, the Achimota based station has arguably become one of the best if not the best in the radio industry.

Peace FM has over the years broke the myth that radio broadcasting in the country should only be conducted in the English language which had hitherto been the tradition. When the station started doing virtually all their programmes including the news reading, advertising, interviews and airplay for indigenous Ghanaian and African music, it was completely unheard of; Many were taken aback by these strange newcomers on the radio scene, others particularly their English speaking counterparts in the business laughed at the sheer preposterousness of the idea. Many said it would not last.

But 10 years down the line and it looks like Peace FM has made it! The station made it trendy to broadcast in local languages What people said would not last a year now stands strong as a pace-setter in local language broadcasting, that completely transformed radio.

It has and continues to take radio to a different level and many other stations like Adom, Pink and Aseda FM among others have jumped on the bandwagon. So now thanks to Peace FM news and information is not only the preserve of a few or something for just the elite in society but for all.

No doubt Peace FM has endeared itself to the ordinary Ghanaian by bringing information to them in their mother tongue, a language they can relate to and understand.

In an interview with The National Star, Kwasi Brenya, General Manager of Despite Company limited (DCL) owners and operators of Peace FM said “we wanted to use radio to promote our local languages as well as position the local music industry on a sound footing. When the airwaves were liberalised we felt it was time to act”.

“I remember in those days the air waves which was restricted had loads of foreign music particularly English and as music producers and distributors we were finding it difficult to promote our musicians”, he recalled.

“Looking at the expenses for advertisement of our music, we decided to put things together and subsequently applied for the frequency and were given 104.3”.
Peace FM was given the license to operate commercial broadcasting in February 1998 and started test transmission on May 25, 1999.

“We wanted to do something different; some of the stations were running programmes in the local languages but they were not extensive enough. We then decided to concentrate on the local languages and fortunately for us the public has come to fully appreciate what we are doing”.

Asked why Peace FM did not broadcast in English, Mr. Brenya said, “we conducted extensive feasibility studies to identify preferences of the listening public. We realized that because illiteracy was high, the presentation of news in English did not resonate with them. They were craving for something new and I am pleased that Peace FM has been able to do it for them”.

They have variety of scintillating programmes and interesting presenters. They include Maame Afia’s “Wo Haw Ne Sen” literary meaning, What is your problem, Fiifi Banson’s “Ekwanso Bre Bre” (Safe journey), Peace Power Sports, Kofi Kum Bilson’s Mid-Morning show as well as Darling Boy Kwasi Aboagye’s entertainment programme. The flagship morning talk shop ‘Kokrokoo’ hosted by Kwame Sefa Kayi is a national delicacy.

“Peace FM is a 90% Akan speaking broadcasting station. Initially we were broadcasting in Akan, Ewe and Ga but we realized later that most Ga’s and Ewe’s could understand and speak Akan, so we decided to deepen our effort to reach out to the public in Akan”, the General Manager says.

“Radio strikes listenership. The strategy we adopted has paid off. We now have a large listening public and we have no regrets adopting the local languages to complement the efforts of using radio as a tool for development”.

On the keen competition in the radio industry currently, Mr. Brenya remarked, “It has become interesting and challenging. We are always working hard to develop programmes that will help us to remain as leaders in the competition.”

He said, “most of the radio stations are now copying our style of broadcasting; some have even picked our concepts and go on air sometimes a day before we produce the same programme.”

The General Manager said, “we try to blend the voices and recruit professionally inclined staff. We want the listeners to always hear something new.”

He said some of the challenges Peace FM faces in the broadcasting industry have been to remain neutral in the changing political dispensations as well as how to ward off rival stations that are bent on poaching our staff.”

“Our biggest challenge has been to court listeners from the entire political divide. We have made it a policy to continue to remain in the middle and I am happy that we are moving in that direction.”

“At Peace FM everybody is part of the success we are chalking. In the few years that we have been in the business, we have been able to mobilize our departments to get the best for our listeners”.

“In our short stay in the industry, we have won several awards. We also continue to enjoy the goodwill of the public and we will work hard to maintain this relationship.”

Marketing, advertising firms and the print media have continually positioned Peace FM as the most listened to radio station in the nation’s capital. After just a year in broadcasting, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) awarded it “Radio Programme of the Year”. They received the “Marketing Oriented Company of the Year” in 2000 a second “Radio Programme of the year” in 2001.

Geographical media’s world news (www.geographicmedia.com) ranked Peace FM as the 4th most talked about radio station in the world recently. This ranking puts Peace FM among the 50 most talked about radio stations in the world with 0.02 per cent of all top news stories.

Peace FM is truly bringing radio to the doorstep of the ordinary Ghanaian. No wonder on the station’s 10th anniversary celebrations a lot of important personalities including President J.E.A Mills and other prestigious institutions continue to send congratulatory messages to encourage them to soar higher.