Veteran Ghanaian broadcaster, Tommy Annan Forson, has expressed his concern and worry about how most presenters these days like to scream at the top of their voices when hosting their shows.
Tommy was speaking with Rev. Erskine on the Y-Leaderboard Series segment of the Myd-Morning Radio Show on YFM when he made clear that the fact that he is done with radio does not mean he will no longer listen to the radio because he has to keep listening and stay informed.
However, he made clear that he would not want to listen to a radio where a presenter is shouting and screaming his/her head off. “That’s not the standard. That’s not the thing. You can be exciting on air without having to scream your lungs out but they will tell you that you’re old fashioned and you’re out of the system”, he said.
Tommy added that “I might be old-fashioned but someone like Larry King retired from CNN at the age of 78 without shouting. Sir David Frost was still doing TV on Al-Jazeera till the age of 98 when he passed on but here, when you get to a certain level or a certain age, to people, it’s like you have nothing else to offer, forgetting that old wine tastes better”.
According to him, if we keep on with this wrong notion that when a TV or Radio personality gets to a certain age, he or she has nothing more to offer, then there will be no one to coach the new generation if the old ones are all made to leave the scene for good with the excuse that they have nothing more to offer.
The ace broadcaster advised that no matter how advanced things get, shouting when presenting is not the norm and must never be made so. Therefore, the younger generation of presenters should learn from the older ones and better their craft instead of having in mind that the older generation of broadcasters have already given their all and have nothing more to offer.
Tommy Annan Forson is a veteran Ghanaian Broadcaster also known as The King of Country Music and The God Father of Radio, Radio personality and Founder of Rabodef Radio Academy. He took up a career in radio after being inspired by a radio program on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) in 1978.
Among media personalities he has trained are Randy Abbey, Doreen Andoh, Mark Okraku Mantey, Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, and some YFM personalities like DJ Ganj, DJ Loft, Princess AJ and Ian Priceless, among others.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
