There must be some kind of textbook definition for the current vogue for urban music programming on radio. Atlantis Radio switched lanes on content and it seems to have worked for them so far. Evening patrol shows haven’t been this interesting since the days of Gabby Adjetey and unless you are into the tired gimmicks on most of the frequencies, Kwame Faakye currently provides a nice getaway outlet for most people in the capital who tune in to his slot on Atlantis.
It doesn’t take rocket science to work out the commercial variables of a hit show like Kwame’s. He’s got prime time audience and the hype to go with it. So of course after everybody realizes his format is working, the smart thing to do is to either duplicate it or better yet get the real thing. Who doesn’t want their station to be hot? That might explain why there is a bidding war currently going on with Kwame Faakye caught in the middle. Hitz 103.7 and his former employers, Vibe FM are making fierce poaching attempts at Kwame to make up for hanging airtime. Word has it that, both stations are busy outpacing each other with mind-bending offers for some of the ‘drive’ magic on their networks.
Hitz is one of the new add-ons to the Multimedia consortium and they are obviously looking for ways to break into mainstream radio. Their progress has been slow and at some point it was hard to figure out what they were trying to do, but in the last few months they seem to have tweaked their daytime programming and managed to tap into a largely youthful audience. If Kwame decides to cross over, it could mean two things: Hitz will well be on their way to sudden large-scale visibility and a large chunk of the Atlantis Evening Drive crowd will certainly cross over.
The general manager at Hitz, Claus Von Backustein however insists that there is no such attempt by his outfit to get Kwame on board. “We have not made any approach of the sort, it is not true,” he said. “I don’t think Kwame will be working here anytime soon. We don’t have any plans to poach him. Not at all.”
For Vibe FM this might be a way of getting back on their feet after all that floating for so long. Matter of fact, Kwame is no stranger to the vibe. He spent about four years at the 91.9 dial winding people up and playing ‘Sexy’ on a one-time Vibe classic, Between the sheets.
Vibe FM CEO, Mike Cooke wasn’t available for comment at the time of going to press. Kwame is like the knock out kid for Atlantis right now and his exit would probably mean more than an upset in their programming. He just might take a lot of business with him. That is if he decides to go for the crazy money being thrown his way.
