Entertainment of Friday, 19 September 2003

Source: Heritage

Radio Stations Scramble For Kwesi Pratt?

After successfully playing the cat-and-mouse game with the national security apparatus for years, outspoken political critic, Kwesi Pratt Jnr is now caught in a web of poaching game between two leading FM stations in Accra. First, Peace FM has reportedly offered a mouth-watering ?10 million per month contract to Kwesi Pratt in return for his appearance exclusively on the Achimota based radio station.

By that agreement, Kwesi Pratt would be barred from appearing on any other station in the country – either radio or TV – between Monday and Friday.

The Heritage newspaper quotes its impeccable sources at Peace FM as saying that Kwesi Pratt has rejected the 5-day weekly appearance and has put across a counter proposal for a two-day appearance (Tuesdays and Fridays) at ?5 million per month.

Just when the two parties seemed to have clinched a deal, a rival FM station (name withheld) has topped up the bid for Kwesi Pratt, who is also the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper.

The counter bid is twice Peace FM’s offer. The paper says other radio stations have queued up with equally lucrative counter offers all packaged to ensure that the station with the winning bid will have the sole right to host Kwesi Pratt on its news analysis programmes.