Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale shares a warm hug with musician Fantana and expresses his heartfelt gratitude after she surprised him with a brand-new 2026 Toyota Land Cruiser Twin Turbo as a birthday gift.
Gary, please it is not about the time factor or language; making certain assertions on radio or TV based on your opinions which we all know is false( at least we both watch football to know who is good and is not) isn’t about the L1 or L2 you spoke about. If you’re good, you are
The fixation to compare Accra vs Kumasi sports (broadcasters) baffles me.
It surely cannot be that people/presenters in Accra/Kumasi are more intelligent than those in Kumasi/Accra, because educational standards of both sets are largely same.
The boys on radio/TV largely all attended the same SHSs, some were even classmates. Same with university education, they argued in the same dorms, TV rooms and JCRs. They all watch the same football from same channels, read the same books, and follow the same news sources globally.
Agreed?
If so, then something else must be at play.
Sports culture of both cities. Markets. Expectations. And, crucially, the amount of time each city allots to presenters to do their stuff.
Kumasi sports media generally have way more time to express themselves, create excitement and dominate the airspace. When Asempa and Happy allocated more time in Accra to sports, it was clear: Accra could produce more exciting moments because time dey to do those things.
No be this one wey Joy, Citi, GHOne, Metro, etc go give boys 5-6 hours the whole week (max) to show their skill. If you make lucky PeaceFM, AdomFM go give a bit more extra time but that's it.
@raymondnyamador, who has been in the media space for years, now enjoys far more notoriety and name recall precisely due to this — because he gets 20 hours on weekdays alone to express himself, develop a cult following and cement his style, rather than a few hours a week back then. It isn't rocket science.
Again, language. The primary language (English vs Akan) employed koraa is a big, big factor. L1 vs L2.
Nelson Mandela said "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
This is crucial.
When I flew @FancyDiMaria_ down to Sporty for a guest show the other holiday and we said he should feel free and do the show in Twi, it validated my long-held (unscientific) theory about why local language sports radio will be king for the foreseeable future.
This will only start changing with the emergence of more SportyFMs (which wont be anytime soon because of the barriers to entry.)
In summary:
I swear if you put @Dani77k on any Kumasi station and give him as much airtime to do shows in Akan as the popular guys in Oseikrom, he will command similar following and fans in no time because his on-air persona is magnetic and his style is combative but grounded in knowledge. Sure banker.
I could say same for many of the Accra journalists who are restricted in how they can "fool" or express their true character on air because of the listener profiles of the stations they work for.
Chale 'yaa mo ma yɛn elevate discourse no kakraa na 2 by 4 etiefoɔ (😝😝) analysis yi deɛ alabraka.
@garyalsmith Oh yes, they all make those assertions; but to stand on your argument with ten toes doesn’t make it the true. I know we all err sometimes though.