I love flipping through the DSTV/Multichoice bouquet – multiple international channels all at your finger tips. Ah! The dividends of technological development! When I was growing up, I could count just one or two channels on my father’s huge Grundig TV cabinet, yup – that’s what it was. The huge cabinet took a sizeable part of one wall, just under the staircase, with massive sliding doors that often acted like the curtain call at the theatre. You were watching either WNTV or NBC – TV; depending on what town you were resident, or visiting, Lagos or Ibadan. Obafemi Awolowo had built the first TV station in Africa. Not to be outdone, the opposition ruling Federal Government also established NBC-TV on Channel 10. But before you start thinking I’m some sort of relic that dates back to prehistoric times, do note that I was also very much around, and very active in all the further developments of radio and television in Nigeria – the creation of further state broadcast stations, introduction of FM broadcasting, the many technological updates and improvements, from analogue tape formats to digitalization and multi-functionalism, and multiplicity of viewing and listening options. As at the last count, I think there were 128 radio stations in Nigeria. But before you start the celebrations, tiny Ghana has one more, and the U.S. State of New York, has well over 500.
It has to be the remote control and all the psychedelic features and multiple options. My favourite new channel now is the Indian Channel, NDTV – I try not to miss the sarcastic political parody of a show called ‘The Great Indian Tamasha’, with the life-like puppets and marionettes acting true-life political scripts. I love The Sony Channel, especially ‘Takeshi’s Castle’ and the sheer silliness of it. I keep a daily cue on e-tvA, Channel 144, because once again, I can keep track on my much beloved WWE ‘empire’ with a daily dose of ‘Raw’ or ‘Smackdown!’ Before I start sounding like I’m doing some PR marketing on behalf of the South African companies, which seem to have found unique business ‘El Dorado’ in Nigeria, I also followed with interest the emergence of the much-touted NN24, which claimed to be Nigeria’s premier 24-hour news channel. Launched on May 3, 2010, the station quickly endeared itself to the lifestyle of middle/upper level Nigerian homes with a fresh news alternative to the dreary Nigerian news mélange of governmental handouts and political cacophony. The new NN24 brought news from the ‘other side’ with a series of social angle stories and human interest reportage never quite seen before on the Nigerian airspace – at least, not since the days a certain Abike Dabiri used to report on behalf of NTA Newsline, which unfortunately, despite the worthwhile, yet frantic attempts of Augusta Maduegbuna and co., seems to be flailing sadly into irrelevance.
NN24 prided itself as the new generation Nigerian media company that aimed to bring high quality television news content to Nigerians and the world by creating an international network of seasoned professional reporters, bringing local news from around the globe. With a strong affiliate partnership with CNN International and a news content deal with Reuters; NN24 aspired to be the leader in the Nigerian media industry for concise and reliable television news, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Was it just a shell? A mirage? High hopes for a well-treaded road? Over-ambition, perhaps? Or just plain youthful exuberance in full wanton display of juvenile turgidity? I had wished NN24 the best for I knew the road would be rough – busy commercial activity sustains broadcast entities, unless governmental largesse took care of financial obligations. Did NN24 have enough credible content to attract the amount of advertising revenue to sustain its dream and mission? Did it have enough money in the bank? As much as I critiqued the channel often for the many faux pas evident in its daily presentations, the juvenile displays of most of its young presenters, the poor dress sense (frayed jacket collars and creased lapels were a daily annoyance, awful colour combinations were a regular visual deterrence, immature delivery, repetitiveness of stories and programmes, bland studio sets and furniture became a bore, after the novelty had worn away, but I still truly did have a soft spot for the station and all seemed to be going well for it right up to the 2011 Presidential debates, which should have been the turning point for the station’s success…or was it the portent of things to come? Were the NN24 Presidential Debates some sort of curse?).
The debates were a great success, except for one vital missing part of the tapestry – the main actor was absent! That would still have been okay if the opposition parties – all of whom were present – didn’t make a meal out of it, further muddying the waters by their gaping absence at the concomitant NTA ‘sole’ Presidential debate. Pray, what is your reward for making a President look like a ‘Pongo, the clown?’ Due to the ensuing silence around the absence of NN24 from the DSTV bouquet, even before the fledgling outfit could celebrate its first anniversary, a number of postulations are being touted. Is the station’s absence from the airwaves politically motivated? Has the cable channel been unable to service its dues for terrestrial space? Or, as DSTV claims, is it due to that oft-quoted broadcast terminology, “technical challenges?”
Well, whatever the case might be, on behalf of the young chaps at NN24, “We apologize for the lack of transmission of our regular programming over the last couple of weeks. The channel will be back on DSTV once the operators have restored services. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Thank you”.
God’s guidance, always.
(This piece was published in Sowoolu’s column, VOICES IN MY HEAD, in 2011).