Mr. Yemi Olowolabi is the MD/CEO of Red Carpet TV, one of the leading ‘events – coverage’ programmes air right now. The former editor with TELL magazine and erstwhile Chief Press Secretary to ex-Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State shared some of the things that stand RCT out in this interview with YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine and more. Come with us…
What fond memories of your days as the Chief Press Secretary to ex-Governor Segun Agagu of Ondo State do you still carry with you?
By the time I took the job, I was not excited as such. In fact, I took the job with a great reluctance. The reason was that I was enjoying my job in TELL; then I was at the peak of my career, I was having fun. So, going to take a political appointment then was the least thing on my mind. I wasn’t excited about it. But when I got there and I worked with the man who is very sound. Dr. Olusegun Agagu is an uncommon intellectual. He’s a man of prodigious erudition; extremely brilliant extremely intelligent. When I got there and I had to do press release, Agagu was our headmaster, he was a teacher. If you write anything, he will cross check. In fact, before I got there, the practice was that anything that will go to the press, Dr. Agagu must vet it. And I had a very big ego that ah-ah, editor! I was coming from my background as an editor that will edit people’s stories and I will publish it. Now I will have to subject myself to one non-editor; not a journalist, not my editors. One politician! Yes, a geologist, a doctoral degree holder in Geology. I felt that no, I won’t subject myself to this kind of thing. But you know, the very first day I had to do something and everybody warned me that well, nothing will go to the press without the governor seeing it. Not for anything, but he wants to be sure that you are in order. He told me, look, Mr. Yemi, I know you are a journalist, it’s just that you don’t know what we are doing here. It’s so that you put the facts correct. So, the day I gave him my first report, I dropped it for him and I went back to my house. Before I got back home they called me that he had sent the thing back and I said so tan, the man don finish me. So, when I went back and I saw the copy, the man just read it and marked it good and said go and publish. So, I now called him and he said you wrote excellently well. So, yes, I walked tall, my ego was not deflated and I enjoyed writing. For me, it gave me an opportunity to understand the other side of the story. Journalists, from this side we always report things. But at least I could see something from the government’s perspective at times. And I also knew that some of the things we claim sometimes may not be correct, based on available facts on government’s side. So, I enjoyed the other side. At least, looking at things from some objective perspective.
Your Red Carpet TV, how did you come about it and what exactly is it all about?
Red Carpet is essentially a magazine programme. It has been on TV for 3 ½ years now. When I came back from Ondo State after the court judgement that ended Dr. Agagu’s administration, I thought of what to do with my time and myself. I looked it, and I couldn’t have retired at that age and I felt I had to do something. I wanted to do something on my own. The urge to do something on my own has always been there. Well, I told myself I couldn’t sell cement; even if you make N1 million daily from selling iron rods, I would rather remain a reporter. So, I made up my mind that I would want to do something in the media. So, I came about Red Carpet TV, reporting events. It wasn’t an entirely new concept. A few other people had been doing it, but I told myself that I want to explore this area and do it differently and do it more professionally, do it with finesse, do it with panache and the difference would be clear with in a short time. Those were the things I told myself at the initial stage. So, that was how we started Red Carpet, doing celebrity events and for the past 3 ½ years, we’ve remained on air without going off air for one day.
What is the difference between Red Carpet TV and other programmes operating on the same terrain?
For anybody who can see clearly, who can appreciate aesthetics, either in poetic language, in poetic diction, in visuals, even in audio, the difference is clear. Ordinarily we would say we are all reporting events, yes! But we report events with an abiding philosophy that reporting event is more than just a show. It’s a part of sheer delight. How? It is powered by passion and ability. That was our decision. That we would do an event as an art. The art of sheer delight, powered by power and ability; sustained by tools…
So, with all those things we told ourselves that we wanted to do something different. And when we look at it now, when you watch other events…For instance, when you see Red Carpet on TV, our poetry starts from the headline. For the first time, we are the first TV programme that will have a headline, a kicker on the screen. Our headline will correspond with everything that appears on the screen and you see, it’s also a deliberate attempt to use…because we believe that events, birthdays, weddings, funerals, these are milestones and you see, I have a literary background. If you go back to the origin of festivals, poetry, all these things, you find out that in the English tradition, when people die, poetries are written; elegies…There is even the Yoruba own – Eku Iyawo. So, we have all forms of poetry for every event in Africa. Even in the world. Even in the English tradition. Within our own literature, you have what we call ewi in Yoruba for instance. Which is poetry. So, for us, our own, Red Carpet is founded on this philosophy of tributes, celebrating people and events. If you are doing a birthday for instance, our scripts are usually poetic, paying tributes to the celebrant in flowing, flowery language. If some dies for instance and we are doing a funeral, when you listen to the script, it is filled with emotions. Essentially, the difference between Red Carpet and other programmes, whereas other programmes cover events, write scripts, put it on TV, we sell you poetry in motion. Much more than just a show.
What has sustained Red Carpet TV in the last 3 ½ years? And what is the next level for RCT?
I think we’ve been sustained first by God, passion and tenacity of purpose. Because we believed from day one that we will not give up. With such determination, we have continued every week. We take every week as if we are starting a new journey and we must not lose it. I think the next level for us…we set this target for us every quarter. Once we start a new quarter you must see something new in Red Carpet. For us, our next level is every quarter. What do you want to do next quarter that will be different from what we saw? But you must see something different. There must be something new. It may seem insignificant, but there must be something new. So, something new every quarter has been our trademark, our goal.
You started out working in the print before later delving into broadcast. How do you see the two?
I have always said this – the strength of journalism is writing, whether you are doing print or broadcast. It is only these days that broadcast journalism has generated to the point that people don’t care about scripts anymore. I was told and ire ad in lots of books memoirs of veteran broadcasters that in those days even if you are going to say good morning, it has to be scripted. In the print, you don’t have a choice. Everything that you publish must be written. So, we are fired by the fact that if I want to do broadcast, I have sufficient background in print, in writing. But the time I transfer this to broadcast, all I need is someone with a good voice to accentuate what is beautifully written down. So, it want that difficult for me because the essential thing is script. Once you have the script, you have somebody who can read it.
Away from journalism, let us meet your family…
I am happily married. I am married to Feyisayo Yemi Olowolabi. I have three children. The first one is 15, his name is Solafunmi; the second one is 12, Bamiseye and my baby girl is 9, Folusewa. I’m 44 and I live happily with my wife and children in a small house and we are happy. I’ve been married for 16 years now, happily.
Away from work, what do you do for relaxation?
I listen to music. I love music a lot and of course, I’m a writer and I also believe that a good song is usually predicated upon good script as well. You see, when you listen to some music, the ones that do not have rhyme you will know. So, for me as a writer, when I listen to some music, especially the Nigerian hip hop now, a lot of them try to do a lot of rhymes here and there. So, for me, a number of times I enjoy listening to music and I listen to those ones with a lot rhythm and rhymes.