Mikki Osei-Berko got his fingers burnt the last time he turned up on radio. It got burnt so severely some thought he would never recover even if he had the most elaborate plastic surgery from the most expert surgeon.
This was during the meltdown of the drive time show on Adom FM after the departure of Abeiku Santana.
The station had tried almost everything to get the show on its feet once again. They had used both in-house presenters and some they recruited for the purpose, but it wasn’t working.
The man who had lit up the TV screens with his roles in Taxi Driver as Master Richard and Dada Boat as Dada Boat was then in the UK minding his own business and perhaps wanting to come to Ghana. He needed to have a very good and lucrative excuse to do so. Someone at Adom FM thought about Mikki, and they offered him the show.
He packed his bag and headed down to Accra. Adom FM had then moved from BBC in Tema Community to 355 Fanofaa Street at Kokomlemle in Accra.
Mikki had been given a way out, and he was going to use Ofie Kwanso at Adom FM to re-launch his radio career.
Just like those who hosted the show before him (since Abeiku Santana took a walk) Eddie K, Dr. Prekese and Dr. Asanka, the man who described himself as the “The Humble Lion” when he returned to Ghanaian radio was eventually humbled by the powers that be at Adom FM.
Mikki had been on for just about three months when they thought he was not pulling in the numbers they required and that he wasn’t keeping up with the challenge from Okay FM, Peace FM and others and therefore had to let him go. Jerry Justice then stepped in.
It must have been a very crushing and a terrible experience for Osei-Berko as what he had hoped would be a good passage back to what he loves to do very much was closed in his face in just a quarter of a year of taking it up.
So he moved on minding his own business again. He went back to his other loves advertising and productions. He worked for himself and perhaps hoped that another opportunity in radio would come so he would pounce. The opportunity came. Eventually.
I had heard rumours about the possibility of Mikki showing up at Kojo Antwi’s Breeze FM. In fact, I was reliably informed that he held meetings with the management and so I was looking forward to hearing him on that station.
That died down and then I began to hear again that he would probably emerge at Tesano based Adinkra FM. At some point, it was denied but I have it from very trusted sources that Mikki Osei-Berko will soon be heard hosting a show on the station.
Adinkra 91.3FM operates from the Dream House at Tesano thus from the same building and indeed, floor as Live FM. Both stations are owned by Media Ghana, that is a subsidiary of Dream Africa Holdings. It was the station previously known as Great FM and used to be owned by Nana Fitz.
So what is Mikki heading to the Dream House to do? My understanding is that he will be hosting the morning show at the station and expected to bring his experience and light heartedness to bear on the show. Simply put, he is expected to treat the big issues in a very simple way.
Mikki has had some experience in morning show hosting back in the day. When Happy FM launched, he was the station’s morning show host after travelling the short distance from Barnor Junction at Latebiokorshie where Radio Gold was/is to the Graphic Road where Happy FM used to be. He was the drive time host at Radio Gold.
His attempt at hosting a morning programme in the capital lasted for about two years or less, and he moved on to Kessben FM when that station launched. He was the morning show host there as well as the General Manager, but both won’t last for long.
This new role at Adinkra FM is, therefore, another opportunity for Mikki Osei-Berko not only to get back to radio, but also to have another bite of the morning show cherry.
Will he be third time lucky? Will he last longer than he did at both Happy FM and Kessben FM or even Adom FM?
Those are very pertinent questions, but perhaps not as pertinent as whether he has what it takes to survive the gruesomeness of morning radio. The competition is very tough out there; almost all stations are consolidating their bases and making sure they keep their audience even if they don't add to it.
That coupled with the fact that the airwaves seem to be saturated means the ante has been upped, and any new entrant will find it an uphill task to climb, even a returnee 'new' entrant like Dada Boat.
We will wait and see how Mikki and whichever team he will be working with will navigate their way out of this maze.
Welcome back to urban radio. Now go and 'yorb' them, Dada Boat!
