Sunny FM bans play of local songs

One of the popular radio stations in the capital, the Christian-Oriented station, Sunny 88.9FM has issued a directive for its presenters and other disc jockeys at the station to stop the play of local gospel songs.

Management of the station is said to have arrived by the decision due to concerns raised by key stakeholders of the stations as well as feedback from a poll that was organized by the station to solicit the views of the avid listeners of the station on the direction the station is charting.

In the said directive, the station has ordered that all local songs, particularly songs in the local dialects from Ghana and some other countries should not be given any air time on the station.

A source close to the station stated that, one of the reasons assigned for the directive is that; the core listeners of the station raised red flags of not making sense out of the local songs that were played and did not appreciate them at all.

Presenters of the station, who, over the few years have cultivated the habit of promoting Ghanaian gospel artistes and their local songs on the station – are not too excited over the decision by Management.

One of the presenters was suspended from the station for playing a local tune after the issuance of the directive from Management.

However, the same directive also states that foreign songs produced by local acts can be played, and local songs can only be played on paid airtime but not on any programme(s) of the station.

Speaking to the programme Director of the station, Mr. Kojo Oppong Adjei, he confirmed the directive issued by Management.

He explained; “It is a golden rule which was set by the CEO and Management, and the reason is that, we have lots of radio stations, and the competition is very tight, so, for us to look outstanding, we have to do something different.”

He also stated that the ban does not apply on weekends; “If the song is 50% local and 50% foreign lyrics, we will play it,” he added.