The maiden edition of Radio and TV Personality Awards has been described as very competitive and so it is very difficult for one to predict who will win the Radio Newscaster of the Year Local Language which has Kwadwo Dickson of Peace FM -Sekyere Propro Boateng of Adom FM- Odiahenkan Kwame Yeboah of Peace FM- Adwoa Yeboah Agyei of Peace FM- Nana Yaw Kesse of Peace FM and Nana Okyere Awurukuo of Oman FM in contention.
Since most of their fans do not know much about how they started and some of the experiences they have gone through, Flex newspaper has decided to bring them closer to you our cherished readers. This week we put our spotlight on Kwadwo Dickson of Peace FM.
In a chat with him, he revealed to Flex newspaper that radio has been something he had always wanted to do right from his youthful age.“When I was young, I told my mother I wanted to be a broadcaster and she is now happy I have finally achieved my dreams “he said.
As to how he started his radio career, he recalled he was once in the house after form 6 (sixth form as they used) when GBC advertized they were looking for presenters which was around 1996 and after going through the necessary interview, he was employed and sent to Garden City Radio in Kumasi.
At Garden City Radio, he was a sports presenter but when he got to Peace FM and did not have much to do, he was once asked to do the announcements and afterwards the managers realized that if they give him the opportunity to read news, he will be able to do it well. So they gave him the opportunity to showcase his talent and that was how it all started. Now he is among the big shots in Akan news reading in Ghana.
According to him, he gained the favor of most of the staff members at Garden City Radio because he was very humble when he got there. That also attracted many of the workers to get close to him to exchange ideas which pushed him to the top so easily, though through hard work.
When asked if he will love to be a sports presenter when given the opportunity again, he assumed that sports presentation is still in him, and will always place that one first but now he has lots of jobs to do. “People still enjoy what I do, so there is no need to change my position in haste” Kojo Dickson added.
Lamenting on what is going wrong in the business, he whispered that most people do what they want not thinking of how it will help the society but he thinks it is the influence of the private radio stations which is the bane of all these. He made reference to the days of GBC where GBC being the only station, put in measures that made it very difficult for a presenter to do what he or she likes on air.
He advised all up and coming presenters to be humble and to learn hard to be able to reach greater heights and also to his pals on radio, he thinks the only way one can maintain his or her listeners is to learn hard and not to relax.
Touching on one issue which has raised serious concerns in the media that local newscasters make comedy out of news stories, he stated that maybe people have not looked for the right name for that practice. He noted that as far as he is concerned, none of them joke with news reading in Ghana but the fact is they have realized that the only way to attract and inform more people through the news is to spice it up with some humour, but no one should describe it as a joke, or comic because they don’t joke with it.
He later mentioned Sekyere Boateng as his role model but also said he learns positive things from any other newscaster because that is the only way he can be among the best.Apart from radio business, he now manages his own company and his dream is to help the youth who do not know much about computers since computer rules the world now.
