Last Thursday, 1st May, 2025, Winston asked me to tell my JOY story. I promised him that I would do so today and so in fulfilment of that promise, here goes.
I owe my JOY FM story to four people, and for each of them, I am eternally grateful.
The person who introduced me to JOY FM is Mawuko Zormelo. Mawuko was working at GBC, and I was hosting a weekly programme called WorldView on GBC. Mawuko and I became friends and spent a lot of time chatting and exchanging ideas. One day, Mawuko said, “One of my friends is opening a private FM station soon.” That friend turned out to be Mr. Kwasi Twum and the FM station, Joy FM.
When the station went on air, Mawuko said, “Mr. Twum’s vision is huge, and you would like to be part of what he is trying to do.”
And on the basis of that endorsement, I gave up the programme I was hosting on GBC and waited to meet Mr. Twum. Mawuko was able to set up the meeting. At the time, JOY FM had been on air for just about a year but I had not paid much attention to its programme lineup, and so when Mr. Twum asked me about the programme lineup of the station, he found me wanting and did not think I was serious. I knew I had lost the opportunity, but Mawuko did not give up. He kept looking out for an opportunity for me to get a second chance, and thank God I was given that chance, eventually.
The second person I owe my JOY FM story to is the late Dusty Wayne. Dusty Wayne I also knew from GBC. He had hosted me on Leaders For Tomorrow, a programme he hosted on GBC. He had moved from GBC to join JOY FM, and he was the producer of the Super Morning Show. As the producer, he and his team decided that they needed someone who would be able to talk about any and every issue. He called the segment, the Rover Report, and on the recommendation of Mawuko, Dusty Wayne came to look for me and offered me the slot. I jumped at the chance.
Dusty Wayne became my champion, and he was a great encouragement to me.
The third person I owe my JOY FM story to is Tommy Annan Forson. Tommy was a celebrity in his own right, even before JOY FM. He had a voice made for radio and he was the host of the Super Morning Show with Dusty Wayne as his producer and standby host. Tommy and I developed an amazing rapport on-air. He is the reason I am called Uncle Ebo because that is how Tommy called me on-air. He is also the reason I am called Roverman. Remember the segment was called Rover Report, and since I was the presenter of the Rover Report, Tommy took to calling me the Roverman.
The fourth, and the most important person in my JOY FM story, is Mr. Kwasi Twum. In those early days, Mr. Twum was very hands-on. He demanded excellence and got it. He made stars of everyone.
Now, in those early days, I wrote my presentations by hand in a notebook, and sometimes I could not read my own handwriting because I always wrote in a rush. The result was that I fumbled a lot on-air, and Mr. Twum could not stand that. One day, he came into the studio, took my notebook and opened it to see what I had written and then he said, “This is the reason you fumble. Stop writing like this.”
Mr. Twum mentored all of us on JOY FM in those early days, directly or indirectly. He was a student of radio and set up a library for us, and made all of us students of radio. I still find him, after all these years, one of the most stimulating and inspiring men I have ever met.
But my claim to fame in the history of JOY FM is that Mr. Twum made me the head of Christian programming, which made me the producer of all the religious programmes on JOY FM.
I cannot talk of my JOY FM story without mentioning the legendary Samuel Atta Mensah (Samens) and the man whose memory will not die, the late Komla Dumor.
Samens kept everyone on their toes and Komla made us all look good when he sat behind the console.
In those early days, we had a jingle that aired frequently on JOY, and it said, “Radio gets results.” Well, I am proof of that. Roverman Productions was born on the power of radio, and I owe the success of my productions to the partnership of JOY FM.
I owe JOYFM and the Multimedia Group much of who I am today, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
And from Tommy Annan Forson’s time, I have had the honour and privilege of working with every host or presenter of the Super Morning Show and I have been enriched by my relationship with each of them.
The name of the segment was changed from Rover Report to Food For Thought, but the joy and blessings the segment brings me have not changed. I am honoured to be a part of the Super Morning Show team, a small part but a part nonetheless, and for that, I give God all the glory.
Long live Mr. Kwasi Twum; long live the Multimedia Group. Long Live JOY FM, long live the Super Morning Show. Long live free, private and independent media in Ghana.
Written by James Ebo Whyte (Uncle Ebo Whyte)
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
