As the most listened to English speaking radio station in Ghana celebrates it’s 15th-anniversary today, November 5, 2019, its Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Attah-Mensah has been recounting their story so far.
Mr. Attah-Mensah said Citi FM was stiffly opposed when it decided to make itself, a self-accomplished organisation in the country’s media landscape which had 21 stations as of the time the station started operating in 2004.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show today, Tuesday, Mr. Attah-Mensah noted that, many questioned the ‘relevance’ of the station and even expressed doubts on its viability – but these negative beliefs did not deter him from venturing into the industry with optimism to make Citi FM an influential radio station it is today a decade and a half on.
“At the time, people were telling us why it was not necessary [for us to start a radio station] and that we were embarking on a journey that failed from start. Looking back, maybe I disagreed with them but I can understand where they were coming from because of the concept in radio marketing known as community ownership. Not because the community physically owns the station but because people through their hearts, minds and emotions have captured the brand of some stations and actually relate with,” he said.
The media mogul further disclosed that the unforeseen strides Citi FM were to achieve made some companies develop hatred for the station simply because a new company was poised to break through with its riveting and competitive programming and business ideals right from the beginning.
“There were serious animosity and rejection. I didn’t know the reason but I will not resent anybody who was making an effort in that direction. There was serious resentment in the market place so we were seen as a distraction. This persisted for the better side of eight years. We were blacklisted by some advertising agencies because they didn’t like us. We were like an aberration to their equilibrium.”
He reiterated that Citi FM’s past and future successes can largely be attributed to the doing of God.
Citi FM, strides, awards this far
Citi 97.3 FM is a private radio station based in Accra-Ghana. The station commenced commercial broadcasting in November 2004.
The station has a dominant presence in Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and parts of Volta.
Citi 97.3 FM employs English as its medium of communication and has a mix of adult contemporary music, news and talk programmes.
The station has won a series of prestigious awards since 2004 including BBC Africa Emerging Media House of the Year 2006, the CIMG Media House of the Year 2014, CIMG Digital Media Organization of the Year 2016 and 2017
The “Citi Breakfast Show”, the flagship morning show, has won several awards including being adjudged the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana Radio Programme of the Year in 2016 and 2017.
In addition, the show won the Ghana Journalists Association Radio Programme of the Year 2017, with the host – Bernardino Koku Avle – winning the Ghana Journalist of the Year Award.