Beat FM, Classic FM, Naija FM create music for Apple-Ubosi
Mr. Chris Ubosi is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MegaLectrics Limited. He spoke with Tony Nwakaegho in this interview on the operation of his broadcast outfits and the achievements that stand the organization out in the broadcast industry both within and outside Nigeria. Excerpts:
May we briefly know your organization?
I am the Chief Executive Officer of MegaLectrics Limited. We run Classic FM, Beat FM Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt and London, Naija FM Lagos, Ibadan and Port Harcourt, and Lagos Talks 91.3 which is a new Talk Radio Station. The newest of them is our Beat and Classic which started seven years ago. Naija FM started four years ago while Lagos Talks started October this year.
Recently, Beat FM won an award; could you let us into how it all happened?
Beat FM Lagos and Ibadan have been winning quite a few awards. The key thing is that Beat FM in London 103.6 won the best Radio Station in Urban Music Award, won the best Radio Station and the best Show at the London Media Award.
How does the entire team feel about this outstanding award in London?
We all feel really good about it, and it is always good when your work is being validated by your peers. When your peers give you honour, it is something that we really appreciate. It has gingered us up and made us to work a lot harder to achieve further.
What distinguishes the Beat FM from other sister radio stations you have?
Each of our stations targets different demographics and psychographics. We have Classic FM which programmes older music for the more matured mind, which is not necessarily defined by age, it depends on how you feel. People like music like older music, people like Classics of the past. We therefore not only tailor the music to suit that category of people, we also tailor the presentation style, conversational style, the news and everything. Beat FM targets younger audience; so we play a lot more contemporary and current music as well as the news and the likes more geared towards younger audience things like entertainment news, entrepreneurial programme; things that target the young. Naija FM is a Pidgin and local languages station which plays local music and 100 percent local and African music and also speaks in the Nigerian languages as well as Pidgin English. Lagos Talks is a talk radio format which discusses issues of the day as it affects everybody. That is targeted towards people who want just to be involved in a conversation about how the country is being run; events that are going on in the country; occurrences in the social, political and economic landscape. So they are all targeted towards different people.
As a broadcaster, how has it been in the beginning and now in the profession?
God has been very faithful. We have put in a lot of hard work. Nobody thought we will be able to achieve what we had in the short time that we have been doing it. We have been able to put in a lot of works and researches into this. We are not resting on our oars; we keep trying to improve, trying to ensure that we keep serving the audience that we are trying to serve.
Did you envision that your station will be able to record this mileage owing to the fact that there were other radio stations established before your own?
I am a very optimistic person, and I have a very good team that puts in hard work. You know nothing comes easily. We do a lot of hard work, brainstorming, a lot of research before we put out the product. You know the whole world is becoming digital and that was our drive in starting. Now because of competition and technological advancement you are no more able to broadcast to people. You have to meet them wherever people want to consume you. People want to consume you on their phones, cars, computers and social media. So we started from digital stand point. We have Apps. You can download all our Radio Stations Apps and listen to us anywhere in the world. You can listen to us online. We podcast significant events that take place in the radio. A lot of our programmes are podcasted so that if you miss one, you can go back to the App or online and listen to it. We are, also, very active on social media. Beat FM was the first station to be verified by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We try to satisfy our listeners and we try to be available for them where they want to listen to us and how they want to consume us.
What is that unique thing that stands your station out among its peers in the entertainment industry?
We are a personality- based radio station, where we focus on our personalities and try to make sure that all our personalities are tuned to the audiences they are trying to address. That is something that stands us out and probably we have the biggest celebrity presenters in the industry.
Are we really doing enough in terms of local content in the broadcast industry in Nigeria?
With the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), we have to play fully 60 percent local content in all the stations. We do that and we also have a station that plays totally local music. If we are able to provide content for these number of radio stations in these percentages, then I think the industry is doing quite a lot. I recalled when I started in broadcasting, we couldn’t even fill the 40 percent content at the time. My take is that private broadcasting has done a lot to enhance local content, because there are now avenues for these artistic works to be aired and exposed. It encouraged a lot of them to go to the studio and produce music knowing that it will be aired. Every day now, we receive at least 10 new CDs from up and coming artistes. We do our best to expose them. If you look at what we have achieved globally, I think we have Davido and Wizkid signed to Sony music and Techno also signed up. The international world is taking notice of the Nigerian music industry and that is largely due to the private broadcasters.
What is your assessment of the entertainment industry in Nigeria this year?
This year has been big for the entertainment industry in Nigeria. We had two or three artistes signed with massive international labels. We have Sony music in Nigeria. We have Beat FM, Classic FM, Naija FM creating music for Apple. We have led the part for continuous progress.
What are the challenges being faced by private broadcasting stations in Nigeria?
We have power problems. There is lack of training; so we have to invest all that. But the key thing is that nothing we use in our studio is made in Nigeria. We are really being hit hard by the Naira/ Dollar exchange rate. Every single thing that we use from the transmitters, studio equipment to microphones are all made abroad. We used to import our studio desks but we now make them here. We are unable to get money at the controlled rate and so we have to go to the parallel market to fund our operations. And that is not being reflected in our rate that we are charging because the market is also sensitive to price changes. We also have the perennial issues of Advertisers not paying on time.
Where do we expect to see Beat FM and others in the next three to five years?
This year, we have expanded to Abuja, London and Port Harcourt. We are the sole broadcaster of English Premier League on Nigeria Radio as well as the NFF local league. In three to five years, we should have consolidated a bit more in these new places where we have opened. We are looking to making some further international acquisitions. We want to grow organically and that is what we have been steadily doing and hope to do a lot more on that.
