Samuel Kallon 
Dear Madam,
ARISE AND SHINE!
I must first and foremost congratulate you on your epoch-making appointment especially as a feminist. We have great expectations from you because you are saddled with a task that touches the lives of citizens and non-citizens on a daily basis. To be successful you have to make a paradigm shift from the direction of your lack-luster predecessor. In other words you have to disturb routine. To whom much is given much is due. This time round it should be business as unusual. There is a syndrome of scapegoating of inanimate machines when administrators falter. This should not be your practice.
Listeners who have been alive to hear the presentations of the former SLBS and the current SLBC have been making odious comparisons between the two as well they might. Some of their prevalent opinions can be substantiated by realities in the situation room. This category of listeners is overwhelmingly of the opinion that the corporation status of the SLBC like our independence status has not redounded in better service delivery citing programs.
To begin with many presenters do not have a good command of English, our official Language or our lingua franca, krio in spite of the unifying value of the latter. In passing, one can only imagine the scenario if it were not for Krio. The best out of the rest do not seem to be recruited into the service owing to nepotism and so listeners receive distorted messages.
The presentation of the National News Bulletin has been their forte albeit the timeliness of the news has not been consistent. EDSA is mainly to blame but sometimes it is due to the lackadaisical attitude of the presenters who rely on interludes to do the trick at the expense of disappointed listeners. Like the BBC SLBS news was always on the dot and that is what it should be.
The SLBC administration has simply not been caring much about the quality of other programs that follow the news bulletin like the obituaries about which they pride themselves as the only ones that do them in all the languages. In particular names of people and places are pronounced with reckless abandon. You are likely to contend with dead wood ensconced and recruited by previous regimes. With the consent of your Board of Directors you can recruit some capable contract staff who can do your department proud. The information that news items and public notices are professionally edited is not true and you should have done something about it by now. Take illiterate sentences like DEATH OF THE LATE AND WAS FORMER AND THOUGHT AM FIT announced over the SLBC without correction.
Language is pervasive and many listeners have no alternative but to take their cue from the nation’s No. 1 radio station unmindful of the fact that the first shall be the last and the last first.
You can set the pace in quality by having an exclusive program on a weekly basis like your illustrious predecessor John Akar whose program was “My Guest” that dealt with a wide range of topics eagerly awaited by listeners. One could hear the sound of the Guma Valley Water trickling as it was being poured out in the middle of the program.
And talking about programs let me mention one of the most popular programs and to say that it has been becoming less popular since the death of the inimitable Peter Z. who is hard to replace. It has now sunk to a new low with a virtual preacher who is better on a pulpit. Raymond Faux who could add some glamour to the program is hardly on duty and so the program remains banal save for the inclusion of Catherine O’Connor.
Returning to communication with the public which is also essential for your success, let me harp on pronunciation once more lest I forget. There can be two ways of pronouncing the same word and one may sound unrecognizable to those who know the real pronunciation- Viz:
Bockari – Mispronounced – Bookari
Carolina – Mispronounced – Caroleena
Joyce – Mispronounced – Joys
Ada – Mispronounced – Arda
Patton St. – Mispronounced – Payton St.
Vida – Mispronounced – Veeda
Sabina – Mispronounced – Sabeena etc.
The solution to this anomaly is to recruit announcers of middle age or older who could have heard these pronunciations of names and places and not recent school leavers because of their distinctions in WASSCE English. See what I mean?
The APC well-intentioned Attitudinal Change should be adopted by you even without a secretariat. There is a tendency for staff to relax as long as they are paid at the end of the month regardless of production. Some ignoramuses among them do not even know they contribute to production. Previous Director-Generals have encouraged nonchalance as a tradition which you should robustly discourage. One wonders why a popular program like MORNING COFFEE manned by two able-bodied staff members should not work on public holidays in a shift system. The truth is that the bosses themselves would want the SLBC to close down on public holidays if they had their way. On some occasions Peter Z alone used to present Morning Coffee even more effectively than the indolent duo we are having.
The SLBC had been shamelessly participating in competitions for Best Radio Station in spite of the resource advantages it has over toddler community radio stations struggling for mere existence. You should pull the SLBC out of this scenario to find accolades by its singular performances.
Perhaps its high time to consider changing or amending its mantra of going “beyond ethnicity” and all that jazz. It has not been meaningful for a national radio station to go beyond ethnicity. Shall we substitute patriotism for ethnicity and see how that pans out? Thought for food!
The impact of your new broom has not been felt prompting cynics to say that you were waiting for your courtesy call on the Head of State before unleashing your full potential to the admiration of listeners. But it has been a tantalizing wait. Some have been putting it about that your reforms have been internal but you are heading a department which is directly in the public eye twenty four seven. How soon, they ask, shall we hear any sea change in the running of the SLBC? Are you hamstrung by bureaucracy or politics? Tell it and quit if need be. You have eager beavers out here waiting for positive results. Government should not be constrained to look for yet another Director-General if you fail to deliver.
Eschew Mediocrity and realize that “The general average of mankind are not only moderate in inclinations, they have no tastes or wishes strong enough to incline them to do anything unusual……………….” J. S. Mill.
Let me make a few suggestions:
- News on The Hour: All reputable stations would have News on The Hour or even On The Holf Hour so this has been overwhelmingly welcomed but in reality it has been for SLBC News On The Selected Hour.
- That ancient mantra of “We go beyond Ethnic Communities” etc. is due for an overhaul.
- Alice Kamara of blessed memory is dead but improvement in conventional pronunciation cannot die. Create a unit for that or seek her replacement.
- The king’s English should be treated as ‘she is spoke’ and not murdered.
- The Krio/Creole language is unifying and should have native speakers of the language as far as possible presenting or translating the language.
- Double Presenters: Its just a waste of man power to be having two presenters of a program. Public Notices are usually presented for an hour or so by one person. Peter Z used to do so. Focus on Africa is presented by one person. So let it be with SLBC.
- Repeat of Tel. Nos: Stress on your staff the need to repeat telephone numbers for public notices. After all Elephant Bet numbers are always repeated but your staff reel off three telephone numbers in 30 seconds without repetition.
- Shedding of Dead Wood: This may be beyond your mandate or ultra vires but quickly check on staff unproductive staff due for voluntary retirement and chop them off. Give accelerated promotion to achievers above mere residents in the service.
- Weather Forecast: Add weather forecast to your repertoire. Not many listen to Capital Radio.
We are avidly waiting for results.
Yours truly
Rev. S. M. Williams J.P
Ex- Controller. M. I. B.
