Asempa: I am very versatile
Though Onua FM has been on the scene for about eight months, Asempa, host of its Ghana Dadwen, believes the station has made a great impact and given the Akan-speaking radio stations a run for their money.
In an interview with Showbiz last Wednesday, Asempa, real name Bright Kwesi Asempa Tsadiday, said the impact of the young station has been phenomenal. “Onua FM has made a huge impact, we are indeed a threat to majority of the Akan-speaking stations, feedback has been very very good and we are happy about it.”
Asempa presents one of the flagship programmes of the station called Ghana Dadwen. According to him, it is a purely political programme which airs on Mondays to Fridays from 2pm to 6pm each day.
“It is a purely political programme where we have guests in the studio to discuss political issues, it is interspersed with one-on-one discussion with political heavyweights and music played on the show is strictly patriotic,” he explained.
Asked how he felt hosting such a programme, this is what Asempa had to say, “I enjoy doing it, in fact I love it. It is mainly done in Twi but if a guest cannot speak Twi, we speak English.”
Some of the highlights of the show, Asempa said, were the Controller and Accountant General Expose and a brawl between Hassan Ayariga and his Greater Accra Regional Chairman.
Personalities who have featured on the show include Dr Abu Sakara (former CPP Presidential candidate), Dr Nasigri Mahama (PNC flag bearer), Jacob Osei Yeboah (Independent Presidential Candidate), Freddy Blay (acting National Chairman, NPP), Rt Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante (Chairman, National Peace Council), Brig. Gen Francis Vib-Sanziri (National Co-ordinator NADMO), Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye (AMA), Hon Joyce Bawa Mogtari (Deputy Minister of Transport), Mr Asiedu Nketia (General Secretary of NDC) among others.
Touching on some of the challenges that have come with hosting Ghana Dadwen, Asempa said he has been tagged as being a sympathiser of a particular party and there has also been attacks from panellists, recalling, when a female panellist once wanted to beat him up after abusing him verbally.
Asempa has been in the radio industry for the past six years and worked with Great FM and Prime FM both in Accra. He presented a political show and the morning show on both stations and he attributes this to his versatility, “I think I am very versatile, no two ways about that.”
He added that he doesn’t really look up to anybody in the industry, “I am not really copying anybody, I’m doing my own thing.”
Asempa is the third of five children born to S.W.K. Tsadiday and Albertine Konu. He comes from Adaklu Tsriefe in the Volta Region.
He is married to Veronica and they have been blessed with a two-year-old daughter called Seyram.
His educational journey started from Gethsemane Primary, Kweikuma in the Western Region, Old Hospital JHS in Sekondi, Akrokerri Demonstration JHS in the Ashanti Region, Kumasi Anglican Secondary, Presbyterian Teacher Training College in Akropong Akwapim.
He also attended the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where he read Operations and Project Management and he is currently pursuing a second degree at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) in MS Leadership.
Asempa’s hobbies are playing football, reading and watching movies, “I love football very much and I am a good player,” he said. He supports Liverpool Footbal Club in England and Accra Hearts of Oak.
When it comes to food, a plate of banku and tilapia with a glass of red wine will always do for him.
He took the opportunity to express his gratitude to MG Radio and the management and staff of Onua FM, “thank you for bringing out the best in me, I know together we will achieve greatness.”
His final message was, “I believe that everything is possible with God. Ghana Dadwen is in to make a difference in the political talk show scene, it is time to have some decency in our political shows and that is exactly what we present.”
