Life begins at 40, but not for Bola Ray

Wednesday March 1, 2017 marked Bola Ray’s birthday. He shares birthday with such celebrities as Justin Bieber, Lupita Nyongo and a host of other Hollywood and music popular personalities. Bola Ray or Nathaniel Kwabena Anokye Adisi (as he was named by his parents before he chose another path) was born 40 years ago.

Forty years is a lot if you have not reached there and yet it is what some say is the beginning. Whoever coined that expression did hoodwink the world though, I should point out.

You begin to feel pains in your joints and most likely struggling with a potbelly, if you are from hereabouts and your lifestyle is horrible to exercising and wealthy living. So that guy, whoever he is, lied about life beginning at 40.

But I digress, this week’s issue is my attempt to eulogise the legend that is Bola Ray. A man who has impacted more lives than most would before they turn 40.

If life begins at 40, then from what he has done until now, Bola Ray started before the gun was shot! Or as they say in street Ga, “Bola eju start.”

From his days at Radio Univers through when he made the whole of Accra stop on Top Radio in the afternoon as he presented his very popular Top City Jam to when he finally landed at Joy FM as host of Drive Time, Bola Ray has been nothing less than a phenomenal character on the Ghanaian broadcasting landscape.

When the time was right, he took a walk, like a boss to head what would become one of Ghana’s most fledging and burgeoning news organisations in the country – Excellence In Broadcasting Network or EIB for short.

If there is one thing, oh make that two things, you would appreciate about Bola Ray, it has got to be his positive attitude towards life and his penchant to take criticism.

Bola Ray can make you believe you could paint the Mona Lisa better than Leonardo Da Vinci did, and that is exemplary of his positive attitude to like.

Anyone who has come close to Bola Ray would tell you about how the maiden co-host of TV3’s Music Music could inspire you by his belief in the things that many would shy away from.

If Bola Ray is where he is today, one reason is that he has always believed in the good things in life coming his way.

The last time I had an interview with Bola Ray at the Ridge building that houses EIB, he mentioned how the organisation he heads was aiming at becoming the biggest broadcast organisation on the African continent and though I had this quizzical look on my face, I know it was coming from the most positive Ghanaian I have encountered since Komla Dumor and so didn’t doubt him.

The other aspect of his is the fact that he has the chin to take what is thrown at him. Of course, he is human and sometimes it gets at him, but Bola Ray stomachs a lot of criticism than most other people on radio and television, and believe me when I say so.

I have been writing this column since July 2000 and during the period, my pen and my computer keyboard has touched many broadcasters.

There were some who didn’t take kindly to what I had written and had either threatened a revenge or gone on to take their pound of flesh on whatever medium was available to them.

Bola Ray is one of those I have written mostly about, for better or for worse. It was only once, and not too long ago that he made me know he took an exception to a comment I made.

It was not even in this column, but a tweet when Starr FM started. Long and short is that we agreed to disagree and moved on as the friends we were as though nothing had happened.

It is the nature of Bola Ray to be chummy with anyone who comes across and that has been his style all through the period I have known him from being a radio presenter to artiste manager to event organiser to TV presenter to becoming a CEO, Bola Ray has been true to his nature.

On the cusp of his 40th anniversary, Bola Ray relinquished his show on Starr FM for a relatively younger male presenter and a contemporary female presenter to jointly host it.

So far, it would seem Giovani Caleb Adjomah and Anita Erskine are still struggling to exit from the shadows of the colossus that is Bola Ray. That was to be expected, but hopefully they would turn the corner soon.

As for Bola Ray, he is focusing on running the media empire he and the Duffours have built, to make it what he has always envisioned it to be.

As mentioned above, he opened up about what he wants EIB to become in an interview he granted me upon their second anniversary.

“I believe that we are work in progress, but far away from the ultimate vision. I always tell the team that we have only been able to achieve 10percent of what we have set ourselves to achieve and so we all need to continue to work hard.”

He said they will not be stopped by space, geography or time to ensure that the big vision of making EIB a global company is attained. “Our vision is with a global perspective: where we need to have affiliates we will, where we need to have physical presence we will, it doesn’t matter if it is London, South Africa, Kenya, China or anywhere in the world,” the man on a mission, Bola Ray stressed.

For now though and at 40,  his daily grind is to manage these media organisations within the EIB Network: Starr FM, Live FM, Kasapa FM, Ultimate Radio, Agoo FM, Abusua FM, Empire FM; GhOne TV, Agoo TV; Daily Heritage Newspaper; starrfmonline, kasapafmonline, livefmonline and ultimatefmonline.

Not bad for a 40 year old man just beginning life, is it? For many young people who want to end up in broadcasting, entertainment and show business one thing is clear: Bola Ray is living their dream! Happy birthday, Bola and welcome to the pangs that only 40 something year olds know about.