Lydia Forson, Duncan-Williams and the marriage conundrum, by Francis Doku

Lydia Forson is one of our very popular actresses in the category known as “Glam”.

Glam is the contrast to Kumawood (which is the corrupted expression for movies made in Kumasi) and it’s the film genre produced by the likes of Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Leila Djansi, Abdul Salaam Mumuni and the like.

I was talking about Lydia Forson. She was in the news early this week not for acting nor for the new movie she wrote and produced.

Anyway, what brought her into the news was something she wrote. Nay, a piece she wove intricately in a very creative, irreverent, blasé and sarcastic manner. I will tell you about that very soon and what water has passed under the bridge since.

Since last Monday, the country has been on some fire through its many social media active people and even some leading mainline media commentators have wade in. Trust me, the raging fire could burn a whole forest.

The issue has to do with the purported comments, among others, made about how privileged women should be if they were proposed to by men by Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams. The story I read on the www.starrfmonline.com was unequivocal about what the founder and leader of the Action Faith Ministries had said.

“It is a privilege to be married, it’s a privilege in the time we live in when it’s seven (women) to one man,” he told his congregation on  Sunday in Accra,’ paragraph three of the story said. 

Since the story went online, there have been massive conversations about the appropriateness of what the Archbishop was quoted to have said.

Among the most notable people who expressed their misgivings about the view when the story came out was actress and film producer Lydia Forson whose sarcastic piece was what she thought the response should be to the preacher.

Actually, she wrote two sarcastic pieces, the second being her response to those who picked an issue with what she said earlier. For both, she was either praised or vilified depending on where the view of the person is on the matter under discussion.

Subsequent to the brouhaha that the story generated, a video was shared which though uploaded on YouTube on July 26 has the same content as the story referred to. The question then was, if the story was from a new sermon he preached on Sunday or the same one as previously uploaded to YouTube.

If it was the same video from which the story was culled, then it is my considered opinion that the journalist could have done better to situated the story as such and not make it seem that the Archbishop had been speaking just the previous Sunday.

Indeed, the core of the message on the video is no different from what was written except the interpretation put on it in the first paragraph. I don’t subscribe to the view that it is a privilege for a woman to be proposed to by a man, but I believe that watching the video will make some take a different view on what the preacher said.

Even as I was putting this piece together, www.starfmonline.com uploaded a voice recording to their website to underscore the fact that the sermon in question took place on Sunday October, 2014. That audio confirms what was said in the earlier story.

Story, video, audio and “komini”, honestly, I at this stage I don’t know what to make of this story anymore, except to pontificate that you choose what you want to believe and what your view on the institution of marriage is. 

YFM IN KUMASI: WILL IT SURVIVE?

If there is one station that has used a combination of demographic and psychographic targeting to achieve success in this market than most other radio stations it certainly has to be YFM. The station, claims they are targeting young people within a certain age bracket, but more than that they also want to speak to those who may be old but feel “young at heart.”

That is an amazing proposition, but one you needed to work at assiduously on to ensure that it percolates through the market and all who encounters the station feel the vibe. There is no doubt in my mind that YFM has managed to do that ruthlessly.

There is absolutely no way, over the last three years at least, that you plan a radio campaign targeted at the youth that you would leave out YFM. If you are an agency your client will ask you if you really know your work.

From their on air programming through to their audience engagement initiatives, YFM exudes youthfulness like no other station. Don’t be fooled, some have tried this youth targeted thing and it didn’t end well and so for the station located at the Accra Mall (look at that, where the youth hangout the most!) to have done it so effortlessly (at least from the outside) they indeed need to be commended.

It must be said though that sometimes what works in one market doesn’t necessarily work in other markets. When YFM decided to extend shop to the Western Region by establishing YFM in Takoradi we all saw the potential in that market as it was in Accra.

The station found to their chagrin however, that what could save you in Accra could also drown you in Takoradi. That initiative just didn’t fly and what   happened need to be investigated. But they were unperturbed and have been trying to ensure that they get it right in the oil city finally.

I won’t call it a surprise when I heard that the owners of the station, Global Media Alliance had planned to convert their station in Kumasi, Anigye FM into another YFM in the Garden City, but I sure had a mixed feeling about the idea and I will tell you why.

Kumasi is not an easy market to do anything significantly different from what the norm is. You have to be able to understand the nuances and dynamics of the Kumasi market to make any meaningful impact.

The station they were going to rebrand Anigye FM had the DNA of a typical Kumasi-based station in terms of the style of broadcasting. The tough one was whether YFM when it arrived would be appealing to the citizens of the Garden City.

Takoradi may have been a tough one for the people at GMA and even as they strive to ensure it comes on line very strongly again, here, they are faced with the tough task of building another brand in a rather more difficult environment.

According to what I have gleaned so far some programmes that will simulcast on YFM in Kumasi from Accra are the morning show Ryse &Shyne, Mid-morning Show and the late afternoon show, Dryve of Your Lyfe. A programme like Y-Lounge will be hosted locally by former Kapital Radio late afternoon show host, Ebenezer Donkoh or NY DJ.

As a business, I think YFM is building something very strong in a very subtle manner that when it eventually bursts, many will be terribly surprised about. Now they have three regions to lavish their youthfulness on. Imagine if they add Tamale and then other markets. You don’t want to know.

It must also be said that with the establishment of YFM in Kumasi, this is the only single radio brand that operates in more than two markets with the same name and same proposition. It is something worth buying into.

Some have said that this Kumasi thing will go the way of Takoradi and even worse than that. My view is that, they would have taken a lesson from how Takoradi went and do better in Kumasi. If they did not then there is no need having them there as managers.

I hope that it succeeds. As a media planner, I always look forward to having opportunities that would enhance the opportunity to engage audience. YFM present one of such opportunities to engage a youthful audience and that makes me happy.

So while I congratulate them on a successful launch, I will also be listening to know how the Y experience in Kumasi is going.

Twitter: @TheGHMediaGuru