The 76-year-old veteran broadcaster took Kunle Falayi through the journey of his life, reasons why he could not stay away from the microphone and the moment he appeared on Africa’s first television
What was childhood like for you?
I would say I had a wonderful childhood. I was born in Ibadan in 1937 and schooled at Agbeni Methodist School, Ibadan up to primary level and from there I went to Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos in 1951. I wrote school certificate examination in 1955 and came out with grade one; four distinctions and four credits. In my final year, I was the school prefect while our head-boy at the time was Felix Ibru – the first civilian governor of Delta State.
My friend and fellow prefect in Freeman House was late Prof. Dare Olatawura, former Chief Medical Director of the University College, Ibadan, an Ikole indigene. He died a few years ago and I made an oration there. We were very close friends from day one at Igbobi College until the time he died. I was really active as a child and brilliant too. We were taught to be religious. I played games and was quite athletic. I was a sprinter and did 100 metres or 100 yards as they called it at the time. I was in the relay team as well with my elder brother, Biola. We also both played football.
I was active in the literary and debating society where I was secretary and represented Igbobi College a number of times in quiz and debate competitions.
Igbobi College was quite popular among people of your generation. Was your father a rich man that he could afford to send you to such an elitist school?
That is not true of us. I will not say that was true of Igbobi College. It was meant for the brilliant boys irrespective of their backgrounds. Dare Olatawura’s father was a farmer in Ikole Ekiti. Late Segun Akinwunmi’s father was also an ordinary man. He too attended Igbobi. Segun Awolowo, the only one with a silver spoon, came to Igbobi a year after me in 1952. Tunji Fadairo who was President of the Nigerian Bar Association twice was also in our class. His father was a minister under Chief Awolowo in the first Action Group government in Western Nigeria and a chief at Ilaro. There was one Babalola as well whose father was a minister. Other than that, most of us admitted in 1951 were from ordinary homes. For Igbobi College, you just had to be good.My father did not even earn four figures. He worked for the Department of Works and Transport for 42 years and two months. It was not a question of whether you had a rich parent or influential parent.
But there must have been a lot of competition among you boys at the time…
That is true. If you succeeded in getting into Kings’College, or Igbobi, you would consider yourself among the best. Then Baptist Boys High School, CMS Grammar School, Methodist Boys High School and St. Gregory’s College were the top schools of the time. We also had Baptist Boys High School in Abeokuta, Abeokuta Grammar School, Ibadan Grammar School and also Oduduwa College in Ile-Ife. There was this urge at the time to go into one of these good schools. I remember myself and my younger brother, Afolabi, also took entrance examinations into the then Oluiwa College, which is now the Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode. Afolabi came first and I was third and we were offered scholarship but he preferred Methodist Boys High School and I chose Igbobi College in Lagos which were considered higher schools than Oluiwa College. Otherwise we would have been classmates of the present Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who was a pioneer student of the school.
How does it make you feel knowing that the standard of education in these schools has fallen?
That is the tragedy of this country. Corruption has destroyed a lot of things. There are miracle centres now where people manipulate exams for students who cannot pass. Many people hold certificates they cannot defend. Teachers now even encourage their students to cheat so that they could be seen to be working. Only a miracle can change things in this country.
Would you say you caught the broadcasting bug as an active member of the school debating society?
No. Before that time, I knew I had the gift of gab – I was eloquent. At Agbeni Methodist School, I was the office boy. That was the position given to someone who would be equivalent to the head-boy or the senior prefect in the secondary school. I took the early attendance in the classes and wrote the figures on the board in the principal’s office. I also made announcements at the assembly on Fridays. Before Igbobi days, I had that awareness and Igbobi developed it the more with the opportunity of being in the literary and debating society. In my final year as a prefect, we were the ones reading the lessons for services. I was also the prefect for justice – I administered the punishments. Bolaji Soyin was in charge of the clinic, while Dare (Prof. Olatawura) was in the library because he was a bookworm.
Where did you go to after Igbobi?
When I left school in December 1955, I first got a job as a clerk at the secretariat in Ibadan for three months. I knew I wasn’t cut out for a pen-pushing job, so I resigned. I went across to Oxford House, Ibadan and saw Michael Olumide, Head of Programmes, West Regional Programmes at Radio Nigeria. I told him I would like to be a broadcaster and he told me to come to the studio for a voice test and I did excellently well. I became a newscaster with Radio Nigeria.
I got a study leave later and went to the Nigerian College of Arts and Sciences, Ibadan branch. At the time, it was the only tertiary institution apart from the University of Ibadan. It had three branches; Ibadan – which later metamorphosed into the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), the Zaria branch later became the Ahmadu Bello University, while the Enugu branch became the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. But the headquarters was in Nsukka to suit Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the brain behind it. I was there for two sessions; ’57/ ’58, ’58/’59 for my A’ Levels. Then I was admitted to the University of Ibadan. I was given admission for Divinity but because I was ignorant, I thought that automatically meant I was going to become a priest and I did not want that. But just then, television was starting and they advertised that they wanted pioneer announcers and I applied. I went for audition and I was taken with Anike Agbaje-Williams and one John Ediang and we became the pioneers of WNTV – the first television house in Africa which incidentally marked its 55th anniversary few days ago. It was established on October 31 1959. I did not want to be a teacher because at the time, teachers’ reward was supposed to be in heaven and I was not in a hurry to go to heaven. Also, I did not want to be a lawyer because I thought they were liars, due to maybe my own ignorance. So, I chose broadcasting.
Did you have other people who inspired you?
I had inspiration from people who were reading the network news on Radio Nigeria at the time like Emmanuel Omasola, Deinde George, Michael Olumide, Sam Nwaneri and Kunle Alakija. At Igbobi College, when the network news was being read on Radio Nigeria at 1.30pm which was the lunch time at the dining room, rather than have my lunch, I preferred to go to the common room to listen to the news. That was the initial attraction I had for broadcasting. In addition to this, on the BBC, I was listening to people like Alexander Moyes, Timothy Brit, Richard Westle. These newscasters fired my inspiration the more.
At that point, did you ever think that you were going to be part of television history in Africa?
I had no idea what the future held for me. But I was sufficiently interested in the business that I thought in the future I was going to be another Michael Olumide, Emmanuel Omasola or Deinde George or Kunle Alakija. I saw them as my role models. One thing led to another and I realised the way was clearing for me. For instance, in Radio Nigeria, unless you were six months old in the corporation, you could not come near reading the news but they put me on the news after only two weeks as a newscaster for the West Regional Programme in Ibadan. I was also a sports ceremonial commentator with Sola Folorunso and Emmanuel Omasola.
I noticed you did not say much about your parents in all these. Didn’t they have much say about the choices you made at the time?
That’s an omission actually. My father had a lot of influence on me. He was Inspector of Works at the Public Works Department. He was very honest and devoted to his work. He became friends with Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Whenever Awo was travelling, he would stop by to chat with my father on the road. My father built most of the roads in Western Nigeria. All he had was the first story building ever built in Efon-Alaaye commissioned in 1942 and also a small mud house he bought at Ekotedo which we sold just a couple of weeks ago. He was that honest. Contractors would tell him, ‘Look, let us do a deal, if we are supposed to supply 10 loads of gravel or sand, let us supply six and make do with the money saved from that.’ But he would tell them, ‘Rara, e se ise yin ni asepe’ (No, do your work well and honestly). So they changed his name from Mr. Olasope to Mr. Alasepe. He passed on that quality of honesty, fear of God and hard work to us. But regarding artistic talents, eloquence, dancing, I owe that to my mother. My mother was a princess from Ido-Faboro Ekiti. Because she was a princess, she had been exposed to those cultural things.
How did you transit from Radio Nigeria to WNTV? What brought about that change?
After I refused admission to the University of Ibadan, I went back to Radio Nigeria and they told me that since I had been granted study leave without pay, the condition was that I would have to come back to my original position and that I could only move up if there was a vacancy. They did not add to my salary, which was about 400 pounds at the time. I was not happy about that. Just then, WNTV was advertising for staff. I applied and was taken and they offered me 240 pounds. I asked myself why I should leave a 400 pounds job for a 240 pounds job. But they told me that I could be a flier. And that was what happened. In six months at WNTV, I earned double promotion. When Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service, the radio arm of WNTV, also the first commercial radio in Nigeria, started later on May 1, 1960, I moved up to become the head of programmes on the radio. Segun Olusola was head of programmes for television.
So, you were the first to appear on TV?
Yes, I was. What happened was that on WNTV’s opening night, the opening took place at the House of Chiefs, where the Oyo State Government secretariat complex is now situated. I read the opening news which was broadcast and transmitted live with an Outside Broadcast unit from the lawns in front of the House at 7.25pm. The last story of the five-minute bulletin was about the event of the night. It was on it that Chief Obafemi Awolowo arrived. He was told to arrive at 7.29pm and he was a really disciplined man. Dead on 7.29pm, his car appeared. When I finished the bulletin, he came in and did the opening commissioning there. From there, they switched over to the television house where Anike Agbaje-Williams did the opening continuity announcement. There was confusion as to who was first between me and Anike. Usually, today, if there is going to be an outside broadcast, it is the studio announcer who would hand over to the person at the OB unit, but because we had to commission the station before we began programming, it was the other way round. We started at the OB point. The news reading was first event and the commissioning followed where Chief Awolowo described television as “the modern miracle…” The third event of the day was Anike’s announcement.
How did you feel at that moment you realised you were going to be the first man to appear on television in Africa?
I must say I am not a nervous person at all. I was in control of my nerves. I had been reading the news and got used to the microphone at Radio Nigeria since 1956 – at least three years before that. I could be reading the news and making faces at you and I would not make mistake. Not every broadcaster had control of their nerves. The only difference that day was that the lights were on and I was sweating. I had on a tie of my alma mater, Igbobi College. I was just happy to be part of history. I was just 22, freshly out of the college.
That must have elevated your status among peers and in the eyes of young ladies at the time.
Oh naturally. It was not just friends and peers, girls also. The wives of ministers in the Awolowo cabinet at the time liked associating with me. I got a lot of attention from them. I was a very eligible bachelor. We were given clothing allowance and so we always had on good clothes. The ladies would come around asking where I bought my clothes, who sewed them for me and so on. They too were fashionable because it was the first government of a self-governing Western Nigeria. We broadcasters went around and people pointed at us, calling our names because we were quite popular. Everybody wanted to associate with us. As a broadcaster at the time, you would be equally popular with presidents, governors, kings as you would be with armed robbers, prostitutes and thugs. I remember there was a riot in town, I was driving from Ibadan to Lagos and armed robbers and some thugs laid siege to the road. When I got there, one of them said “Oh, it’s Kunle Olasope, our broadcaster. Let him go.” I passed unscathed.
We enjoyed it. It wasn’t about the money unlike the present day broadcasters. And I don’t blame them. That is what the society has become.
But your salary at the time must be a lot of money compared with now.
I started with 240 pounds and after three months, because of my performance on the opening night, they moved me up to 408 pounds. After another three months when we started the radio arm, I was moved up for the second promotion to become Senior Producer, Radio, which is the equivalent of today’s head of programmes. I went up to 600 pounds. University graduates then were earning 621 pounds. So, the gap of three years that I would have spent in the university was bridged in just six months and I earned 21 pounds less than a graduate.
How comfortable were you at that time on that kind of salary?
Standard of living was quite cheap. Things were far much cheaper. I was quite comfortable. I can even say I was rich. I could afford all the good things of life. I bought my first car seven days after Nigeria’s Independence. But before then, as Senior Producer, Radio, I had an official car which was chauffeur-driven. I was only 23.
Can you mention some of those people you tutored who went on to become great men in the profession?
This is one of those things that make me the happiest because this is one of my contributions to the society. Former Director-General of Radio Nigeria, late Bankole Balogun, went through me. I recruited and interviewed the late Yomi Onabolu, one time General Manager, Ogun State Television. I made him an announcer and also trained him. I inspired the late Bode Alalade into broadcasting. I recruited Channels TV proprietor, John Momoh in Abeokuta in 1980. I discovered him while organising a weekly audition to get new talents. I also recruited the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ado-Ekiti and the erudite law professor, Akin Oyebode, into radio broadcasting before he went to study law. I also recruited Ayinde Soaga, now the General Manager of OGTV. There are so many others. It pleases me to know that anywhere I go in Nigeria today, people I trained, recruited or inspired are there.
Do you regret not having a university degree?
Will it not surprise you that I am not a university graduate? I only attended the Nigerian College of Arts and Sciences, Ibadan. The solid background I had at Igbobi College which I built on made me as good as anybody. I am not inferior to anybody. I rank shoulder to shoulder with those who got masters and even PhDs today. In later life, I got two doctorate degrees (honoris causa); I got one in 2004 from the Shallow Bible University of Iowa, US in the same Divinity that I ran away from. I got another one from Mercy International University, Maryland, US in Public Administration in 2006. I have been a member of the Institute of Marketing, London since 1974 because I later became the first director of commercial services in broadcasting in Nigeria at the WNTV/WNBS in 1968. I have achieved a lot that university graduates could not. So what more do I want? I got a national honour in 2000 as Member of the Order of the Niger as a result of broadcasting. I was one of the first set to be given the Distinguished Veteran Broadcasters Award by the National Broadcasting Commission in 2000.
How did you manage fame at such a very young age?
The fear of God was there. The fact that God has given me a very simple lifestyle helped. I did not go into any rebellion. That’s why I did not join any union when I was in government service. Many lazy people would hide under unionism to cause trouble for management. I believed in working hard, honesty and I did not chase money for the sake of having money and I was never corrupt. I retired as a Director of Commercial Services and I took no kobo of government money. I was retired during the Olusegun Obasanjo/Mohammed Murtala era for what they called inefficiency few months after I was made a director in 1975. I gave the facts to Bola Ige, my lawyer, and he was going to take them to court for citing inefficiency as reason for the retirement. It was Vincent Maduka who slotted my name into the list of those to be retired. But I don’t wish to go into details of that.
However, during Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977, I was hired as an external expert with seven others, who included Wole Soyinka and a few other people to work at the national secretariat. When Obasanjo saw me, he asked me to come to Dodan Baracks and through late Commodore Oduwaye, he gave me a waiver over retirement, that they had made a mistake over my case. That was how I came back to government work. OGBC offered me an appointment. After OGBC, Bola Ige started the television service of Oyo State and invited me to be the head of presentation. I finally retired in 1984 and I never did any full time broadcasting until 2000 when the then Ekiti State Governor, Niyi Adebayo, made me the pioneer Chairman of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State.
While on air, did you ever commit an error that caused trouble during your broadcasting days?
I was too careful, sufficiently efficient and adequately responsible that I did not make such errors. On the contrary, I got accelerated promotions and awards for exceptional performance. That was why the reason given for my initial retirement was laughable. It was equally shocking to Bola Ige.
Did your career choice influence any one of your children?
They went mostly into the economic world. But my first child, Jumoke, had my talent. She was a broadcaster with OGBC and later Lagos television. She was born in England during my course with the BBC in 1962, she did some freelance work with the BBC and works with the bureau now.
So when did you meet your wife?
She was working as a secretary in the office of the then Premier of Western Region, Chief S. L. Akintola. She was being brought from work at Oke-Ado one day in a car with government registration number WNG 35. I was fascinated by the adornment in her hair. I shadowed her till the car stopped in a corner. The following day, I saw her outside again and when I asked one Sabaina Bakare, who was working in the marketing board at the time, who she was and he told me he knew her and I asked him to introduce me to her.
I started talking to her and visiting her. For six months, she did not visit my house and did not go out with me. But after that, she went out with me to a dance at Adamasingba where Roy Chicago was playing. I told her it was a victory dance. It has been 50 years now and seven children after, we are still together.
Do you still broadcast because your voice still sounds good?
On a regular basis every Sunday afternoon, I do a review of editorial opinions in newspapers on Ekiti Radio. I started doing that about a year ago. Before that, I did it for four and half years on Splash FM, Ibadan.
So you can’t stay away from the microphone?
Oh no, I cannot. It is not possible for me to stay away from the microphone. I have told my children, when I die, if they don’t bury a microphone with me, I will refuse to go to heaven. It is the only thing I know. I am always looking for ways broadcasting can be improved. If I hear anything wrong on radio or television in terms of pronunciation or information, I phone the studio right away and talk to them.
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