CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Broadcasting is the process of sending out and receiving messages on-air by a scientific means called electromagnetic waves, according to Hanson (2005) these messages are transformed into electronic signals with the carrier waves generated into the transmitter and the studio. The blending enables the electromagnetic waves to be moved at a great speed through the antenna and shot into the air. The air carries the waves as a medium and the signals are received by the sets in our homes and offices. An on-air presentation, whether for the radio or television can be a blend of all the types of presentation such as, the variety shows which covers various segments that deals with specific issues. The essence of on-air presentation as Baran (2004) puts it, is to stimulate societal growth, renewal and generation of vital issues the improvement of man for a wholesome life and a better community. On-air presentation is a very powerful medium because it reaches a huge audience quickly and it allows people to interact with one another in more easily than other mediums like newspaper and the internet. Folarin (2005) posits that an on-air personality is a person who introduces the different parts of television and radio shows. An on-air personality can be at the same time called an announcer due to the job that he exhibits on Television/Radio, he or she must have gone through some series of studies to know much about the rules and regulations of carrying the profession he had studied. Furthermore, the on-air personalities in television can be characterized by different individuals and these individuals go a long way in creating an image of their respective broadcast station.
Formative studies on knowledge shows have demonstrated the importance of the presenter of a programme. He or she is often the figure the child in front of the television can relate to, offering an entry point to the learning space and a connection to the content. The presenter is, so to speak, the “learning companion”, and therefore very important in terms of how viewers relate to the content, how successfully they learn, and how popular the show itself is. It is therefore essential to carefully choose a target-group-specific person as a learning companion. Research has given clear hints that TV characters of the same sex and ethnic background are often preferred by children as their favourite characters (Götz, 2010). However, in Nigeria, Endong (2014) observed that as a child growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and its affiliates such as FRCN were the only source of media broadcast entertainment for most Nigerians. Even though we had limited options of what to watch on TV or listen to on radio, government-owned television and radio stations of yester years paraded an elite group of top quality ‘On-Air’ Personalities (OAP). A rare occurrence that seems to be vanishing in today’s Nigerian broadcast media. He further noted that Nigerian on-air personalities of old displayed utmost professionalism and what I would call ‘extreme Nigerianness’. From the day I began to comprehend English words and join my parents to watch NTA news, I can still recall the articulation of TV presenters like Frank Olize, Ruth Benamaisia, Elizabeth Nze, Tokunbo Ajai and Sienna Razak Lawal to name a few. There was something about them; the way they spoke-good English with distinct Nigerian accents. When you heard their voices on air, it was clear, composed, great diction and above all they sounded very Nigerian.
Fast forward to this day, Nigeria now boasts of a vibrant, liberalized, private sector-led electronic media industry. Private TV and radio stations now litter our landscape. Today, it’s easier to get an On Air Personality job in most private radio stations, at least in Lagos than it was years ago. The criterion is simple, Television for instance: Look good, have confidence and be able to speak with an international accent. For radio, you don’t have to look good, just have a good voice, some confidence and again speak with an international accent all in an attempt to promote the image of such broadcast stations. These days no one is exactly sure of which accent is in vogue-British or American. Many young Nigerian OAPs have simply merged both accents to produce a hybrid foreign accent that now seems to have evolved and gotten a life of its own. (Endong 2014).
When you go back to the television arena, it becomes even worse, sometimes ridiculous. I don’t normally like to name names (yeah right) but if you have access to Soundcity TV and you’ve watched recent episodes of their Top 10 Nigeria count down, then you ‘might’ understand what I’m talking about. These young TV presenters both male and female, in addition to giving themselves silly nicknames, struggle throughout the duration of their show to deliver and sustain their yet to be defined foreign accents. It gets so bad that many times you no longer understand what they are trying to say, or why both of them suddenly burst into laughter. There are genuine cases were some of these OAP were actually raised abroad but they are in the minority. What we have in most cases are people who spent most of their lives in Nigeria, travelled overseas for about six months, return to Nigeria and start the accent thing. However, it’s not gloomy all round as we still have lots of OAPs that are keeping it real; though they tend to be older-thirty five years of age or above, veterans. The main focus of this study is aimed at studying how on-air personalities promote a positive image for their broadcast stations as they serve as the faces of their stations.