Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State is playing host to a retinue of radio stations located in various parts of the city. About 14 FM radio stations are presently competing for audiences in the Garden City. The first radio station that came on board in Port Harcourt was the state-owned Radio Rivers broadcast on the 99.1 megahertz. The station started broadcast on Saturday May 2, 1981.
Then, residents of Rivers and the neighbouring states were thrilled with the station’s scintillating music which runs for 24 hours. Port Harcourt residents will not forget in a hurry the station’s ace broadcasters, such as Boma Erekosima and others who would always thrill them with various programmes that were very educative and informative. But the domineering power of the station diminished when other FM stations came on board such as Rhythm 93.7, Wazobia 94.1 FM, Cool FM, Nigeria Info, Wave FM, Garden City FM, Love FM, Naija FM, Ray Power FM and the most recent additions, the Wish FM and Treasure FM.
Rhythm 93.7 FM, located in the old GRA was founded in 2007. The station at its inception broadcast an urban contemporary radio format playing a variety of music genres, including R&B, hip hop with occasional electronic dance music and other renditions. The radio station is operated by Sliver bird communications and is one of the most popular private radio stations in the south of Nigeria. The station’s editorial content with its firebrand interview sessions is one out of many. The radio station was the talk of town until Wazobia FM hit the airwaves with its pidgin English content.
Wazobia 94.1 FM has a very rich pidgin English content and draws its audience mostly from the common man. It was founded in 2007 and owned by Globe Communications. Renowned for its humorous approach to broadcasting, the radio station is very popular with its numerous humorous contents.
Wazobia FM later gave birth to the Cool FM and the Nigeria Info. The two stations have rich editorial contents. Some of their morning phone-in programmes discuss issues from politics, economics, religion , health, environment and other socio-economic and political matters and affords its numerous listeners the opportunity to air their views on various issues that affect their immediate environment.
Another radio station that is making wave in Port Harcourt is the Love 97.7 FM. The radio station is founded by an industrialist, Godfery Ohuabunwa. A religious programme, “morning flight” aired early in the morning from Mondays through Fridays, is very popular. Garden City radio is another station that is making waves in Port Harcourt. The radio station is popular too.
Raypower 105 FM is a sister station to the AIT television founded by a media mogul and politician, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi. The radio station was making wave in the late 1990s until other radio stations began to hit the airwaves.
Treasure 98.5 FM was setup by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. The radio station located at Mgboba was established to bring the programmes of the federal government to the grassroots.
The Wave FM is another news and current affairs radio station with a rich news content.
The Wise FM is the recent addition to radio stations in Port Harcourt. The radio station which focuses on business content hit the airwaves two months ago.
The presence of several radio stations in Port Harcourt also has its disadvantage as most of the signals are jammed making audio difficult in some instances.
A resident of Port Harcourt, Moses Akaosa, said the presence of many radio stations has afforded residents the opportunity to choose which radio to listen to. He said, “the presence of many radio stations in Port Harcourt is a very good thing unlike when we had only Radio Rivers which was established in the 1980s.
“That time we relied only on Radio Rivers to get information. But today so many radio stations have come up and one stands the advantage of listening to any station that pleases him,” he explained.
According to him, these stations have an socio-economic impact by creating more jobs. On the whole, in fact, Port Harcourt residents are having a nice time in the choice of radio stations to listen to.
