Per my last post in Tales, I had to do an internship at a media house, Glory TV.
It was compulsory and I could not escape it even if I tried. I had options in two regions of my choice (that is Kumasi and Accra) however I had to quickly decide to have it in Accra because I had freshly completed a national assignment here and was not willing to move too far from the capital. So upon the correct procedures, I made my way to a Television station formerly known as Glory TV and presently called Sankofa Television. The station was situated at Tabora number 3 near Lapaz New Market. A man named Gyimah showed me around and helped me to settle down with my new family.
My first impression of the media house was not a very pleasing one. The station lacked the equipment to aid the media business Some of the types of equipment that were not present were high-end cameras, tripods, studios for production, and even microphones for outside reportage. Another thing that was a hindrance to the station’s success at the time was the lack of space on the premises. I remember seeing a reception and a master control room when I first entered however as determined as I was, I overlooked that and began to learn from everything my eyes could see. After officially meeting the head of the station, I was to partake in everything that happened at the station. This was not a huge media empire hence they had one recorded program showing weekly. Yes, this was an entertainment show which had 2 presenters on board so you could tell there were small opportunities here for me with regards to going on air, and don’t forget I could do both TV and radio presentations effortlessly.
I remember Kojo Coded and Adjoa Coded as their showbiz names and once I settled down with them, (relation-wise) they began to take me on their interesting productions. I began to have more insight on how pre-productions and post-productions were done or conducted. It was dope initially to me because here I was seeing a show live and days later saw it again as a new episode on television. The show was good hence got people talking about both personalities once the episodes aired. During these productions, I made friends like Abu, Rex, and Priscilla now known as Mhiz Pan on TikTok. Abu was a chief editor who was in charge of all the station’s complex graphics like logo creation and editing shoots from productions. Rex championed the Master Control Room and made sure everything that played on air was of top standard. Pan on the other hand was the station’s secretary who was always at the reception and was one of the people who welcomed me to the station as an intern.
As time passed, I grew more accustomed to the MCR department hence when Rex was not available, I was there. Also If I was not with the marketing team within the period of 8 am to 2 pm, I would be with Mr. Abu on the production team for entertainment. I was very active I must say and I loved it however I wanted more because I felt empty each time nothing was happening around me. A young by the name of Emmanuel Owusu was employed by the firm and he changed my fate completely. He came in to take the production manager role and that was followed by a huge announcement weeks later. Before the announcement, Emma had a whole plan set up for the station which he made clear was going to begin soon. The station manager on a hot Monday assembled his team and spilled all the company’s plans and that was that he would be relocating his channel’s activities to Kasoa.
According to him, the real media journey of Glory TV will be manifested there. He also hinted at a bigger space for more production activity and the employment of many journalists to undertake various TV shows from sports, entertainment, news, and even culture and finally, the station would be called Sankofa Television. It was still an internship for me hence I still had to be employed to join them in Kasoa. On the day of our relocation, I was called into the manager’s office and his message was clear. “you will be joining us in Kasoa, and while there, you can assist with the production work for the betterment of the station”. I left happily mainly for the fact that he recognized my efforts during my short stay with them finally.
We left early in the morning for Kasoa after packing all equipment in the former studio. The journey I would say was a 1 hour drive hence I knew instantly that if I was to accept his offer, I would have to leave home and stay around the Kasoa area. Mind you this was in the Central region of the country this was largely exciting. After seeking permission from my parents to accept this job, I was allowed to leave and return every weekend to spend quality time with the family. Since the station had just moved to Kasoa, there was lots of work to be done the manager of the station was a hands-on kind of man. He fixed most of the things from electricals himself and I together with my workmates assisted him greatly over 2 months to get ready for the mainstream airing.
After we fully dealt with the arrangement of MCR, studios, newsroom, entertainment corners, and of course a reception, applications were open to employ seasoned news and TV presenters all over the country. This was so serious because once the adverts rolled, many people trooped into the station with envelopes. This was not a well-shot ad with voiceovers however it was a written type of ad positioned below the TV screen and allowed it to roll continuously hence it was very impressive to me. There and then I realized how many people watched Sankofa daily. The boss was happy to be seeing people come to his station well-dressed but did well to hide it from all of us. In short, he felt fulfilled and vowed to make stars from his establishment once he was up and running. A day before the interview session, I was chosen to be a member of the team at Sankofa however my exact position was not mentioned.
The following day I watched hundreds get interviewed and fight for a spot in many departments till it was all over. I was assigned to select and group most of the journalists desired by the station. They were all called back by the board and given departments to fill. These sections were the news, entertainment, marketing, and sports department. It was all fun and games throughout this process till we got a bit commercial. I say a bit because the station was still looking for a wide-reach audience and this meant huge capital was needed from companies who wanted to advertise their products on the station’s platform. What I never knew was how gloomy things would turn out months later at my dream station.
Continue in our next post.