Absolute Radio: A Tale of How Radio Revived a Dying City

I was interviewed on Africa Talk Podcast based in New York. I was invited to talk about Absolute Radio.

Absolute Radio is the book I wrote and released in September 2022.

The host of Africa Talk Podcast is Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey. He is a friend and a fellow Journalist I worked with in Ghana many years ago at Joy FM in Accra. On a Zoom call between New York and Perth, he asked me many insightful questions to reveal a picture of how Absolute Radio as a book came together.

Little Memory of My own Words

I couldn’t remember the specific answers I provided as Nii Akrofi bombarded me with questions. All I know is that I felt plugged into the inspiring events, places and people who made this book possible. The story really belongs to the numerous people who constitute the tapestry of the narrative. I was just a vessel that brought it to life through the 374 pages of the book.

The Africa Talk Podcast host and his team later released the interview  – a full 22 minutes – as part of the half hour production.

After listening to it, I realised Nii Akrofi latched onto a major theme in the book about how a radio station operated by a team of young men and women revived a dying city in Africa.

A Very Brief History

“In 1997, a young entrepreneur set up Skyy Power FM, the first commercial radio station in the Western regional city of Takoradi (Ghana), which had been deemed unprofitable by industry leaders,” said the host in his introduction.

He adds, “The station revived the once dormant city and created thousands of jobs in its 25 years of operation.”

Naturally, Nii Akrofi made me feel special in his introduction, by telling listeners that “Our guest, Phillip Nyakpo, was among the first group of young talents employed at the station. He chronicles the history of the station… and the impact it had on the city of Takoradi in his book, Absolute Radio: The Inspiring True Story of the First Private Radio in Ghana’s Western Region.”

A Chronicle Beyond Radio and Broadcasting

To show that Absolute Radio is more than just a story about radio and broadcasting, Nii Akrofi Smart-Abbey says, “Phillip talks to us about this incredible African story about entrepreneurship and the future of journalism in Africa.”

You can listen to the full interview below:

Absolute Radio can be obtained from all online bookstores (Amazon, Apple, Google, etc – search for “Absolute Radio book”). Absolute Radio is in multiple formats:

* Paperback
* eBook
* Kindle also as an
* Audiobook read by the author, Phillip Nyakpo

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