Anas’ “Number 12” is finally here
By the time you read this, you may have already seen Number 12.
But it looks like Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ latest investigative work on corruption in football (as the promotional material suggests) is a box-office hit even before it would be screened at the Accra International Conference Centre yesterday and today.
There has been so much talk, drama, allegations, counter allegations, attempts to unmask Anas, other attempts to expose him as a corrupt person and the whole nine yards of trying to ensure that the show would not happen as planned today.
The biggest sideshow to this was when the President of the FA, Kwasi Nyantakyi was invited by the police, upon a directive by the president, as a result of what he was purported to have said in the yet to be aired investigative piece.
Following that incident, the member of parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Agyepong has gone to town to scream blue murder and so have others who feel that Anas has not been truthful about his own dealings and thus should be investigated just as he investigates others.
The MP has been to one radio station after another and gallivanted from one television station to another to drum home his point of making sure that Anas is exposed as a fraudulent person.
He has released photos that he claims are Anas and has said things that suggest that the investigative reporter has no locus to judge others both morally and legally.
Despite this campaign, or rather as a result of this negative campaign against Anas, the planned showing of the report has gained so much popularity.
The number of people asking for tickets have soared and it appears, at the time of writing this on Wednesday morning, that the AICC would be tested to its seams with huge attendance.
Many people just want to know what’s in the report that many forces have lined up to ensure that it would not be broadcast as promised. In any case, the BBC have been promoting a showing this afternoon to audiences across Africa and the world, which makes the airing at the AICC a very small event relative to the audience that would see it on the Beeb and other media platforms afterwards.
By the time you read this however, some of us would have seen it and known what it was that got people foaming at the mouth in their attempt to ensure that those who desire to see #Number12 would be deprived of it.
To many people on social media, the detractors should try stop a moving train, because come hell or high water, Anas Aremeyaw Anas is their hero and his new investigative piece would show!
CITI TV IS HERE
It has been going on for years that Citi FM would come out with a television station. The fact that they started something online and named it Citi TV a couple of years or so ago gave some semblance of credence to the speculations.
The template for establishing a television station after operating a radio station for a while has been there for everyone to see. For a very long time, the speculation was on that Multimedia would establish a television station from the beginning of Joy FM, even bore the likes of Adom FM, Asempa FM and the others would emerge and they eventually did with Multi TV.
When Despite Group was succeeding with Peace FM and later Hello FM and Okay FM, it was always said that a television station was in the offing. It took more than a decade for UTV to appear on the scene. Angel TV came out of Angel FM, Kessben TV came out of Kessben FM, TV XYZ came out of Radio XYZ and so on.
The point here is that, it has been the route and Omni Media was certainly just playing by the books. Perhaps, the exception to this route by a major group was displayed by Media General, which started from television to radio with the establishement of 3FM, Onua FM and Connect FM after almost 20 years of operating TV3.
This week has been about Citi TV. It had started a couple of months ago to appear on television, but this week was when real programming seems to have started in earnest. It appears the plan was to start full throttle in June and that’s what happened.
It is in order to commend the management of Citi FM for this new endeavour into television broadcasting after almost a decade and half of doing radio in the capital. It is important to note that television is not a child’s play, but I am sure they have been apprised properly and know what they are about.
Citi FM has for a while now been the sweetheart of many people on social media and it seems from tweets, posts and comments on Twitter and Facebook especially, the love would be extended to the new direction with television.
Again you have to credit the station for the strategy of starting from online platforms before getting on to our small screens. That also helped to court the love that Netizens have towards the new television station.
We shall be watching to see how this new foray into the world of television broadcasting would play out as Citi TV commences this journey. Television is a very slippery pole, but with the right approach, they can scale to the top.
@TheGHMediaGuru