The powerful rise of social media and the multiplication of cable television is, in a bunch, like an invading army at the gate of radio stations, knocking attention and felling attention and snatching listeners from radio stations in the south of Nigeria. Seeing how the craze for cable TV skyrocketed between 2015 and 2018 in the Southeast, one would be forgiven to believe that this was the beginning of the end of southeast radio, of radio being an important medium of information and entertainment in Igboland for the youths, and that by 2021 no one would care about FM stations.

This didn't happen. From workshops to offices to cars, and in solitary positions far from the Africa Magic-watching family in the sitting room, people have continued to listen to the radio. Radio stations have contributed to this by becoming irresistible with the voice that melts bones and programmes that entertain, enlighten, and demands that you take a position.

Today, in a state like Anambra, nearly one in every three random towns you can mention has a radio station. Duplications are one rung higher than bastardization, thus these plentiful stations can give the impression of a fall of standard. But this is not true, there are still gems among the lot and this is what we would be doing here, pointing at the gems in the Southeast radiosphere.

It is impossible to have a list that is representative of the whole states in the Southeast, equally. We didn't care about geographical balancing, so a majority of the stations come from Enugu and Onitsha metropolis. In fact, of the ten stations we settled for, there are just three outside of Anambra and Enugu States and this is normal, the two states have the resources and the concentration of talents to own Southeast radio.

Owerri could only sneak one station into this list which is a shame for a state that prides itself on its swag. Even the station may be living off its past glories (but we don't want to fight). Awka and Umuahia should be on this list, they are not. Awka has become the home for government-owned stations and government stations are not the first point of call for refreshing radio entertainment. Aba... sigh.

Too much pre-information kills the flow. Go through the list, eat them up, disagree with it, spit out the ones you may, cuss if you feel like cussing, but don't lose sight of our goal: We did this for the culture.

Here are the top ten radio stations in the Southeast in ascending order of their influence. Or the way we understand it to be.

Note: You can listen to every southeast radio station here live, online, via streaming sites, and via their respective websites.

10. Urban FM, Enugu (94.5)

Urban FM came to Enugu in 2016. With a bang. At this time, Dream FM had a super hold on the audience of the young in and around Enugu. One of the assets they unleashed on the Southeast was Honey Ojukwu, the award-winning presenter who began hitting the airwaves as a teenager. Honey co-anchored UrbanFuse and made fans in the thousands.

While Honey has moved on, to Port Harcourt, Urban fans have remained. Their Urban Breakfast Show and Wayback Wednesday have kept fans coming back. And they do not have pushover presenters. One of them, 

Continue reading https://www.anaedoonline.ng/2021/04/09/radio-stations-south-east/

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