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Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi Goes Down Memory Lane as She Announces Her Last Day on Radio

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Media personality, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi who has been on the air for over two decades, has announced that her career as a radio host has come to an end. She revealed that she had planned to resign in 2019, but when life and motherhood happened, she had to postpone it until December 24, 2021.

Though she said she can’t exactly put into words what 16 years of radio broadcasting and two degrees in communication have meant to her, she did post a few thoughts on Instagram.

She spoke about how she began her radio presenting career as a member of the youth corp at the Nigerian Television Authority, before moving to Cool FM Nigeria in 2005 and hosting the “Good Morning Nigeria” program with the late Dan Foster for a year.

Here’s what she said in her first post:

Though my last day on radio was December 24, 2021, it has taken me a while to post this because …..
I don’t think I have the words.
Isn’t that funny?
After 16 years talking on the radio & 2 degrees in communication – I . don’t. Have. The. Words !!!!

How do you say goodbye to something you have done for almost 2 decades? Something you have done your entire adult life? Where do you go? And the most asked question of all –

WHY?

Before I say why I’ll briefly tell you how it all started.

I was conned into visiting Nigeria and serving (NYSC ) by my dad. The year was 2005.
I was posted to NTA in VI and I started to cover stories as a junior reporter. So junior, I was given all sorts of weird stories to cover. My most memorable one was about a family of mentally ill people who had turned Ahmadu Bello street to their residence.

While serving at NTA, I wrote to the MD of 96.9Coolfm applying for an internship in the news department. I got the gig! I was to resume at 6 am every weekday & close at 12noon. From there, I would resume at NTA to cover whatever story I was assigned.

About 2 weeks into this new job, I walked into the CoolFm studio & started a conversation with Dan Foster. He thought I was funny & interesting and within minutes, I joined him on air. It was fun and I thought that was it.
The next day, he came looking for me and said “you’re going to be my sidekick/co-host “. Who was I to say “No”???

Dan was a great teacher. He taught me all about radio. He gave me books and articles to read. He pushed me to be a world-class On-Air Personality. He was really cool and never wasted time in telling me I had messed up if I did or if my aircheck was on point. He was my teacher & my friend. And we quarrelled ehn ? One time we didn’t speak for months but we were co-hosting the most popular radio show in Nigeria! ? . We would banter on-air and once the mics went off, we would ignore each other till it was time to go on again ?.

I was the only youth corp member allowed on-air at CoolFm. The same thing at NTA, I was the only one allowed to cover stories. I ended up covering multiple stories for nationwide news & Newsline.
After my NYSC year, I knew radio was the best option for me. I was soon given a weekend show. Saturdays & Sundays 12-6 pm

My first radio interview was with D’banj. This was when “Tongolo” was really hot! I was so nervous and it showed. I had a massive headache once we were done.
I got to interview so many people there from Frank Nweke Junior to Mode 9, Cobhams, Dakore Egbuson, Brick & Lace, Sisqo, Brian McKnight, Djimon Hounsou etc
My senior colleagues were Freeze, Olisa Adibua, Lakeside & others!
It was a dream come true! I was a fan of this station who used to call into request songs & win prizes & then I got to work there? Mind-Blowing !!! ?

I decided to get my masters in Media & Communication in 2008. Actually, that’s a lie! My father (again) found a way to convince (command) me to get this degree. The classes were in the afternoon & clashed with my new schedule. I spoke with management about it & they let me leave work early to attend classes.
Dotun was working in the production studio then & he would take over the remaining 2 hours of my show – ensuring that it ran smoothly.
By the end of the degree programme, I was unsure if I wanted to go the corporate route …I was still pondering it when I heard that a new hot radio station will be opening soon. I decided that I would go give it a shot.

Guess what? I was hired as Program Director! I was ecstatic! ??
I gave CoolFm 3 months notice & they accepted my resignation.

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