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History of broadcasting in Nigeria. A concise study.

It is all about reaching a larger audience with your post. It is upbeat, chatty,  informative and it is up and running. You can get information on a particular thing right as it happens . Broadcasting is the delivery of audio or video signals  programs to a wide community of people  called listeners or viewers. This community may be the general public or a sizable segment of the general public.

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Do you know when Nigeria’s first television/radio station was  founded, and in which state  it  is located. How about  the location of Africa’s first television station? All of these questions are addressed in this brief article. Continue reading

Brief history of broadcasting

The Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation (WNTV), which was Nigeria’s first television station, began broadcasting on October 31, 1959.  It was established by the regional government of Western Nigeria.

Olapade Obisesan a Nigerian lawyer educated in the United Kingdom and son of Akinpelu Obisesan who was  an Ibadan socialite and the first president of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, was the Chairman of the station. The General Manager was Vincent Maduka a retired engineer. The  television station was located in Ibadan, making it the first broadcast station in tropical Africa, despite the fact that television stations had already been founded in more northern parts of the continent.

In March 1962, Radio Television Kaduna- Radio Kaduna television (RKTV) was established in Kaduna. The Broadcasting station of Northern Nigeria  based in Kaduna was in charge of the station. Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Kaduna , formerly known as Radio Kaduna now has the largest radio listenership in sub-Saharan Africa. The station broadcasts in Hausa English, Nupe and Kanuri.

Further to this, in April 1962 Nigerian broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was founded as a federal government-owned service broadcasting to the southwestern states. It is  currently based in Lagos.  After this establishment, MidWest TV  was established as a television station in Port Harcourt in 1972 .  The Benin state government was in charge of it.

Subsequently in 1974, the Benue Plateau Television Corporation (BPTV) was founded  in Jos. It was Africa’s first television to broadcast in colour on a daily basis.

Nigerian television Authority (NTA) was created in 1977. By May 1977, the Nigerian Television Authority had consolidated and rebranded all of the state television broadcasters mentioned above as Nigerian Television (NTV). The Chairman and General Manager of NTA Obisesan and Makuda, still retained  their positions.

Early Programming

From 1977 to 1990, only  local content was networked until NTA was created in 1977. Dramatic programming such as serials and anthology series were uncommon on regional television stations then. After the merger, TV shows like Moses Olaiya’s Alawada on WNTV (later NTA Ibadan), Village Headmaster and Hotel de Jordan on NTA Benin became more widely accessible.

Aside from these few notable shows, dramatic series output in the 1970s lacked original material. When the new NTA network took over the country’s state-owned broadcasting stations in 1980, a concerted effort was made to improve the quality of locally produced content. And because of NTA’s broadcasting monopoly, these series were  readily available.

The following is a list of current Nigerian television stations.

Nigeria’s television stations is estimated to be over 100 as Nigeria Government own more than 60 federal channels and about 20 percent is privately operated channels. Here are a few television stations in Nigeria.

1. Channels Television

2. Arewa 24

3. Arise News

4. AKBC

5. AIT (African Independent Television)

6. NTA (Nigerian Television Authority)

7. Galaxy Television

8. Wazobia Television

9. DBN TV

10. KAFTAN TV

12. Lagos Television

13. Ogun State Television

14. Plus TV Africa

15. WAP TV

16. Africa Magic

17. SoundCity

18. Africa Independent Television

Current development in Broadcasting

Nigeria entered a new age of journalism after the declaration of independence. Some Nigerian newspapers, such as WNTV, NBC, and WNRC have morphed into Nigerian television.

https://www.legit.ng/amp/1109799-brief-history-broadcasting-nigeria.html

One of the fascinating aspects of broadcasting in Nigeria shortly after independence was the government’s assault on the press. This was because Some people in positions of authority in the country were opposed to the growth of a free press.

As a result, the government monopolized the media and any attempts to write anything critical of the government proved futile and risky.  Broadcasting television stations were strongly influenced by the federal government until 1992 when the National Broadcasting Commission was created by Decree No. 38, which decentralized the Federal Government’s control over television stations. It was the first time in Nigerian broadcasting history that TV and media were sold to private investors, ushering in a new era of journalism and broadcasting.

Currently there is freedom of speech as provided in  Nigerian Constitution and the press can now broadcast the opinion of the citizens and any occurrence in the country without fear. That is why television stations are springing up all over the world, because in addition to providing entertainment and information, television stations often offer the public opportunities to learn new things through educational programmes. 

Author Profile

bola
John Aina Ajibola has a Masters degree as an engineer and has over 3 years of teaching and research experience. He is happiest when on a bike and is also interested in electric energy and computer Science.

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History of broadcasting in Nigeria. A concise study.

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