Melvina Frimpong Manso
Award-winning Ghanaian radio presenter, Melvina Frimpong Manso, has opted out of the 2016 edition of Radio & Television Personality (RTP) Awards which is scheduled to take place on October 22 over credibility concerns.
According to the presenter of Sunyani-based Suncity Radio who was nominated for RTP Best Radio Personality Award for Brong Ahafo, “RTP is not credible enough”, hence that decision.
“I don’t know what criteria they used in selecting me because we understand presenters fill forms and orgnisers speak to the media houses about nominees and to the best of my knowledge no one came to Suncity Radio. However, I didn’t pick any form to fill. They nominated me and even said Melvina of Suncity. How? My name is Melvina Frimpong Manso of Suncity Radio 97.1FM. Which Melvina were they talking about? Which Suncity? Was it so difficult for them to do the right,” she told NEWS-ONE on Sunday.
“I am not interested in the award. Yes, I don’t find the award credible enough. The award doesn’t define us. The people who listen to us do,” she added when she announced her boycott of the award.
Melvina is an amazing presenter on Suncity Radio at Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana, and many who have been to that part of the country and listened to her will attest to it.
She is currently the host of the radio station’s midmorning show called Urban Breeze and has a lot of listeners in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
After graduating from the University of Ghana, she started out career as an actress in TV series titled Hotel St James but ended up as a radio personality because that is her passion as well. She has since been on Suncity Radio for years.
She said she isn’t the only person boycotting the RTP Awards, but the entire Suncity Radio station.
“They should not nominate any of our presenters because it is a collective management decision and I don’t live in isolation. My works are there to show. What we do at Suncity Radio is exceptional. Awards are awards, but the listeners and the trackers don’t lie. We are leading everywhere from our morning devotion to Suncity Morning Drive to mid-morning Urban Breeze which I host Suncity Sports and Highway Drive 971. We are unstoppable,” Melvina added.
According to her, the management of Suncity Radio started doubting the “credibility of RTP Awards” after organisers failed to provide records of vote of one of the previous RTP Award shows the station requested for.
“It all started two years back when our morning show host Nana Kyei Adoma Samuel was nominated for the Radio Personality of The Year Award. He didn’t win but that was not the problem because we congratulated the winner. However, looking at how much management, listeners and friends put into voting, my boss Mr Ransford Antwi called for the tally of the votes. He wanted to know how much percentage the winner won with so if it’s anything to go by, we up our game when next we are nominated from the organisers but they couldn’t give it to him. So he told them never to nominate any of his presenters again,” she revealed.
The sixth edition RTP Award by Big Events Ghana is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 22 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), but without the talented presenter Melvina Frimpong Manso and other personalities from Suncity Radio.
By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: fdee500@yahoo.com)