A Radio Disc Jockey (DJ)'s job is not one that looks easy when you have a real glance of it in a live studio. They multitask and sacrifice a lot of their time, emotions and energy to bring us quality entertaining music and talk.
From selecting good music, to controlling the consul to finding the right words to speak while checking the positioning of the microphone to checking on adverts to be played, reading advert scripts in an eloquent and creative manner to have the right impact on audience, just to mention but a few. In the 1940s and 1950s, this on air job would have been a preserve of men...but there was one woman who dared to break this jinx, making her the first on air DJ in Africa as a whole.
Cherished readers, may I introduce to you "Yours Truly", Harriet Tachie-Menson.
The late Harriet was described by media experts and historians as an outgoing personality, with a great sense of humor and boundless talents who raised the bar at GBC from the 1960s onward.
Harriet Tachie-Menson, affectionately nicknamed "Yours Truly", spent her entire productive life with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, spanning almost thirty years in many capacities. But her main specialty was being a disc jockey.
"This is the authentic and trusted voice of the nation. Stay tuned, I am Yours Truly Harriet Tachie-Menson"... This was her opener as a DJ.
Harriet started her broadcasting career in 1963 as a presenter and producer, a job she dutifully performed for four (4) years with the now defunct External Service of the GBC.
In 1967 when GBC strategically transformed Radio Ghana, and established its Commercial Department, Radio 2 became the main medium blazing with refined entertaining programmes and energetic presentation. That was when Harriet decided to step up her work by becoming a DJ.
She grabbed the opportunity to become a DJ when the station called for it and till now, she acclaimed as the first African woman DJ in media history. She started rubbing shoulders with her male contemporaries like Mike Eghan (affectionately called “The Emperor”), Joe Coffie and John Ashie-Kotei in the broadcasting space. From 1980 to 1996, she produced and presented programmes like “Woman’s World”, “Time with the Children”, “What Do You Know?”, a quiz programme.
Harriet Tachie-Menson benefitted from countless training programmes both in Ghana and outside the continent that shaped her activities as a professional broadcaster. She therefore transitioned from a trainee to a trainer even in retirement. Many broadcasters both in GBC and the private media benefitted from her training and professional skills.
As far as Yours Truly was concerned, no broadcaster/presenter should go on air without a script, much less a producer. She wrote many development broadcasting stories with her well researched musical scripts. She was always guided on air by the NTBB (Not To Be Broadcast) quality control indicator. Professionalism was her hallmark.
For the period 1998-1999, she acted as the Regional Director of GBC in the Central and Eastern Regions and rose to the position of Deputy Director of Administration before retiring in 2000.
Though she is dead and gone, Harriet Tachie-Menson’s contributions and legacy live on.
Harriet Tachie-Menson set the pace in Radio Disc Jockeying and paved the way for hundreds of female DJs who are currently making Ghana and Africa proud.