Mrs. Adedoja Allen is the pretty woman running one of the hottest FM Radio Stations in Lagos called City FM. The radio station is 6 years old and this woman has turned the fortunes of the station around since she took over as MD. She is highly cerebral. She has been able to also balance out the business side of the running of the station with the professional side, yet she was never a media person from the outset. She had to patiently study what the business required to enable it run efficiently. She didn’t limit herself to her local competitors alone, she benchmarked her operations against the best practices abroad. And she has done it so well.
Not only is she good at what she does, she also dresses so well that many of her staff eagerly await her dressing to work each day because she has a lovely way of putting her outfit together. And each steps out she always looks on point from her hair down to her shoes. She knows what sits well on her body. Last weekend, Adedoja Allen was honoured by City People as the Media Personality of the Year. She spoke to City People Publisher SEYE KEHINDE about her success story at City FM.
Let me congratulate you on the success of the City FM brand. What has been the secret and your staying power?
The sustaining power of the brand and the success of the brand obviously is God. All glory to my father in heaven. Honestly, he has been my strength, my strong tower. I cann ot sit down and take the glory. I am going this job by the grace of God. Ok maybe I can now attribute it to a loyal team, a strong team that has been my support system.
You came in at a time when the economy was topsy-turvy yet you still weathered all the storm. What were the moves you put in place to position City FM?
We had to keep monitoring competition. We had to also keep looking at International standards. We look for a few successful radio stations abroad that are doing very well and try to emulate them, try to look at their strategics and how to do things and try to take a cue from that. It is a mix of both: study my current competition, position myself, develop my own strategy not to be swamped by competition and get my strategy right to keep me aflat and also take a cue from international radio station abroad.
City FM is 6 years old. How has it been?
Yes. We are 6 years old we are there. We’ve got our ups and downs. God has just kept me through it all. Where I have my challenges I overcome it. And my strength, I keep getting stronger, stronger. Like a normal regular business person, my ups and downs are there but we overcome it.
City FM is one of the radio stations that exist in the country and I am wondering how you’ve positioned the station that makes it slightly different from the rest or the entire pack whats the striking thing about your station?
We are constantly conscious of competition. New radio stations emerge by the second. So, we are constantly watching our back. We are constantly watching what competition is doing and putting our strategy out there not to be swamped by it. So every year, we have our strategy session.
We looka t what we did with last year and what we need to do better this year. And we also try to position our brand out there for our partners, the spenders, the advertisers to see us as a viable media organisation to work with, that will promote their goods and services out there, to the people that they want to reach. So, a bit of everything is what has gotten us here.
Can you please define what City FM is all about?
City 105.1fm is an adult contemporary radio station. We are a commercial radio station. We cater for the 16 to 40/45 demography. We cater to the social class B,C.D. We cover the entirety of Lagos and its environs. We even get as far as Ijebu-Ode, Badagry, Ibeju Lekki, Mowe, sometimes Oyo, Ibadan. That is what we stand for.
It is amazing that you don’t have a background in the media, yet you run the radio station so well. How did you achieve that feat? How easy was it settling in?
Ehmm! It wasn’t too bad. Running a radio business is like running any business that wants to make profit. So, I just came in with the mindset of you know what? You are here to make this business make profit and I just took the steps towards that. Of course, I got myself acquainted to understanding the core media issues as it concerns transmitting, broadcasting, news reading. In no time, I got familiar with it and got the business into the profit region.
You are a lady of style. You turn heads at parties or when you step into an event. How did that aspect of you evolve?
(Laughs) thanks for the compliment. Of course yes, I like to look good and I try my best to do that. Without sounding like I am trying to blow my own trumpet, I am just very stylish. I love fashion. I try to go necessarily with the trend. I just try to keep myself abreast of the fashion trend. So, I look at a lot of fashion magazines. I follow the fashion. Because I love it. Its very easy for me, right from my hairstyle, to my bags, my shoes, my clothes, my jewellery, everything that makeup fashion and beauty, including my make up. I am just into it. Don’t mind me. That’s the second me.
