Chief Executive Officer of Agbaletu TV, Dele Adeyanju, shares with BIODUN BUSARI his trajectory in broadcast journalism and music

How would you describe your growing up?

Growing up, I was exposed to music very early in life. This was so because my father himself came from a family of music lovers. My father was a juju music lover. Without mincing words, my father loved apala music, as it related to Haruna Ishola. My father also loved sakara music.

I remember that almost all genres of music were in my father’s library back in the day when I was growing up. He was known as Adawa when he was in school. He was apparently named after the nickname of Admiral Dele Abiodun. He loved Dele Abiodun so much that there was none of his records he didn’t have at that time.

So, growing up, I was used to all those songs from my father’s library. I can say that my love for music led me to broadcast journalism as well. I wanted a platform to be able to play those songs and talk about them right from the early stage. In a way, there is this connection between my love for music and why I found myself in broadcast journalism. I wanted a platform to play and talk about those songs.

Did what you study in school have any link with your passion?

I’m a graduate. I have a Bachelor’s in Economics Education from the University of Ibadan. My institute then was at Ilesha, which is now the University of Ilesha. It was an annex of the University of Ibadan when I was an undergraduate. I was a musician, and I am still a musician. I was a musician between 14 February 2009, which was Valentine’s Day, and February 2011. I played music around that time for two years.

I played juju. And my stage name at that time was Dele Abiodun Jr. My name is Dele Adeyanju because I was a staff member of Radio Nigeria. I was an English newsreader. There was a rule at that time that as a newscaster, you were not allowed to do any other thing with that name because that name carries authority. So, I had to create some names for myself.

At the time, I was answering Akanji as my stage name. At some other time, I was answering Dele Abiodun Jr., and all that. For those three years, I sourced money to buy my musical instruments. I had my band, but I knew that I wouldn’t play for more than three years. I just wanted to experience what being a musician was all about.

I wanted to be a musician for the whole of my life. I wanted to have a feel of what musicians passed through and how a band was run. That was what I did for those three years. Immediately after the three years, in February 2011, I sold my musical instruments, bought a car, and started cruising around.

That was the end of the stage performance for me. After that time, once in a while, when I felt like I wanted to do music, I would enter a studio, record songs, and play independently. But when I have the chance on the radio, I play music for people to listen to. I’m not into commercial music. I only do music for myself.

What were your defining moments as a broadcast journalist?

Well, my defining moments were those periods when I was able to host big stars. One of them was when I played host to Fatai Rolling Dollar in 2011 or thereabouts. I was with Gold FM, Ilesha. So, I invited Fatai Rolling Dollar from Lagos to Ilesha.

He didn’t know his way around Ilesha, and he was accompanied by SF Oluwokere, who was also a big star in the 70s and 80s at that time. So, I had two stars, and these people told me lots of stories that I couldn’t even share with anybody. Those secrets will live with me for the rest of my life.

Another defining moment was the night I interviewed King Sunny Ade in 2011. I sat with him for about 45 minutes, and I was asking him lots of questions. I was young, but at that time, I felt I was on the right path; I was doing something.

My father, who was still alive then, was proud of me. Years later, I sat with Chief Ebenezer Obey and all the other big people in the music industry. The biggest of them was recently, when I had to sit with King Wasiu Ayinde, also known as K1 the Ultimate.

What is the idea behind Agbaletu?

I’ll just do a summary of the story because it’s a very long story. I was with Radio Nigeria, Gold FM, Ilesha. So, I resigned from my appointment in 2007. I got employed with MiTV Lagos as an editor, newsreader, news reporter, and all that. I worked there for three months.

But before I left Radio Nigeria, I was on a programme called Eto Baba Eto. After three months, I was recalled by my general manager, then Mrs Bolatito Joseph. She promised me promotion. I went back there. I was back in Ilesha. Then, Mrs Joseph told me that I should go and take over the programme that I left for my guys.

I told her that those guys were already making a name with the programme. I told her I was not bereft of new ideas, and that I could start something new. It was that Eto Baba Eto that I wanted to do on MiTV, but the management said they didn’t want a Yoruba programme.

I was disappointed because I wanted to bring that flavour to Lagos.

So, I went back to Ilesha. After my discussion with Mrs Joseph, I started Agbaletu. That idea just came. I can’t even say where it came from. All I remembered was that I told her I would be playing old music on the show. That was how Agbaletu started in 2007.

Three years later, in 2010, I started interviewing people. The first person I interviewed was the prophet who was praying for the late IK Dairo. That was Prophet Michael Afolabi Oyeleye, of blessed memory. That was the first ever guest on Agbaletu. It took me three years to start because that was the time I could afford a laptop and a car, which enabled me to move around.

Why did you choose the idea of interviewing them in Yoruba?

Firstly, I want to say that Yoruba is the language I am most comfortable with. The second reason is that the language of communication of those songs that I discussed with musicians was mostly Yoruba. The third point is that most of the people who listen to those songs are Yoruba people.

Again, it’s easier to tell our story, because music in itself is a culture. It becomes easier to tell our story using our language. For example, if I want to interview somebody who plays omele, or iya’lu, he may not be able to express how he plays it in English, but he will do so in Yoruba, which he uses the drums to communicate.

As a musician who has interviewed ace artistes, what would you say about the stiff rivalry displayed at some points among some fuji and juju musicians of old and now?

While we may not call it rivalry, we can tag it fierce competition, as pointed out and as existed at some points. Having said that, I think the competition is good for them and the industry. It brings out the best in them, inasmuch as it is a healthy rivalry.

Some of them had dirty fights in the past, but I don’t want to dwell on that. These are known to the public, but I think things are better now. Those competitions helped to bring out our fantastic artistes, as we have in fuji, juju, and the rest. Competition is an important ingredient when we look for healthy development and growth in any form of music or art.

Do you have plans to invite hip-hop artistes for interviews?

I’m actually planning to take up hip-hop artistes now. I have it planned. And if we have some of them who can do Yoruba, I don’t mind. I can do English-language interviews with them perfectly. That’s my training from the Radio Nigeria Training School. I was an announcer for many years. So, the language was English, but I forced myself to do Yoruba.

If any of them can do English very well, I don’t mind doing English. But if they can do Yoruba, I can still manage and take them on. But I want to interview hip-hop artistes. I have this in mind, and I’ve been trying to work on a particular producer. Recently, I’ve been thinking of bringing on ID Cabasa. He’s highly cerebral.

What are other things you do if you are not interviewing or singing?

I love pressing my phone. I can press my phone for three days, even if I can’t get anything to eat. Once I have my phone to press, then I’m good to go. I love to be on the internet, just searching for whatever is searchable. I also love to be indoors. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I don’t like the outside. I love to be on my own to think.

What are the challenges you’ve encountered doing your job and how did you surmount them?

The only challenge I have is how to make people understand what I do. People find it hard to understand that I’m only trying to tell our story through my programme. I’m only giving people platforms to tell their stories. This will make us read history books and know our culture, especially about music.

There are a lot of criticisms, insults, and campaigns against me. They think I use it to bring out old issues or bring people down, but that’s not true. Do I have any power to bring anybody down? I’m only trying to give a platform to people to tell their stories. I’m doing this to archive what has been done in the past. So, we are like an archival platform, not that we want to bring anybody down.

I use the platform as an opportunity to reconcile people who have been on warpath for years. I remember in 2018, we settled a rift between Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey and former guitarist, Mr Segun Awe. That’s not the only one we’ve done.

We have tried to reconcile Pastor David Olayiwola of the CAC Good Women Choir and Mama D.A. Fasoyin, the leader of the Good Women Choir, because they had a longstanding friction between them. We were able to resolve that.

So, I believe that at the end of the day, we should be a platform of reconciliation, as well as an archival platform. We are not here to create trouble between any warring factions or to create problems. So, once people realise that this is what we stand for, then most of the other challenges we have will be surmounted.