THE DOYEN OF BROADCASTING, A MAVERICK DJ IS GONE BUT MEMORIES WILL REMAIN

HE WAS THE FM VOCAL LOGO, BS CONNECTION

By Etete Enideneze


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Eternal peace to his soul!.

Late Brighten Sorgwe of Igbo City, Igurubia, (Igbogene-Epie) in Yenagoa, was an elder brother, uncle and indeed a doyen of broadcasting.

He was a mentor.

He made waves as a DJ, Newscaster and Presenter, right from Lagos where his talent was discovered and honed.

The Rivers State FM, Port-Harcourt, first Frequency Modulation station in Nigeria, one of or first in West Africa, was where his stunning announcing, presentation, newscasting and DJ prowess really shone to the delight of everyone.

He once told me the jists of his brilliant and fulfilling career, a huge inspiration for any one to take to broadcasting.

He told me how other DJs impersonated him, taking on his brand name, BS Connection, at shows in PH, often times while he too was in the audience. But he remained quiet and without people knowing that he was not the one at the deck. The impostors made good bucks with his name, unknown to clients that they were fake.

That was the wonder of radio, and how popular, BS, was in the Garden City of PH.

It was the analogue broadcaster phase, when broadcasters where only heard, but not seen. So, good performers remained invisible. It was unlike this era of converged offline-online multimedia broadcasting in which broadcasters are seen in visuals, on the internet. As a result, fans craved to see On Air Personalities of those days, in person.

BS for short, as he used to call his name while on air, lived a quiet and humble life, despite being famous.

He was a Phonologist par excellence. With Daniel Jones Phonetics Dictionary in his head, he could phonetize any language, any word, as far as it could be spelt in alphabets.

Generous with knowledge, Brighten dishes out phonetics skills on the spur of the moment. He would politely put you right in any wrongly pronounced word, whenever you discuss with him, because sounds suggest meanings, to communicate effectively.

That was his common but effective tutoring method, especially, to his junior colleagues in the station. He would listen to bulletins and music shows anywhere, and dish out the right phonetics, tone, stress, pitch and inflection to colleagues, on return to office.

As young ones, we felt the impact of his radio entertainment programmes, from far, especially, during his hay days at Radio Rivers 2, PH, when we used to gather round a radio set to listen to his Pop Trucking programme. In fact he made young ones to think of taking up DJ and broadcasting as a career.

My first encounters with him, were at No. 21 Creek Rd., PH in 1990/ 1991, where his sons, notably, Mr. Bright Asue, lived occasionally with his grandma, Late Igbeh in Late Kofi's house, the business tycoon from Onopa.

I and my cousin, Ememtain, were Jambites in JAMB preparatory classes at Students Aid, Gambia Str., Mile 2, PH, later Blessed Baham Extra-mural Classes, Aggrey Rd. Thus, we lived in Kofi's, our uncle's house, to have had the opportunity of knowing the ace Broadcaster. Others who lived in that house, were Dr. Yakiezibe Ogon who worked with Late Kofi, and later in King Malla Sasime's rendezvous at Nbonu Str., D-Line; Hon. Ayanate Bunas; Mr. Fiemeya Ayebabogha; Mr. Ojoko; Mr. Tarila, Kofi's son who hosted us, and his friend, Somiari.

Meeting Brighten Sorgwe one-on-one was a rare opportunity to be happy of, as anyone would want to see him live.

When Bayelsa was created, he returned to the state to continue his career at Radio Bayelsa, Glory FM 97.1. There again, BS re-enacted his broadcast and DJ talent.

I had returned home as a fresh, young graduate on creation of Bayelsa State. BS wooed some of us to join Radio Bayelsa when it just came on board. He assured he would groom us. I didn't bulge in, due to my interest in the print media, where I felt I could write and unwrite.

We thank God, he took on a few persons, like Mr. Munene Wilson and Sinikiem Ayoko etc, and mentored them. These Mentes and others are all doing well.

He didn't stop. Whenever he saw me at Radio Bayelsa, on my trips to place news, while I served as Press Secretary to Chief (Capt.) Walter Feghabo, then Project Monitoring Chairman, and later, Chief A. A. Asara who was then Politcal Adviser, and later Information Commissioner, BS, would counsel me to take to broadcasting.

On occasions where I'm anchoring as MC, BS, the Pop Trucking King, kept motivating me to join broadcasting. He said he wanted to give back to society by grooming youths for broadcasting career.

When he was appointed GM, I wrote his personality profile. To his dismay, it captured his life and career properly.

The only thing he added was his Professional Diploma in Broadcast Journalism, obtained from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) Ogba, Lagos. He asked me in captivating phonetics: Didn't you know, I'm a trained Journalist?". I said no, Sir! And I added it in a hurry. He said, his calling was DJ and presentation, which l had rightly stressed in the profile, not journalistic writing, which he didn't ply, that was why some of us never knew he was a professional Journalist as well.

His humility didn't allow him to okay it for airing on the station, because he felt, as an Acting GM, then, people could think, he was promoting himself to be made substantive GM. Unfortunately, there were no other radio stations in Bayelsa, to air it. He was later officially confirmed as GM. That personality write-up will be dusted and published to further eulogize the broadcast icon.

Brighten Sorgwe had a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration, Master of Public Administration Degree, and enrolled for a PhD in same discipline. He told me, he wanted to be equipped with adminstrative knowledge and skills, in case of switching to the core civil service. Yet, the unquenchable interest in broadcasting, didn't let him move to the Ministry of Information, early enough.

However, after serving as GM Radio Bayelsa, Late Brighten, was posted to the core civil service, where he retired as a Director in the Ministry of Information.

We prayed fervently, and moves were on, for him to be made Permanent Secretary, as a reward for his long service to the state. Unfortunately, the tenure of the adminstration at that time, in which Chief Asara who was pushing the idea to the Government, ended. It didn't work out even after then, as Permanent Secretaries were not appointed, except a few appointments, until Brighten retired meritoriously.

Life is a stage. He has done his roles.

Igbogene, Onopa, Epie-Atissa and Bayelsa lost a rare talent and humble personality indeed.

Rest in Peace! BS.

Watch out for full profile on the icon.

RIP

Rip sire