How radio presenters — OAPs — became celebrities

Evolution can either be a natural process or we can decide to reinvent ourselves to realise a vision we have in mind.

There was a time when radio presenters were just faceless voices coming forth from our car stereos and radio sets.

No one really cared to know about them, how they lived, what cars they drove, and the crowds they moved with.

As far as they were passing along information and entertaining us, that was enough.

They were doing their job and that was all we wanted.

METAMORPHOSIS

A lifetime later and with the advent of social media, these radio presenters started putting faces to their voices.

Being called a “radio presenter” just didn’t cut it anymore. They started to refer to themselves as OAPs (On Air Personalities), a much cooler and seemingly apt acronym.

However, according to Macmillian, Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, OAP stands for “old age pensioner”. Basically, the acronym means “someone who is old enough to receive pension from the government”.

In fact, a Google image search of OAP would return with a result of random old people who are nearing the twilight of their lives.

THE CELEBRITY STATUS

But Nigerian OAPs are neither old nor are they receiving pensions. They have become celebrities through the creation of unique brands and identities for themselves.

In essence, they found a niche and built a nest, no matter how faulty the construction may be.

How?

They do the same things celebrities are known to do.

But what exactly are those things?

Attendance of red carpet events, seeking to be verified on social media platforms, sharing daily updates of their lives, doing periodical photo-shoots… and you know, all the other cool stuff celebrities do.

It has now gotten to a stage where some of these radio personalities can match up with movie actors and music artistes.

Many now have their respective fan base while some are lucky enough to use their celebrity platform to diversify and even secure brand endorsement deals.

And guess what? It’s working pretty well for them.

Basically, what they had wasn’t enough, they wanted more and now they have it but at what cost?