Felix Settles Finally At Sunny FM

He can be counted among one of the nation's best ten smoothest talking radio presenters. Formerly of Radio Gold 90.5 FM and Joy 99.7 FM, he has finally settled in the country's only Christian station, Sunny 88.7 FM.

A Fante from Elmina, Felix Vander-Pallen, the second born of three children, is flanked by two lovely sisters preceding and succeeding him.

Turning thirty-two years in July 25th,, he looked very poised for the years ahead and had had enough experiences to share with the train.

Narrating his child-hood days to the train, he said he grew up in typical Christian home where his mum who was a banker, kept on reminding him of reading The Bible daily and taking church activities very serious.

His father was a businessman who had the strict and principled attitude of a Military man. This led to his principled and domineering mind-set.

As a child, he had his primary school education at the St Theresa School, then continued to the Mfantsipim School around 1987, and between 1992 and 1994 was at the Accra Academy for his Sixth form.

Later, he enrolled for an ACCA course because of his interest in accounting, and finally ended up at Ghana's Premier University, Legon, where he studied sociology.

With such an educational background, one is likely to wonder why he kept on moving from one radio station to the other, with no formal training in journalism or broadcasting.

Felix explained that he loved broadcasting and had always dreamt of becoming a presenter, making a mark on the airwaves. As an individual who loved to inspire, entertain, and educate people, he had known there was no more suitable profession than broadcasting for him.

"No wonder I have always admired the pioneers in broadcasting, especially the presenters at of the old days at GBC. I was always talking about them, thus it was no surprise to some of my colleagues when they heard my voice on air because they had known that, this was my desire, ' he added.

He said, although he had had no formal academic training like attending the Ghana Institute of Journalism or having basic lectures in broadcasting, his adopted behavior of listening to news and especially BBC news, shaped and readied him for his present position. Of course, he could not exclude the fact that he had studied Sociology, a broad course, that entailed almost everything.

Professionally, he began his radio dream at Radio Gold around 1997 after he had been turned down at Joy FM a couple of times because of the then official routine encountered during job searches but God being good, he made it behind the console. He however, described his first experience as a very nervous one.

At Gold, he handled several programs, including the morning show, lunchtime, overnight and even weekend programmes.

Moving to Joy was an opportunity he didn't want to miss, and he admits it was at Joy FM that he realized how unpopular he was with his listeners; despite his one year stay at Gold, many people kept calling and asking who he was, with only a few asking whether he was the one from Gold.

His first show on Joy was the 'Joy Slow Jam'. That night, he said, it was very incredible as people kept calling in, wondering who he was. Then he graduated to the 'drive time', then the 'morning show' where all his problems began.

His ups and downs began to manifest during the 'morning show' because he was then growing in the industry and hadn't had much knowledge in conducting interviews.

This resulted in his wrong lines of questioning at that time.

"But now, thank God, I deliver adequately and am proud to say that," he said, beaming with a child-like smile.

Many people always acknowledge him, especially for two programmes he presented at Joy FM: "The cosmopolitan mix" and "Country".

In June 2003, the gates of Sunny FM opened and he entered to become the morning show presenter and also in charge of out-door broadcast and production.

According to him, Sunny Fm is not solely about strict Christianity, and individuals who are all committed to the gospel, though the rule is no circular music, he believes in listening and playing music that is inspiring and not troubling to the soul.

I listen to all songs but not edifying ones that would bring positive thoughts to my thinking, a hip-life artist like Obrafour is good and has good lyrics," he added.

He recalls one of his challenging times- a day when his previous producer told him at a general meeting that he was incompetent, and had nothing to offer to his audience.

Despite such trying times, he has sailed through by God's grace and believes his future is very bright, with him assuming a dominant position.

Though he is not married, he hopes to do so soon. The sweet dames out there can therefore give it a shot and who knows? You might succeed.

To his listeners, he extended his gratitude and asked for their prayer and continuous support, especially as he hopes to open a radio and T.V stations to help boost the Ghanaian media's development.