Jeremie Van-Garshong goes ‘missing’

Is it me or Jeremie Van-Garshong has gone missing on my radio? Maybe I don’t listen to Live FM as much as I should and the reason therefore that I think the presence that Jeremie used to have on radio a few months ago has vaporised. Maybe she really has or it could be a figment of my imagination.

The one thing I know is that for a little over four years, the studio of YFM when it was based both at Asylum Down and when it moved to the Accra Mall was like a fortress to Jeremie and she may not have been large (many misconstrue Randy Abbey’s “large and charge” maxim when they are not even half as large as he is) but she definitely was in charge whenever she was on her shows.

For a long time, the dial got stuck on YFM between 7pm and 10pm when Jeremy was on air to present her Y Lounge Show during weekdays. She also commanded an appreciable audience when she comes back for a second bite on Saturday morning.

She was an example of what brands could do with media when they target a particular audience that align with or resonate with that medium or personality.

By all intents and purposes (yeah, it’s a cliché so what?) Jeremie cuts deeply into your youthful audience like no one did when she was on YFM.

When I heard that she wanted to leave for the new station at Tesano, I felt it was a risk she was about to take and it could backfire. But she took it nonetheless (it’s her decision and all of us can take a dive in the North Sea) and got a drive time show.

Just so you know, I am not by any stretch of the imagination suggesting that she took a bad decision and got her finger burnt in the process. After all, she has only been there for less than six months and so we cannot conclusively say that its gone pear shaped.

My only point here is that I do not get to hear of her or her presence on air as much as I used to a few months ago. But the station is new and her show is new and it probably will take a while to register with listeners.

It could also be so because she was thrown to the sharks too quickly during that time of the day. With strong competition from Bola Ray, Abeiku Santana, Fiifi Banson and others around that time, it was always going to be an uphill climb.

It must be said that the show she left behind has not been the same as it was with her on it. Caroline Sampson, the new host has her own style which different from Jeremie and the audience will get used to the new style as time goes on.

For example, I have realised that Caroline does a lot less talking than Jeremie used to do, her Monday night dialogue with poets last longer than it used to and her opening and closing times are closer to the hour.

Those are different individual styles effective for both presenters. It also seems to me that the music style and selections have changed although DJ Kess has been the only constant under both presenters’ regimes.

In sum, Jeremie had a lot more control over the show than Caroline has and that could be attributed to the fact that the former was on the show for over four years. The more reason why it is a legitimate question to ask that “where are you, Jeremie?”