MEET SELASSIE SIKANKU, HE PROVED THE CYNICS WRONG


He was selecting his items and getting ready to launch into the lunch programme as we had a chat. You cannot help but admire the independence with which he did it. A quick look at the console is enough to scare even those who had sight but here he was seemingly treading a maze blindfolded. When he started nurturing the desire to be in radio that was the first challenge he was confronted with.


“I had a lot of challenges but still….I went to a station and they told me their equipment is not compatible with blind people and I said oh yes, no equipment is compatible with anybody but it’s a matter of learning.” He said exuding his usual joy.

He paused for a while and did the back announcement of the news and what follows as he pushed up the microphone fader and went out simultaneously on the news button on the console. It really looked complex and intimidating for the uninitiated. He then pushed a few jingles and we continued our light afternoon conversation.


He appreciated what others thought was a challenge as he explained with some blunt truths. “Even here people didn’t believe I could do the thing. The thing is that they have always depended on their eyes and if you are coming to handle something like this with plenty buttons without eyes, it is something ooo.”


By this time he had plugged his laptop without any assistance and connected it to the seemingly complex console. He was set for action. He had a blunt truth for people who thought capacity and ability to do things should rest only on what they see. “The job we’re doing is a mind job. You have to gauge and then it comes to a point you do it without knowing you’re doing it.”

He is Selassie Sikanku. Before the conversation ended someone had entered calling him by another alias DJ Odo to which he responded in his own usual style of fun “Mi nonn ne” meaning this is the only one. From his days at the University of Ghana when he befriended the studio, he has not looked back. He had wanted to be a lawyer at first but abandoned the idea as the radio held a stronger attraction whilst he grew up. He avidly recalls what happened on radio when he was much younger and how he took to recording programmes. With time he assured himself that radio is the destination for him. No matter the earlier challenge, he stuck to his guns and now has no regrets at all. He is doing what he loves best as a broadcaster playing a Disc Jockey role and producing and presenting a couple of programmes.

When I asked about the support he gets from the family, he was prompt with an answer. “I have a home producer. She is even listening right now and if something goes wrong, she will call,” in reference to the wife Tina. Sometimes she will quickly alert me “to please get closer to the microphone”.

We had to laugh off a couple of jokes as to how our spouses maintain a manager’s role in the background and how being on air becomes a family assignment. I did not ask him but as he prepared the song to start the LUNCH ON UNIIQ for the day I knew it was a silent message. YOU’RE ALWAYS ON MY MIND cannot be played for playing sake after he told me the wife is listening especially since she is at home nursing the little one. The little Sikanku is Sesinam. There was an explanation. It was a nice way of avoiding the use of Juniour whilst still having the person with your name. Selassie says it means God has heard my prayers.

Selassie is an epitome of possibilities. Not only is he capable of manning a complex console but he can move around the complex Broadcasting House on his own.

Having listened to radio for more than twenty years, he can tell the difference in terms of quality now and that is where he went to when asked about it. “I think we should go back to the old way we used to do radio, when we did things right, when the music was one that raises your spirit. When the talk programmes was not just discussions but you learnt a lot from both the English language and the content.”

DJ Odo Selassie has his own pick from all the music available. He will go for REST YOUR LOVE ON ME by the BeeGees any day.

Even as I left him to continue to serve his LUNCH ON UNIIQ I can perceive the day’s selection was for a purpose. The late Whitney Houston’s GREATEST LOVE had taken over the airwaves. Anyway when you meet him, he will always be glad to respond to that call – DJ Odo… He really seem to brew love around him and a smile awaits you with all the fun he has got share. He has proved the point once again that disability is never inability.

Story: Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh
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