A lot of my broadcasting work (especially in the last 25 years) has been in the field of presentation and programming development. Some of this has been to identify talent as a means to improving station output or overall presentation.
One such case was in Zimbabwe where I worked for the national broadcaster, the ZBC (Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation). My job was to redevelop Radio Three and turn it into a successful rolling music and news national channel. The target was of course the indigenous Zimbabweans but also to act as a competition against the SABC (South Africa Broadcasting Corporation). These were in happier days when relations with Zimbabwe and Great Britain were very good.
Basically when I moved into the ZBC I decided to strip apart this radio network and relaunch it. The formats and the scheduling I introduced were far more streamlined and familiar and this paid dividends with an immediate high impact audience and improved commercial turnover.
None of this would have been possible without the dedication and hard work of the hungry and yet extremely talented team of presenters and producers. All of these people were keen to learn and were very desperate to see this network succeed in a positive way.
The central broadcasting unit was based in Harare with a second unit situated in Bulawayo. It was in Bulawayo that I met Ian Segola a highly talented and very enthusiastic part-time radio presenter. His experience was somewhat lacking but with a degree of training and direction there was no doubt that Ian was going to be a leading figure in Zimbabwe broadcasting. Although he was based in Bulawayo I made it my business to fly him back to Harare to meet the rest of the team and the people running broadcasting nationally. This paid dividends and it soon became clear that Ian Segola could not only make a name for himself, the ZBC but also the secondary branch in Bulawayo.
When my time at the ZBC came to an end I made it quite clear that certain people (including Ian Segola) should be given certain programming and presentational prominence for the continuing success of Radio 3.
From what I can gather all the work that we did in those days did reap a lot of rewards for the station, for its personnel and for the ZBC generally. A few years later things sadly went downhill from what I can gather and the rest has become international history as well as today’s news.
I did stay in touch with Ian for some years but we lost contact with each other and despite efforts to find out how he was progressing unfortunately I hit a brick wall.
I was devastated to read today that in actual fact in May 2000 Ian Segola was shot dead outside a nightclub in South Africa. I have since learnt that Ian did go on to become an extremely famous and well known personality and for that I am happy.
I do know that Zimbabwe has lost a lot of talent over the years and for that I am perpetually saddened. But I am very sad to read the tragic death of such a talent in such appalling circumstances. Worse still is the fact that it happened a long time ago and despite communication developments in recent years such news slipped through the net and it’s only taken me till now to find out.
The trouble with this business (or at least the aspect of the business and I have been involved in so closely over the years) is that you cannot help but get very involved with the talent that you are trying to nurture. The thing is you can always spot talent, the hard work is building it and nurturing it. So in a situation like this news of this nature comes as a double whammy.
Broadcast training and development needs to be encouraged and built into broadcasting budgets as a priority. Regrettably broadcast networks do not prioritise and then they wonder years later where the audience has gone.
Zimbabwe and the ZBC lost a very talented person with Ian Segola. My only hope in the future when the current troubles in that country dissolve is that a new and bright talent comes forward so the industry can develop again.
