One Thing I Don't Like About My Job Is The Salary–Wale Animashaun

My name is Wale Animashaun and my fans call me Wale Poan accountant by profession but if I had not been an OAP, I would have loved to be a medical doctor. I just like taking care of people.

popo, or Poski, or even Pandoski. The funny thing about life is that you, some­times, don’t
chose what you want to be. It has been fun being an On-Air personality, OAP and you get to see so many things and meet so many people that you have never thought of meeting, and so it is a life changing experience and it is just so won­derful. Funny enough, I a
Talking about the most basic training I have had on my job as an OAP, I will say it is the training at FRCN Training School. It is the Mecca of broadcasters, if you ask me. If you go anywhere as a broadcaster, the first question you are asked is this: “Have you been to the FRCN?” I have also been certified by the Independent Television Pro­ducers Association. I have done courses on theatre, pronunciation, etiquette, and the like. What I like about my job and the most interesting part of it is how I get to let people have the real picture. A lot of people have the wrong picture about so many things and as an OAP, you have to do your research and get an unbiased view. People must know that after six, there is seven and then eight. After I have sensitized people about things like this, I always feel great.
The only thing I don’t like about my job is that you don’t have a private life. You don’t even have a personal life and people go out of their way to know all about you. They even see you as a supernatural person. You cannot afford to fall sick and people just see you as their property, who must not have a private life. On this job, the most embarrass­ing moment I have had was when an artiste came to the studio and I never knew that he is my relation. When we started talking on radio, I felt so ashamed that I never knew him. People started calling me on air to ac­cuse me of not knowing my own relative. Since then, whenever I have a guest, I try as much as possible to do a thorough research on the guest. If I have my way to change something about the job, it would be the salary. Most people think we have a lot of money and they don’t even know that “fowl dey sweat, na him feathers no let us know”. I think OAPs should be appreciated more and re­munerated better. After a very busy day, I love watching football, even if it is Zimba­bwean league, as long as you are playing good soccer, I am good with it. My family knows that they can ask me anything and I will give it to them once I am watching foot­ball off work. If I am given an opportunity to get on another job apart from this, I will do it. You may not know that if you put just an extra effort to another job, it could be better, especially in a better working environment elsewhere. Then, I will be able to deliver better where I find myself. That is the state of my mind. There is something that people don’t know about being an OAP. They lis­ten to us and enjoy the programme but they don’t know that at times, we are fighting one another in the studio and some other things that if the listeners could just see, they will know that we are not super humans. Most people don’t know that to produce a programme takes a lot. It is not just a paper work.
At times, the air-conditioner is off and you are live on a programme, sweating it out like a goat, because the show must go on. You are just in discomfort. If I have my way to do something else in life, I will start an NGO because I really want to impact people in the society in so many ways that anywhere my children go and they mention their surname, people will trace the name back to me. I want to leave a legacy for the next generation because my fathers have done their own. I must confess that I love my job. I have been in broadcasting for over 20 years now. I started out at Ray Power and then AIT before I moved to Radio Continental. It is normal to feel you want to make moves when you just look at yourself and ask, is it not possible to do something else, like going into politics? When you think of the people that would miss you, you stay put on the job. It is like in marriage, when your wife annoys you and you feel like quitting but when you think about your children, you just choose to continue. I will support any of my children that so wishes to be an OAP like me. In life, an el­ephant can only give birth to an elephant. If I have a child that wants to toe my path, I will encourage him/her but will only instruct him/her on the good and the bad sides of the job. There are days you are not happy yet you have to make people happy; the show must still go on. In a couple of years, I hope to have been in the political terrain and that is because I have to help the society. You must leave something behind that your children will be proud of. Maybe it is because of the way I was brought up. In the next five years, I hope to have been on a platform that will enable me impact the people in such a way that will make the society a better place.