Unveiled to a passionate crowd of diasporans yesterday in central London, details of the radio station owned by a parent company called St Ives Communications, were presented by Ms Sonaiya. She pointed out that the station, which will be based in Isheri on the border of Lagos and Ogun States, is designed to cater for women and their families and will engage on issues of local, national and international importance for everyone.
According to Ms Sonaiya, although WFM 91.7 is licensed to broadcast for women, it will cater for the men and the family. She added that it will operate for 24 hours, addressing everyday issues and will be a reliable, leading and trusted source for all related news, information and matters of interests.
Ms Sonaiya added: "Life is measured by moments and for me, that moment came a few weeks ago when I got a call to say that our licence had been approved. We lobbied a lot for it and I am proud to say that eventually, without having to bribe anyone we were granted a licence by the outgoing government just before it left office.
"I feel that this platform will allow us to give a voice to women who cannot speak for themselves as we will cover everything giving it a female slant. My brother who made this possible, put the money together and as he owns a hospital, he has always worked with women and is knowledgeable about their affairs."
A veteran of the broadcasting industry, Ms Sonaiya has worked for Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation and Ray Power in Nigeria and Choice Fm in the UK. She also has a lot of experience working on women's issues having worked with Housing for Women, trafficked women and female offenders.
According to Ms Sonaiya, WFM will also organise seminars and development programmes for rural women as part of a plan to reach out to them. She added that if the radio station proves successful, they will apply for more licences to establish it in other states across Nigeria.
"We will discuss everything that other radio stations are doing but we will do it from a women's perspective. In Nigeria, we have a captive and readymade market as you can be trapped in traffic for six hours with nothing else to do but listen to the radio," Ms Sonaiya added.
Olufolake Abdulrazaq, the minister for immigration at the Nigerian high commission in London, who was the guest of honour at the launch, commended St Ives Communications its accomplishments. She applauded the regulatory body, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission for granting this historic license.
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