By Jeremiah Nutsugah
A Ghanaian media practitioner and the Female Dean of the School of Information and Communication at the University of Ghana, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo has shared the history of Prof. Alex Teye Quarmyne, the first African Director of Ghana Television, who played a pioneering role in establishing community radio.
Speaking on the 95th birthday and on the history of Prof. Alex Quarmyne in Ghanaian broadcasting on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, she emphasized the contributions of these pioneers who interpreted and executed the vision for a pan-African nationalist Ghana television.
“Their place in history has been largely ignored. As a media scholar, I cannot overstate the historical significance of Professor Alex Quarmyne and his pioneering colleagues,” she said.
She noted that although Prof. Quarmyne left to work for UNESCO, he returned to Ghana to help establish community radio alongside his indefatigable wife, Wilna, shortly after the airwaves were liberalized at the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
Prof. Quarmyne, a Ghanaian, was appointed as deputy to Graham Du Bois, the African-American writer and activist who served as the first director of Ghana Television, and Genoviva Marias, a South African, who was the director of programs. However, these contributions are often absent from written records.
After the overthrow of Nkrumah and Du Bois’ departure from Ghana, Prof. Alex Quarmyne became the acting director of television, effectively becoming the first Ghanaian director of Ghana Television.
He was also involved during the preparatory stages of television and was an instructor at the small training school set up to train future broadcasters.
She lamented that little is known and written about these early pioneers of radio and their enormous contributions to broadcasting.
Additionally, she acknowledged the role Western institutions, particularly the BBC, have played in shaping broadcasting in former colonies but urged for the decolonization of knowledge to fill the existing gaps.
Prof. Quarmyne’s legacy serves as a reminder of the significant contributions made by early pioneers in the field of broadcasting in Ghana.
