Radio Gold CEO Baffoe-Bonnie dead

The CEO and founder of Radio Gold, Sainti Baffoe-Bonnie has died.

Accra-based Starr FM reports that Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie, affectionately called Baboo died on Monday, February 1, 2021.

The cause of death is, however, unknown.

Radio Gold was among the pioneer radio stations in Ghana which served as the platform which gave several popular broadcasters the opportunity to nurture their talents.

Known to have been an opposition-aligned radio station, the Latebiokorshie media house was shut down by the Akufo-Addo led government in May 2019 over nonpayment of regulatory charges.

Radio Gold closure

The National Communications Authority (NCA) explained it shut down Radio Gold and Radio XYZ  because they failed to comply with the ruling of the Electronic Communications Tribunal (ECT).

According to the NCA, the “Radio stations operating without valid authorisations as determined by the 2017 FM Broadcasting Audit are being shut down with immediate effect as enforcement action in view of the decision of the Electronic Communications Tribunal.”

In a statement, it said “Following the FM Spectrum Audit in 2017, some stations were found to be in default and were fined by the Authority. However, some of the stations in default were not satisfied and proceeded to the various courts; Electronic Communications Tribunal (ECT) and the High Court to appeal against the NCA’s decision.

“This resulted in a decision by the ECT in 2018 which reviewed the status of expired FM Radio Broadcasting Authorisations and which ruled among others that Companies whose authorisations had expired reverted to the same position as a fresh applicant. While some stations shut down following this decision, others did not.”