Adom-Otchere: I’m proud of the growth of Eyewitness News

Host of Good Evening Ghana, Paul Adom-Otchere, has expressed pride in the growth and impact of Eyewitness News on Citi FM, every weekday, crediting the programme with reshaping Ghana’s radio news landscape.

Speaking on The Upside Down Show on Channel One TV on Sunday, May 17, 2026, Mr Adom-Otchere recounted how the flagship evening news programme on Citi FM was created to compete directly with Joy FM.

“Eyewitness was started because we were competing with Joy FM,” he said.

According to him, the concept for the programme was developed by media executives Samuel Attah-Mensah, popularly known as Sammens, and Charles Wereko-Brobby during a discussion in a car park.

“I was not part of the idea. The idea came between, I think, Sammens and Charles, and they were standing in a car park conversing,” he explained.

Mr Adom-Otchere said he initially doubted the decision to air a major news bulletin at 5:30 p.m., noting that it was uncommon at the time.

“Sammens called me and said, ‘We’re going to do our evening news at 5:30.’ And I said, ‘Nobody does news at 5:30.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but we have to come ahead of Joy,’” he recounted.

He said the move eventually forced competitors to adjust their programming schedules.

“Eventually, Joy FM brought their news to 5:30 because of the kind of pressure we gave them. Almost everybody is doing news around that time,” he stated.

Mr Adom-Otchere praised the role of Sammens in transforming radio broadcasting in Ghana, recalling an earlier decision to move midday news on Joy FM from 1 p.m. to noon despite skepticism from industry players.

“He said, ‘No, let’s do 12 o’clock,’ and it was an instant success,” he said.

According to him, that earlier success convinced him that the Eyewitness News concept would also thrive.

“When he said to me that let’s do it again, I knew that there would be something,” he noted.

Mr Adom-Otchere added that several prominent broadcasters had hosted the programme over the years, including Shamima Muslim, Richard Sky and Umaru Sanda Amadu.

He also praised Citi FM’s Point Blank segment, describing it as an important addition to the station’s news programming.

“The news landscape has changed because of the vision of Citi FM,” he said.