Television — Galaxy Television has re-engineered, repackaged, honed and redirected its focus as well as repositioned its programmes for transmission for the interest of its viewer, for the rest of this quarter.

Speaking at a recent press briefing Steve Ojo, president and chief executive officer of the station said: "We have turned to a new direction for a new beginning, we look at what our advertisers and viewers want, that's exactly what we are doing".

The advertisers, he confirmed to the audience, did actually complain. Hence his declaration: "Being a listening station a corporate response has gone from us to our listening viewers"

The television station now produces and airs 90% English Language programmes with the intention of entertaining its viewers, contrary to the former transmission quota of 50% yoruba, 50% English.

On the schedule this quarter are lots of exciting soaps , comedy , educative and teen-age programmes.

Among the expected soaps are Heart Beats, Roses and Thorns, Split of Fire. Other programmes billed for transmission include Healthwise, Lunchtyme Fiesta, Day Break in Nigeria and Editors Forum amongst others. Heart Break dwells mostly on the family, its values and emotional undertakings. It also places loved ones on a complex array of conflicts, which sees them in an intricate web of love , deceit, betrayal and sometimes on the advantage position of courage. While Roses and Thorns plays on the consciousness of diverse human unpredictability to entertain, enlighten and teach the audience on how to love and not to love and live, Lunchtyme Fiesta takes viewers into the world of entertainment - movies and music. One of the most entertaining programme is Rave 10. Its uniqueness is such that it grips its viewers totally. This is in the sense that it takes the viewer into the home of an artiste. Viewers have the opportunity of meeting their artiste in a manner they have never seen before .

Among the educative programmes are HealthtWise, a daily programme, which showcases medical practitioners from all facets of the profession, educating their numerous viewers on their general well-being. While Editors Forum gives its viewers a two-hour discussion programme bordering on topical issues in the papers for the week with the editors themselves on the programme to sensitise the public on topical issues. This also affords most viewers the opportunity of knowing some of the editors.

For the first time a programme is created for editors to express their views on issues that they cannot discuss in newspapers.

Comedy is not left out as Gbenga Adeyinka the first, Tee A and Alarm Blow are featuring on Laff Mattazz and Tyme out with Tee A.

The teenagers will also have fun as they watch Dating Game Show, Girls Talk and Campus Affairs. While Girl Talk seeks to create a convivial and relaxed ambience in which young ladies discuss societal issues like sex, relationship, peers pressure and other issues that directly confront them, Campus Affair takes its viewers directly into the world of students in the tertiary institutions.

The station also intends to add three additional soaps to the existing four, so that viewers can view these programmes which would meet international standards all through the week. The numerous viewers are also reassured of getting the best of sports and news programmes.

Ojo, however, believes that with the dawn and repositioning of the Galaxy Television, viewership will increase. This, he believes, will also increase the level of patronage from advertisers, whom he said brought about the new dawn due to their complaints on programme content.

Despite the new repositioning, Nigerian norms and culture remain intact and would be seen in the new programmes. He recalled some of the numerous challenges he has encountered all through the nine years of transmission. Prominent among them is acute power failure. For this reasons he uses six generators in Ibadan, four in Lagos.

"We buy fuel of about 2.5million every month to run the station. When we were using [the electricity supply from] NEPA, we had a $450,000 transmitter that was blown out due to erratic behaviour of NEPA, for us to remain in business, we have to generate our own source of supply. Sometimes it's vice versa, when good programmes are on air, there is no power to see such programmes."

He also stated that Galaxy found itself in Ibadan because when he got his lincence, the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC) told him there was no more signals in Lagos, except Ibadan. He also accepted to go to Ibadan because he felt he could change the lives of those in that region. He is a happy man today having fulfilled the second motive of going to Ibadan. The head of the new department in his closing remark stated that he is convinced that " we have turned a new direction for a new beginning". He concluded by saying " we know what our viewers want. That's exactly what are doing."