For members of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST) community, Continental Radio may be easily recognisable. But for many millennial alumni, “Contato Radio” requires some recollection.

In the early 1990s, when student voices sought space in campus discourse, Continental Radio 96.1 and Contato Radio 94.3, owned and operated by Unity Hall and University Hall respectively, emerged as hubs for broadcast media training.

While Continental operated from the eighth floor of Block B at Unity Hall, Contato broadcast from the eighth floor of Katanga Annex.

Both stations attracted and nurtured notable radio figures. Continental Radio produced stalwarts such as Dr. Kwame Adinkra, Nii Amah Dagadu, Patty Daps, George Assiseh, Jamestar and Ghanaian musician Shata Rako. Contato Radio, based in Katanga Hall, produced Blakk Rasta, who remains one of its most recognisable alumni.

The long-standing rivalry between Katanga and Unity Hall fed into strong competition between the two stations, with Continental Radio emerging as the more popular among students, driven by programmes such as Campus Filla and Gospel Music Razzmatazz. Caught in the middle, the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) in the late 1990s moved to establish a station to serve as the official mouthpiece of KNUST students.

At the time, the National Communications Authority (NCA) was tightening regulation of campus radio operations, limiting tertiary institutions to a single frequency.

This created urgency around formalising KNUST’s own station, Focus FM. Contato was subsequently shut down and its 94.3 frequency reallocated to the yet-to-be-operationalised Focus FM.

Plans to establish a unified station advanced in 2000, when the Samuel Laryea-led SRC, in collaboration with university management, signed an agreement with Oppong Twumasi Electrical Company Limited (OTEC) to operationalise the project.

Focus 94.3 FM subsequently went on air, with Anderson Danso coordinating activities for the SRC administration at the time.

However, makeshift equipment frequently forced the station off air, a situation that persisted through the Nana Adjei Blackie administration in 2001.

Having observed the instability in broadcasts, the Samuel Ahenkorah SRC administration in 2002 adopted a different approach, setting up a modern studio equipped with state-of-the-art systems, including Denon DN-4000D CD players, Shure microphones and sound processors, to ensure a more stable broadcasting regime.

The then SRC Public Relations Officer, who had prior experience as a presenter and later Programmes Manager at Continental Radio, led efforts to streamline operations and stabilise the SRC-led FM station.

Despite these early challenges, the groundwork laid in the late 1990s would eventually culminate in the establishment of Focus FM, now a fully operational campus radio station.

Today, the station serves as a training ground for media personalities, continuing the legacy of earlier platforms such as Contato and Continental Radio, which gave students their first opportunity to find a voice in the media space.

It is instructive to note, however, that as early as 1982, a teaching assistant set up Radio TURS (The Unidentified Radio Station), which operated briefly.