Radio Gold founder Baffoe-Bonnie is dead

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of defiant Radio Gold, Sainti Baffoe-Bonnie has died.

According to a report by Starr News, Mr Baffoe-Bonnie popularly known as Baboo died on Monday, February 1, 2020.

It is unclear the cause of his death.

Radio Gold was among the pioneer radio stations in the country having given opportunities to a number of broadcasters in the country to develop their talent.

The opposition-aligned station was controversially shut down by the Akufo-Addo government in May 2019 over nonpayment of regulatory charges.

Background of 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.”

Starr FM