Anyone born in the late 80s would not be familiar with the identity of Frank Olize. This is because this Delta state-born former newscaster with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) left full broadcasting in the early 90s after tantalising his viewers with his style of news presentation. He was one of the voices on NTA who anchored the Sunday night news and current affairs programme Newsline. In another way of saying it, he made that programme popular by what it is in the country today.
After his usual phrase of, ‘It’s nine o’clock. Do you know where your children are?’ It’s time for the one-hour programme with him. Olize now in his late 70s left the NTA, to many, unannounced. Not until a few years later, many thought he simply took the back seat while operating silently, but he retired quietly and left the shores of Nigeria for the US
In those days, the older and younger Nigerians looked forward to 9:15 pm every Sunday in order to hear the latest weird, funny and sometimes serious stories of the week anchored by this icon.
Writing about him, a lecturer in Mass Communications at the Chukwu Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in Anambra state, Chinenye Nwabueze, said, “Frank Olize is unarguably a legendary broadcaster who was a dominant brand at the NTA in the 80s and 90s. He was very popular as an anchor of Newsline, a programme aired every Sunday from 9-10 pm. Not just that the programme was very interesting, Olize’s unique style of presentation kept viewers captivated and glued to their television set while he was on air. He took television presentation to another level through that programme. He had a way of captivating his viewer’s emotion while the viewer watches the programme to the extent that he lets tears drop down from the eyes when the story gets so emotional. He made that programme a Sunday-Sunday tonic for many Nigerians.”
Credit: Anthony Manzo/Blueprint
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