“Couple of minutes after the hour of 8 o’clock. Gooooood morning to ya, hi, I’m Dan Foster.”
Hearing that rich, sonorous voice signalled the start of the day. A young me would be getting ready for school while listening to Dan as he got callers pumped up for the day. “Who’s your favourite presenter in the whole wide world?” Dan Foster! I would shout along as I rode the car to school.
Daniel ‘Dan’ Foster was an American radio presenter who landed in Nigeria due to a funny misconception that turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to Nigerian radio. He almost turned down the job after he found out VI was Victoria Island in Nigeria and not the Virgin Islands. After Chris Ubosi, who was with Cool FM at the time, offered him a luxurious package, he decided to take the leap of faith and move to Nigeria.
Dan Foster had an affinity for morning radio. In an interview with Ndani TV, he said “For me, morning radio is the key. As your morning goes, so goes your radio station. So you want to attack the morning strongly.” Dan had a lot of elements on his show to entertain people in the morning and hype them up for the day. And entertain people he did. He knew just the right song, effect or soundbite for every moment.
Radio was a passion Dan Foster discovered while he was serving in the Marines. He grew his passion by setting up a mini-station.
“During my service, I started doing mock commercials; I would read adverts on magazines and put some music behind it. I did it so well that guys wouldn’t believe that was my voice. They’d be like ‘stop lying that’s not you’ and I’d say ‘yeah that’s me’. They would say ‘you sound like a white guy that’s not really you Dan’, and that’s when I knew something was special. That’s how I realized that if I got out, I would have to attend an institute of broadcasting.”
After he left the Marines, he attended Morgan State University where he studied broadcasting and drama. He had his first radio job when he was in university hosting a morning show on his University’s radio. In an interview with Netng, he said Cathy Hill gave him his big break.
“She was tough but I really enjoyed working with her in the studio, doing talk shows. Then, she gave me a couple of hours before her show so in the morning; I was hitting people with inspiration and unique songs and she’d always come in and say ‘you have a talent for picking these unique songs and developing a good mood, hang in there Dan, you’re going to go places someday, I like what you do.”
And go places he did. When he moved to Nigeria in 2000, Dan Foster started at Cool FM. Foster left Cool FM in September 2009 for Inspiration FM where he worked for five years. In 2014, he moved to City FM.
In May 2016, Dan Foster left City FM 105.1 to reunite with Ubosi at Classic FM 97.3. He worked there until late 2019. He was in discussions to join Urban FM before he passed yesterday. Everywhere he worked, Dan set a standard and left an impact like none ever seen.
Dan was the creator of Cool FM Praise Jam, which he also spun the Praise Jam concerts off. In an interview with Netng, he explained what led to the conception of Praise Jam and how he managed the dual Dan personality that we knew.
“Well, by being real. It’s God and there was a message. The program needed to change on Sunday. It all started when I went to Church. The visiting Pastor recognized me. I met him back in the US. He was like ‘you’re the one that did those talk shows in the morning? Those songs you used to play you’re not doing that anymore? You’re not blessing people, what are you? You mean you’re just the ‘big dawg’ from Monday to Friday? Haba God forbid, you can reach more people than I actually can. Don’t you hear God’s voice speaking? Man, you better do that Sunday show’, and I was like ‘Yes, sir.’ And some pastor used to tell me, ‘you want to impress God? Reach out to people who don’t know Christ and people love you there because you’re already ministering to the people’.”
Dan ran with this message and he created the first-ever Cool FM Praise Jam in 2004. Even after he left Cool FM, he repeated it in Inspiration FM and as ‘Praise in the City’ on City FM. Praise Jam Concerts were such a hit, the audience in attendance went over 20,000.
Imagine meeting your soulmate at the movies? Well, Dan Foster could relate. He met his wife, Lovina Foster (nee Okpara) in 2008 at Silverbird Galleria.
“I loved her stature and how she spoke when she was dealing with the kids. She was so beautiful… She didn’t know who I was and to me that was great… I remember I said ‘I can’t believe we are the only ones in this theatre, and then she said ‘Who are you?’ And then I said my name is Dan. We ended up sitting next to each other watching the movie together.”
They exchanged numbers, got talking and a year later, got married. The union was blessed with three children.
This wasn’t Dan’s first marriage. He had a wife while he was abroad, but things got strained between the two of them after he moved to Nigeria. Speaking on why his wife went back he said: “They came and they didn’t like it and she took my son back.” Although he stayed in touch with his ex-wife and his son Joshua, he wished his son was able to see what his father did and the inspiration he’d been giving people.
On why he decided not to go back, he said, “I told her ‘honey I know we’re going to break up but I have to do this, it’s a job thing’.”
Dan Foster connected to Nigeria in the most basic way. When he came, he knew that he had to learn how things were done and find his niche. In an interview with Ndani TV, he told them he spent time listening to other stations and found a loophole that he could work with; a way of doing morning radio that no one else was doing.
“My strategy was good radio is local radio; As an American, I don’t want to come here and ‘Americanize’ people. I am in Naija, I’ve got to relate with them.”
If you had the pleasure of listening to Dan Foster on the radio, he made a game of learning new slangs and how to pronounce words, which he involved everyone in. It was his way of learning about Nigeria and the culture from us, while also connecting on a personal level. We felt like we knew Dan as a friend, not just a voice on the radio.
The ‘Dan Effect’ as I would call it quickly gained popularity. A year after joining Cool FM, he won an award for Best Radio Presenter of the year. He won 2003, 2004, and 2005 Nigeria Media Merit Awards for ‘Best Radio Personality’. City People named him ‘Media Person of the Year’ in 2004 and 2005.
Dan also tried his hand at acting, appearing in ‘Face of a Liar’ in 2001 alongside Stella Damasus and Kate Henshaw. He was a judge on two talent shows – ‘West African Idol’ in 2007 and ‘Nigeria’s Got Talent’ from 2013 to 2015. An experience which he said he immensely enjoyed.
Speaking of his judging experience on West African Idol:
“It was just a blessing to be able to help people with what they’re trying to do with their career. To see the discovery and development of that talent. So many good people came out of that, I mean Omawumi came out, Timi Dakolo came out and a couple of others that were really good and they evolved. That’s beautiful. That’s when you’re at the top of your game and people respect your opinion. It was an honour.”
Dan Foster was a tutor to many radio and TV personalities, who he helped or trained, in one way or another. Dan’s passion for communication was raw and his penchant for teaching made him loved by all.
“For the brand Dan Foster, it’s definitely teaching and leaving something else behind. Okay. It’s being able to be exactly who you are and being friendly enough to communicate it and lifting other people up. If they are going through something, to be able to help them. That’s what it’s all about.”
His life and his time on the radio left an indelible mark on everyone’s heart and the radio industry. Whether you were in the radio world or not, Dan revitalised something in everyone. And his legacy will never be forgotten.
Read an exclusive Netng interview with Dan Foster here.
