Comment

The following is Harry's comment to my post "FM Radio" in which I was critical of radio jockey's talks and the kind of programs that get aired. Harry makes a hard hitting statement.

You hit the nail on the head! You took the words out of my mouth!

"Commercial needs" doesn't, in any case, imply the stupid SMS and telephone line chatter I heard not only in Bangalore but also at Dubai, there with Malayalam stations. It is evident that someone suddenly 'discovered' this old and tired-out phenomenon discarded from 50s, 60s, and 70s North American radio (just as India has done with cell phones) and decided to ape it. As usual, with sad results - thanks to satellite television which is the reason Indians try to out-do the whites and carry imitation to comical exaggerated extremes! Having lived in the US and Canada for 39 years, with a degree in radio and tv broadcasting, and having listened to smooth, polished super-stations where the announcers make anywhere from $100,000 to $20 million (that is correct) or more a year, I believe I am qualified to separate the men from the boys in radio! These FM stations I heard in India and Dubai are amateurish, to say the least.
Many stations are going to automated programming in the U.S. and Canada, getting rid of the irritating motor-mouths. Who needs them? Listeners want more entertainment in the form of music, as can be seen from channel-hopping in North America. Take it to another extreme, and you have Indian AM radio. But, that is another story!

If these Indian and Dubai stations would only listen...:( The possibilities are endless for AM and FM in this part of the World, if only they knew what they are missing!

Harry , thanks much. You made my day.

2 comments :: Comment

  1. Prabhu, thank you for your kind comments. I am glad I made your day.

    In the same vein, have you noticed that A.I.R., Bangalore (on AM) has the weirdest, strangest 15 minutes on the planet?!

    I tuned in for film songs one morning at 7:45 AM, and they embedded one, that is correct, ONE, solitary, lousy song within a plethora of commercials! Does A.I.R. take listeners to be morons? To start with, around the planet, listeners do not tune in to a program to hear commercials. If anything, people hate commercals and grudgingly endure them. There is also a limit to the number of ads stations can run consecutively in the US and Canada (just in case there are imbeciles programming stations out there, as well), but not in India. I could not believe my ears - ad after ad after endless ad! Then, more ads after the song. Then, to add insult to injury, they broke one of the prime rules in radio - never interrupt a song until almost the end. One can go into a fadeout or segue into news, or as they do in the West, use an instrumental (rather than a vocal) to pad the relatively short air time before news or features. These geniuses at A.I.R. played less than a minute of a song, and cut right to the news, in the process, alienating numerous listeners who were just beginning to enjoy the song!

    Some things in India CAN be improved, if there is the will.

    Anonymous

    9:19 PM

  2. Harry,

    Yes, abruptly stopping a song for the sake of commercials is an art that many of the radio stations in India have mastered!..Makes the Radio experience a hard task which otherwise is wonderful.