Tag Archives: Radio

DW Radio in India

General Thoughts, , ,

When things were looking like have I done it all on radio considering the parameters of RJ-ing on FM on a public service broadcast, I found out that a German institute (Max Mueller Bhavan) is organizing a media discussion on “Media in India – Conflicts and Contradictions” on Oct 8, 08. I was more inclined to attend this as I was given to understand that this marks the launch of a German radio broadcast Deutsche Welle in India. I was quite keen to attend this and it was exactly a week ago that I attended this launch. Honestly have got bugged listening to any other competitive fm station in Bangalore. Sincerely I feel my channel, FM Rainbow 101.3MHz is somehow doing some amount of variety in terms of radio talks, quizzes etc (even though we are lacking on not organizing gifts and other goodies for listeners) I guess we are moving on because of content and loyal listenership. Thank God!

I have heard BBC broadcasts and have been quite impressed with it, parts of them, I mean. Coming to the launch of the new broadcast here in India, the Bangalore event had a quite a handful of audience.  As I rushed in (I was 10 minutes late to the scheduled time) I was pleasantly surprised to see Ms. Indu Gajraj from All India Radio on the dias. There was also Nupur Basu, C.K Meena and Ramachandra Guha.

From the routine media is no longer what it is supposed to be, to an overview of how print, online, television and radio is working, to an interesting round of Q& A with the audience I was quite content with the evening. I had a question for the panel too which I think kind of put off some people on the dias but they were polite enough to answer it. I had asked if all the discussion would actually lead to any improvement and if the members of the panel would go back and do something to improve the situation of media in India. No form of media changes and all we do is talk at more such discussion forums? As I said, I was politely told that they are mainly freelancers and at best they could hope for the right kind of media in India.

I had a word or two with the representative, Ms Priya Esselborn from DW radio on their Hindi broadcasts and how they function. She was glad to tell me a few things and seemed very helpful. The session ended with some personal interaction with the panel members at Café Max. I had dinner at TGIF and headed home thinking that I would blog about this one!

Just say the word

The Hindu, , ,

While most radio stations now have Kannada content, opinion is divided on the use of Kanglish, writes RESHMA KRISHNAMURTHY SHARMA

It has been a roller coaster ride for the radio industry since FM stations burst on the air waves. Phenomenal growth, increase in listener base and competition has pushed radio stations to bring something new for their listeners. Even if programme co ntent has not gone beyond film music, humorous snippets and informative programmes, there is a noticeable trend in almost every radio station; the use of Kannada.

In the beginning radio played western music alongside desi film music. Now the mantra seems to be ‘Kannada keli, Kannada nudi’. While earlier RJs mostly spoke in English, now they are encouraged to speak in Kannada and English or that horrid hybrid, Kanglish, which does nothing for either language.

Right example

T.V. Gurumurthy, actor and banker says: “While it is a welcome move to play more Kannada songs, Kanglish is something which a true language lover will not approve of. I would like to urge RJ’s to use new Kannada words and be fluent so that it sets the right example and will help those who are new to Bangalore and want to learn the language.”

Says Anjali Paul, Station Head, Fever 104: “Our research indicated that even amongst our core target audience, there were those listeners who we had not managed to form enough of a connect with. And it was their request that we increase spoken Kannada as well as the latest Kannada music.

“Today’s Bangaloreans are a mix of traditional and cosmopolitan. Many of them have studied, travelled and lived abroad, had a lot of exposure to life, cultures and trends across the globe. Yet deep down they still take great pride in their culture and mother tongue.”

Writer and lyricist Jayanth Kaikini says: “I do not approve of this kind of format. Shouldn’t radio jockeys be speaking in proper Kannada rather than interspersing the language with English words? I feel radio, should make a genuine effort to talk about the music director, lyricist and other details of a song and RJs ought to speak the language correctly. Of course playing Kannada songs is always to be encouraged.”

Nivedita G.R, a Psychology student in Bangalore University says: “Obviously being a Kannadiga, I love the fact that more Kannada songs are played but I don’t approve of channels using colloquial Kannada, which gives a wrong impression of the language.

“While I am not saying that one should speak in a bookish way, mixing it with too much English is going to make the language lose it flavour.

“It is fine if this new radio language is used for certain shows, but it definitely should not be used all the time.”

While the debate rages about Kanglish on air, the move to play Kannada songs and increased use of Kannada, many agree is a good sign and will go a long way in popularising the language.