Ebullient Libran

Radio, fantastic!

I recently bought a new mobile and one of the features that I was looking for, while scouting for that new piece of modern telecommunication wonder was the FM feature. For with that feature I could tune in to the many a ubiquitous FM channels anywhere and anytime I wanted to- be it when standing at the bus stop waiting for our beloved blue and white BMTC bus, when driving in my car zigzagging through the chaotic traffic of Bangalore, when at home in the relative peace among my family or even when at office to relax my mind after having stared at the monitor without having blinked my eyes for a long time.

Radio, from what it was known in the past has had a significant metamorphosis, both in form and content. It is now no longer a huge piece of electronic instrument, and has come to signify a new vogue in the form of FM music channels with all their cool RJ’s- their nonstop talks, which are sometimes cute and some other times boring- and broadcasts of public requests.
The radio has, over the years, seen it being liberated from being stereotyped as a huge box like instrument which would only churn out “Yeh Akashvani hai”, cricket commentary or Geet Mala of Vividh Bharati of Radio Ceylon. It now comes in all shapes and sizes and can even be found embedded in items like in a mobile phone, a walkman, an I-Pod and what not; in items that the inventors of the original Radio couldn’t even have imagined.
Radio has also seen itself detached from being associated from all that is old, like the way it was associated with our grandparents for reasons known to all. The radio, for good, is now associated with a younger generation, for its love for hip hop and current news in equal measure.

And the other day as I was listening to Radio Indigo(one of the many FM channels in B'lore) to keep myself occupied, away from the drabness of office work, I heard the RJ mentioning their website address-"www.radioindigo.fm". I decided to explore the website and in the website I came across an article written by Rohit Parker, now of the Radio City(another famous FM channel in B'lore) fame. His article was a sales pitch towards the various ad agencies to consider the radio as an medium for their advertisements. He mentioned about the ability of the radio to reach every nook and corner, every inch of a city, unlike other mediums of broadcasting which are not in a position to make a similar claim. And the ad agencies seems to have taken the cue from the article and have been advertising in full blast. Infact this spurt in ads has been the main attraction for many other businesses to venture into Radio business. New FM channels are flourishing everywhere. The explosion of FM channels is not only restricted to the A category cities, but also in many of the B and C grade cities and towns.

What this explosion has done is to revive the radio culture from a dieing breed to something that has come back to revolutionise and even liberate the masses away from the idiot box and its idiotic contents, which has brought in more harm and strain to the societies. And hopefully the radio is here once again to play a more longish innings, changing its form and content to swing to the rhythmes and tunes of a new time.

posted by Akhilesh @ 9:42 PM