I've been listening to the Radio. It has been something of a discovery for me. A result of a conscious choice of not owning a TV and inadvertent unemployment.
It was a sea to begin with, and I was obviously floating desultory. It started with the usual pop music channels - listening to music in loops can be mind numbing. Then there were rap and hip-hop, little bit of country, Mexican music and even Christian evangelists. Then there was a breif but wonderful pause on the classical music channel. At first it was functional, something soothing to fall asleep to, only to be shocked out of lala-land by loud overtures of violin choruses and trombones. Bad idea! But i continued to listen to it on lazy pre-noons, long enough for Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky to become familiar names. The numbers on the radio dial had brcome a little familliar.
The real discovery, however, were the News Channels. Suddenly the immured housewife had a window into the world. The world was talking to her. Six months in this alien country, and i had not just understanding but also an opinion on Healthcare reforms, Energy bills, democratic rights and issues ...heck i even understand the judicial and legislative systems of this country. After having spent a life time in my country, India, the most i know about our civics is that we have a prime minister, a lok sabha and a rajya sabha. What they do, I have no clue.
I know we have issues in India. Every country has more or less similar issues at different points of their history. We have poverty, illiteracy, corruption, caste discrimination and what not. What are we doing about it? What is going on? Where is the voice of the NGOs or even the overnment. Who's keep toll of the Farmer suicides in the cotton belt? Why are farmers taking their lives in the cotton belt?
News for me in India is just flashes of gruesomeness. We watch CNN-IBN online sometimes just to get a feel of what's happening in Desh. It is so cacophonous and disturbing that we have to turn it off or, If it's at dinner time, we usually lose our appetite. The caricature of the news media in movies like
A Wednesday and Delhi-6 is apt to the T. Repoters reporting at the top of their lungs and shoving mikes into the hapless bystanders' mouths. Yes, News is about facts and events. But just about any facts? On what basis does the media filter these facts? Even the answer to this question has become hackneyed.
Isn't the News supposed to be about empowerment and not entertainment? Doesn't the phrase go Knowledge is Power?
The argument usually made here is that me or people like me or Indians are just lazy numbskuls and are only interested in item numbers. In the ocean of channels, News channels are competing with sports channels, movies channels, youth channels, reality TV, Kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi channels, celebrity gossip channels (there are actually channels dedicated to this!). So they'll play anything to reach out grab the surfers attention, even for 2 minutes (Thats long enought to sneak in a 5 sec commercial eh?). You can't blame the channel they need the advertising monies to run the show, producing a newcast isnt cheap.
Perhaps, it will never be possible to return to the impassioned lady with the gerbera in her hair, politely reading the news of the day at dinner time. Perhaps not on TV atleast, but maybe on the internet and hey, maybe even on the radio!
The Radio - precisely the media for News. It's cheap - no expenses on make-up, sets, video, teleprompters (:D), onsite camera man, looping 2 sec video clips of Mika kissing Rakhi. There is hardly any competition, maybe a couple of music channels and cricket commentry. So there is no need for sensationalism, and be easily run without feeling the pressure to attract too many advertisers, simple underwriting can work. And maybe, just maybe it could also run on a democratic model - a community-style listener run radio station. Start national dialogues. Give a voice to the people, maybe then we'll really know how lazy or numbskulled they are. I listen to
NPR and
Pacifica Radio pragramming here. One runs on underwriting and the other on member donations. I like both. I find both equally important in their own right, informative, thought provoking and wholistic.
Yes, there are other media. Newspapers work, had worked, but the day TOI became a magazine,
something died silently. Plus newspapers are only for the literate. The internet is a source of information. Frankly I find it a daunting ocean of unfiltered blogs (emotional effusion). You need some salaried people to colate all that information and present it in a coherent manner to you. Wouldn't you rather be doing incremental research on the internet more enlighteneted than spending precious liesure time on the basic stuff. Load up on information while your busy fixing dinner or driving to work. You can't beat the power of the radio to show up anywhere - in your car while your stuck in infinite traffic jams, at work, or in the kitchen.
Yes, I want to start a radio news channel in India, set up a radio station. I don't know how it is going to happen exactly. maybe we will start with just a 1 to 1/2 hour spot on an existing channel. This article is my first step towards it.
You can help. If you happen to read this and while I'm cooking my
khayali pulao answer these questions for me:
1. Do or would you listen to the Radio and why?
2. What stations do we have in India besides Radio mirchi and Radio City?
3. What do you think,
zaroorat hai? (Is a radio news station needed)