Headphones hanging out of their ears, you see thousands go by everyday in trains, buses, cars and just walking. Some are just in a world of their own, others are humming around while a few are actually singing out loudly with no concern for the surrounding people!
Yes its that little phenomenon called radio!
With radio almost a pre-requisite in all phones even, every person had access to a radio in recent times!
I have kind of rediscovered the radio after a break of almost 2 or 3 years. During this time there have been sweeping changes in the radio-sphere. Go 92.5 fm has been reborn as Radio One 93.4 with a lot more focus on hindi music which is a big step away from the old predominantly english avatar of the music station. I used to be one of their most loyal listeners at that point. (I even won 7 or 8 contests on a bounce and then they blacklisted my number and didn't give me any prize even if i got the answer right!) But the hindi rechristening kind of put me off and was one of the reasons i stopped listening and drifted away from radio. Hindi music is good...but how much can one take??Besides i really used to like the RJs on Go. They were peppy, funny, smart and everything you liked in a person when you were hearing them speak about totally random stuff. The other RJs like (multiple RAPA award winner) Malliksha and the other channel RJs especially Jeeturaj were almost irritating compared to the Go crowd!
Lots of people dont like radio because they ould rather not hear the RJs buk-buk...but i used to enjoy radio mainly because of all that. Radio in a way is like theatre in that sense. You dont get to work to a script you have to think on your feet and entertain people who are frustrated with trafic, work, bosses, family and life in general! Thats not an easy thing to do and i appreciate anyone who can get somebody to smile in the middle of all this! The Go guys were great at that...the rest never came close to it.
I had graduated to an iPod after that and used to listen to songs i wanted to ...but lately i just switched back to radio for a change and man! i'm hooked again. No particular station..but just the songs. Lotsa new songs i had never heard before and movies i didn't know existed! But also all the news i am now aware of. Thats something i appreciate about radio. Apart for m the entertainment, you get a lot of other info. I still miss the good RJing though. i really think that with the demise of Go, good RJing has also been lost. None of the present RJs actually make me want to listen to them. Malini on the new go (radio One) s the only one who still brings a cheer to me and Jaggu and Tarana once in a while in the morning but the rest just dont do it for me.
But hey...radio killed the iPod.....Steve Jobs...u listening?
