Radio has seen a phenomenal return in India of late, what with the opening up of the airwaves for private players. Television and cinema were threatening to make the once-ubiquitous radio-set an artifact of the past, a relic of antiquity. The private radio stations were a breath of fresh air when they started out, and gave the government’s radio stations a run for their money.
And sadly, now each of these radio stations has become a clone of the other, with doubts about what exactly differentiates one from the other. Each station plays the same songs and sometimes even the same song at the same time. The commentary is sad, slapstick and barely managing to be funny, with the notable exception of Red 93.5, which still has a splendid repertoire of funnies, which are a delight to listen in to between songs.
But the point of this blog is not to lament the opportunity that the Indian radio fraternity gambled away. That is for another time and another mood.
Of late, I have become habituated to listening to broadcasts of the BBC’s Radio 2 station. These broadcasts are available on the site http://www.bbc.co.uk, and are an absolute delight. I have been listening in to two shows, Desmond Carrington’s ‘The Music Goes Round’ (broadcasted every Tuesday evening) and Steve Wright’s ‘Sunday Love Songs’ (broadcasted Sunday morning), and both are absolutely delightful, not just with reference to the songs played but the general feel of the show. There are many songs which I have heard for the first time, and have instantly fallen in love with them, songs which one so doesn't get to hear on radio in India.
The Beeb, as BBC is fondly referred to, has always been a paragon of quality and standards. India's radio fraternity would do well to take some lessons. (Although I think FM Rainbow 107.1 is doing a significantly better job than the rest, much better indeed...)
