Comments on: Radio killed the TV star

By: roop

roop — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:12:29 +0000

always an enlightening experience, reading your blog, you know that. thorougly enjoyed ur post and the comments.

learnt quite a bit. i wake up to npr as well.

By: Karthik Jayaraman

Karthik Jayaraman — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:09:06 +0000

@Rada : True. But the trend is the FM stations with continual nonsensical ramblings & songs. But then, there’s a audience for that too. I did notice your comment above & am genuinely pleased.

Quite seriously, aren’t the new FM channels a hit with the population who aren’t ‘well-heeled upper and middle classes’ too?

I guess if DD did a revamp of its outlook, it’d attract a whole lot more audience, rather than waiting for the Olympics to come every four years.

By: Rada

Rada — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:02:31 +0000

“Youd be lucky if you found a household in the metro that even switches on to those once every year”.

I don’t think this statement is entirely true. Maybe not the well-heeled upper and middle classes who have other avenues of entertainment perhaps! But AIR’s phone-in programs are definitely poular with the common man. (Please see my earlier comment)

By: Karthik Jayaraman

Karthik Jayaraman — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:55:24 +0000

DD? AIR? Akashvani?

You’d be lucky if you found a household in the metro that even switches on to those once every year!! The radio business has picked up a LOT over the past few years here in India, but it’s mainly targeted at the entertainment genre. You will never find a source close to what PBS does back there.

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:32:05 +0000

Lekhni

This song was on the radio this afternoon and made me think of one more reason why radio will always trump TV. Nobody can ever write such a lovely song about a television.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUr1pSWTVI

By: kochuthresiamma p j

kochuthresiamma p j — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:54:54 +0000

i have always wondered why radio didn’t suffer the TV impact in the US where has it has been hit badly in india. i think it’s the fact that almost every citizen in the US owns a car, and that they spent a lot of time evry day in the car that’s made the difference. radio has factored in that reality and catered to te mobile audience.

By: Rada

Rada — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:16:57 +0000

I listen to the FM channel (Tamil) of AIR very often while driving to work. What gladdens my heart is the kind of people who phone in: Apart from housewives, most are self-employed people like Electricians, Tailors, Grocery shop employees and so on. To it’s credit, AIR offers programming in this channel which does not talk down to its listeners.

Comapred to this, the private FM channels, catering to students and young working professionals, offer mundane, mind-numbing uniformity, in the mistaken (?) belief that this is what their target audience wants. Pity.

By: vidya

vidya — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:02:15 +0000

Other than the oft-cited “can listen while commuting” argument there is one more thing. People look for options only when there are none. For example, in India AIR catered for several years to a large classical-music listening base which did not find similar options in television. Today, with the arrival of satellite channels like Shruti worldspace that has changed yet the sangeet sammelans (a unique feature) continues to be popular. Same goes for NPR – good news/analysis and eclectic programming is absent from other radio so it fills a gap. As for PBS, between NBC/ABC/CBS and Fox there are a lot of television channels competing in all these spaces and PBS has relatively lesser USP of sorts there.The only avenues they have are documentaries/films, classical music, theater, educational and indepth interviews/analysis. Speaking for myself, I was one of the PBS regulars for the Charlie Rose show (since it is now retired and I have nothing specific to look for on PBS today and get rather bored with imported BBC programming ) . If I need documentaries and films, I go pick it up from the local library. Again same with kids programs, between nick jr, playhouse disney loyalty is divided. So there is a cost and a challenge to constantly come up with something different than what commercial channels have to cater to audiences who want alternatives , yet have some commonality. I think this is one of the reasons NPR is more successful than PBS.

By: Sujatha

Sujatha — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:52:47 +0000

We watch more PBS in the house than listen to it on the radio: Nova, Nature, Masterpiece Theatre (both Period and Modern), Frontline, Antiques Roadshow and Bill Moyers, Cyber Chase, Arthur, Wishbone etc. for the kiddo.
As for the radio, I like the classical FM and the Jazz and world music (Hindi film songs on Sundays for an hour), but it drives me crazy when they have their fundraisers, as has been going on for the last month. I think I could deal with short advertising jingles better than the ‘Won’t you please call in and pledge X dollars to keep our station on air?” that rend the airwaves.