By R J Mantra
Red FM 93.5
A decade ago, when I started speaking on radio, I had absolutely no clue as to what I was getting into. In the whirlwind since then, I wonder what I have said – did it really matter to listeners? Come to think of it, from a small-town jock to becoming a Delhi-walla and finally a Mumbaikar, radio has surely taken me places. Of course, different cities beat a different rhythm with listeners varying in their personalities; like my local Banarasi paanwala in Indore who’d give me a complimentary paan for saying good things about him, to villagers from the outskirts of UP and Haryana who would listen while working on their farms, hanging their radio sets around the bull’s neck!
So much has changed in the last decade - I truly miss the letter writing culture. I used to receive loads of postcards every week. Listeners would send their homework, recipes and even marriage proposals, hoping that I would bite the bait. I still remember a lady who used to write in every detail of her married life from the time she got married till the time she left her husband for her lover, whom she knew from before marriage. For her, I was her invisible raazdaar, and she found solace in it. Somehow, even I found solace in her writing, knowing that simply writing to me was comforting for her in her turbulent life.
Since the time we’ve progressed technologically, it’s tough to get even an SMS out of the listener. Imagine the ease with which one can type something quickly and convey the message. Very ironical in a way… we are the ones to create such advanced technology to save time on communicating, but in doing so, we are not communicating at all.
Over the years, the radio industry has changed a lot. Random requests for one’s favourite song changed to conversations with a point of discussion. Radio jockeys transformed from mere presenters to people who could influence their listener’s opinion. While some took to the path of being ‘love advisors’, others took on the mission to change the world. Each started finding his own little domain. Are we RJs the influential society changers or are we purely entertainers? Only time will tell.
I’ve spent half my career at RED FM, where I got to play entertainer as well as influencer. It has been a fantastic experience. It seems like yesterday that I had joined this station for expression. In other cities, an RJ enjoys demigod status and has a ‘fan following’. In Mumbai, where you have SRK living in Bandra, the Bachchans at Juhu, daily soap stars, musicians, directors crowding Lokhandwala, an RJ really has to work hard to be noticed. Though I started off with two RAPA and two Promax awards, I regret not being a part of the old school RJs where there was just ‘The Voice’. Every listener imagined a different face for the voice. There was mystery around the voice and its master. I’ve changed my style since the time I started TV and films - now there is a face to that voice and listeners know who they are listening to. It’s a different ballgame altogether.
Feedback: mantra333@gmail.com
