FM Radio: Less Music, More Chatter
When the FM Radio made its foray into India a few years back, those of us, music aficionados, went gaga over this latest development! We thought, here comes uninterrupted, melodious music 24X7. It started off fairly decently ' as it happens in the case of every new initiative in our country. Some years later, the music has literally vanished from FM, though the number of FM Channels ' with such exotic names to boot - has gone up. What should ordinarily have been more music to our ears has now become more of a problem of sorts, adding to the cacophony all around. You tune in to any of the stations, half the time you can hear some trivial issues being discussed between the host and some other person. At other times, it is all advertisements for colgate, coca cola or coutons. The music comes, but rarely, only if the station decides to let us enjoy it! Agreed, they need revenue to run the show, but can we not be spared some time for music as well? If you have noticed, the music is the least during the peak hour traffic when all of us will love to get over the tension of driving and heavy movement of vehicles by listening to some songs; and that precisely is the time when we will have the maximum number of advertisements and all kinds of chit-chat! Naturally, some would argue, it is a market-driven economy! And the compere (do we call them radio jockey?) will keep on and on about some trivia or other, and by the time his blah blah, followed by more advertisements are over, we have reached our destination! Morning and evening, the scene is re-enacted day after day! So, the hope that the FM Radio will provide us more music has taken a beating. As a friend said the other day, FM Radio me music kum hai, aur bakwaas zaida!"
