May 20, 2003 10:27 PM
5210 Views
(Updated May 20, 2003 10:29 PM)
There was an air raid over Mumbai a year ago with FM radio channels raining down just like all those ballistic missiles rained down over Iraq recently (bad analogy!) There are currently 6 radio channels on the air in Mumbai and its neighbouring cities.
I’m one of those people who get addicted to good things (and a few bad ones as well) in life very soon and this aerial bonanza was no exception. I bought myself a decent music system so that I could enjoy my solitary moments more at home. Initially, I was a die-hard fan of “Radio Mirchi” but over a period of time got tired of it as there was not too much variety in their programming and they used to spend more time in making Bollywood celebrities mouth “Radio Mirchi…It’s hot!” than in playing songs.
Like a good discerning listener, I glided over to other channels and finally adjusted the dial of my radio to the Win 94.6 frequency. It’s been a full year and I’ve not yet found a valid reason to change the frequency. Here’s why…
Quality & Variety of Programming
A good programming mix comprising all kinds and genres of songs is a must for any radio channel to click with patrons. One thing I observed with all channels is that in the beginning they all play even the latest English numbers but over a period of time, conveniently move these exclusively for the weekend nights.
Win 94.6 too falls into that category but apart from that, I have no other complaints with it. They have a great mix of songs and cover all genres. One can listen to the latest Bollywood hits, classics, Indipop (both old and new) and even yet-to-be released songs. Even among these genres, their variety is too good with the repetition factor being fairly negligible.
In between, they also have cleverly inserted promos of their own programs that highlight their aspects in a humorous way. Advertisements are a major (or is it the ONLY?) source of income for Radio Channels and while channels like Radio Mirchi 98.3 and Go 92.5 waste a lot of time on ads, Win 94.6 has very few ads between in its programs.
Quality of RJ’s
It’s always a difficult thing to comment on the entire bunch of Radio Jockeys, especially when they have a mix of “The Good, Bad and the Worst”. When I shifted to Win 94.6, they had a great team of RJ’s. Over a period of time, there seems to have been some amount of employee turnover and when I re-started listening to radio after a gap of 2 months (due to technical problems), I was surprised to see old-timers like Malini and Hrishi off the air.
4 hours in the morning are hosted by the inimitable Malishka. What can I say about this lady? She’s so amazing that she can keep your ears glued to the radio as long as she’s on air. She’s tremendously gifted, has a great sense of humour and is blessed with a sweet voice that has command over dozen Indian and foreign languages. In my opinion, she’s the best thing to have ever happened on Radio. Period!
Among the others, Devika, Sandeep and Vignesh host shows during the day and are pretty decent. They all can keep the listeners interest alive and don’t “Spam” unnecessarily. The only glaring standout is a chap called Pandey…Anurag Pandey. I thought that Jeetu Bhai on Radio Mirchi was the worst creature on air but Anurag beats him hollow. To begin with, his voice is terribly irritating and is like a cross between a steam locomotive and a crowd of cawing crows. Writing anything more about him would be a waste of precious space here.
Undeniably, the icing on the cake is taken by Roshan “The Voice” Abbas. He hosts the popular program called “khanak” comprising Hindi classics. It’s a pleasure to listen to this program, not for the sheer variety of the golden oldies but also for the way he carries the show. He provides nuggets of information about all those wonderful singers, music directors, lyricists and others who made those songs possible. The only other alternative is to be at Maddy’s house in the company of Salim Bhai.
Other Snippets
The channel has a good mix of contests where free gifts and passes are given to lucky listeners who call in with the right answers. They also come out with special programs and contests for occasions like festivals. The “Traffic & Travel Update” is given once in an hour or so and is invaluable to listeners traveling by road as it updates them of the traffic jams and other hold-ups on different routes. There’s also a news snippet various times during the day on general and sports news as well as the stock market update (including the latest NASDAQ quotes in the evening).
Clarity of Reception
Being the incorrigible experimenter that I am, tried out all the channels on domestic radio sets, on the car radios and on the pocket radios. While all domestic and car radios catch all the channels, the pocket radios provide the true test of clarity and reception. That’s because I’ve listened to channels while traveling by the local trains and at certain places on the route, the radio signals clash with those of the railways.
Here too, Win 94.6 comes out tops closely followed by Radio City. The only place where I can’t reach its signals is for a very short stretch between the Mumbai Central (Western) railway station and the EMU Loco shed situated just outside it. This is one area where even mobile phone signals don’t work well most times, so that’s quite justified. I’ve also tried the pocket radio at various places like on high-rise buildings, in the bathroom (yes!), suburbs and at times even on long drives out of the city. I never fail to get a clear signal on all these occasions.
Thus Spake TiC
What’s left for me to say? Win 94.6 comes on top among all the criteria I listed above. Except for the jarring Mr. Anurag Pandey, this channel is music for the ears (literally). For those in Mumbai, instead of wasting time reading “Thus Spake TiC”, tune in to Win 94.6. As for the others, please feel free to visit Mumbai to listen to this channel ;-)
