He remains the quintessential radio jockey, India’s first and India’s most memorable. When Ameen Sayani came on air, millions listened. Today, at age 90, he’s no longer heard, but for those of my generation and after, his golden voice lives on.  

He started out with All India Radio (AIR), which was conservative and stingy with film songs, although they were most popular. Between AIR (since 1951), AIR’s Commercial Service (since 1970) and various foreign stations (since 1976), says the Limca Book of World Records, Sayani has produced or compered over 54,000 radio programmes and 19,000 advertising jingles. These included a six-part Music for the Millions for BBC World Service. He also compered stage shows, musical evenings, trade presentations and beauty contests. He is best remembered for his Binaca Geetmala, a regular film music programme, mainly over Radio Ceylon (now the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation). Thus Radio Ceylon stole the thunder from AIR. Sponsors Binaca was a toothpaste brand, which later became Cibaca. After an over four-decades run, it was wound up.

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In my student days, I listened mainly to BBC World Service radio for news and features. I could also listen to, among others, Radio Moscow, Deutsche Welle Germany, even Beijing (then Peking), all in English, on shortwave radio. My favourite music came from Radio Ceylon. Like the BBC, the Voice of America, too, increased my knowledge of the wide world outside. I even learnt to distinguish British and American English accents and usages.

I’m retired now. But as far as radio is concerned, my interest has only grown. Because of good, clean radio, I have unsubscribed to cable TV for the past several years. Most people see radio as something from a bygone era, but the truth is radio today is far better than in my student days. The programming is wonderful. So are technical standards — thanks to digital online streaming, and the ease with which a radio announcer can connect with people living across the world. The sound is crystal clear. And you no longer need a “real radio” any more. It’s done with an app downloaded to my phone, my laptop, iPad, even to a car’s player.

There are several such apps, but very popular is the one I use: TuneIn Radio. It brings you any radio station in the world with its ‘Search’ feature. It’s free and works without a glitch. There’s live radio and podcasts too. If you enjoy podcasts, look for another app on Google Play Store. It’s called Podcast Republic, on which you can save your favourite podcasts and keep track of your listening.

The same BBC World Service of my youth is there, and I still listen to much more than the news. The regular features include Outlook (human-interest stories about ordinary people who did extraordinary things), The Forum (where leading experts discuss history, culture and ideas), World Business Report, World Book Club, More or Less (which analyses statistics from our everyday lives), Inside Science, and Witness History. There must be over a hundred such features on various subjects on BBC Radio alone. As for Radio Ceylon, my favourite music still flows. It’s now called SLBC Radio Sri Lanka.

Television does not offer as many choices as radio does. TV also ties you down — you have to sit and watch. With radio, you can listen while you cook, clean, garden or whatever else. I may stroll from one room to another with a radio station playing on my cellphone. I listen with headphones during my evening walks in the park (Warning: avoid headphones on the road!). In fact, the radio is on all the time when I’m oil painting. (For better audio, you may rig your phone to speakers, Bluetooth or wired.) It’s like being able to read a book while doing another useful thing. Those who have only got their news and features from TV won’t understand how much efficiency, learning and joy radio can bring.

Unless you give it a try. Go ahead — tune in.

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“I’d sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio.
You gave them all those old-time stars
Through wars of worlds invaded by Mars
You made ‘em laugh, you made ‘em cry
You made us feel like we could fly… Radio!”
(Lyrics of Radio Ga Ga by Queen)

Way back in the 60’s, when I was a kid, radio was king!

My generation had no TV and the whole family looked forward to being informed (the news) and entertained (music/entertainment programmes) on the “magic box” called ‘radio’.

On rainy days you would find us gathered around the radio to listen to Saturday Date and the Bournivita Quiz Contest and Hawa Mahal on AM radio.

All of us listen to the radio and take it for granted, but when did radio first start and who invented it?

It all started with Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) who is generally considered the Grandfather of Radio Communication.

As with anything new, radio was initially perceived in a very negative way, with many people saying it was just a passing trend and would die a quick death.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular,” said David Sarnoff in 1920.

“The radio craze will die out with time,” predicted famous inventor Thomas Edison in 1922. But as we can see, most of these people had to eat their words.

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I study in class XI. I want to be a radio jockey. What courses should I do? Please help me with the list of courses and institutes.
Kalpana Joshi

The prime responsibility of a radio jockey (RJ) is to be creative and engage users and entertain them through conversation, humour or music. An RJ should have good communication powers and language skills. If speaking is your passion, talking to people comes naturally to you, the fun never ends. But you have to be super creative in order to make conversations interesting. Also you need to stay updated with all the latest news and happenings; be it at the local, national or international level.

Radio jockeying is one of those careers where skill is more important than academic qualification. Still it always helps if you have some related background. The syllabus of a radio jockey course includes basics of verbal communication and phonetics. You will also be trained in the art of proper articulation and pronunciation. Besides, the idea of writing scripts, radio presentation, voice projecting, public speaking, personality development, sound accents, etc., are also taught in the course. The duration of the course varies from 3-6 months.

Some of the prominent institutes that train radio jockeys are: Radio City School of Broadcasting, Mumbai (radiocity.in/radiocity-school-of-broadcasting); Aizaz Rizvi College of Journalism & Mass Communication (ARCJMC), Lucknow (arcjmc.com); Centre for Research in Art of Film and Television (CRAFT), New Delhi (log2craft.org); Dr Zakir institute, Bhagalpur (zhi.org.in); EMDI Institute of Media & Communication, Indore (emdiworld.com/indore); Livewires, The Media Institute at various places (livewires.org.in).

Radio City School offers a six-month diploma course, for which eligibility is graduation. Selection is through an entrance exam which consists of three levels: Written exam & Group Discussion, Extempore and Personal Interview.

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