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Tv & Radio > News & Features Sunday July 16, 2006
Words worth more than picture
AIR RAVES
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN
FIFA Germany 2006 has ended – what a frightening thought!
Almost a full week has elapsed and it is still beyond comprehension how I and a gazillion other people in Malaysia – and around the globe – survived these past seven dreadful days in a world without World Cup football.
For those of you who do not like soccer and found yourselves miffed that our local radio stations (and television) gave too much air time to it, what can I say other than, well, shame on you!
I mean, I would much rather have the World Cup any time than to have our broadcasters talking about old and new wars, global epidemics, famine or even an earthquake-cum-tsunami catastrophe.
One deejay of a popular private radio station related how he had received a shelling from an irate listener or two for highlighting Fifa 2006 during his shows.
Straight after each of those calls, he promptly responded by updating listeners with more soccer scores. He even played a football song or two, for good measure.
Well done, Mr Deejay!
Germany 2006 was a great opportunity for potentially warring nations to work out their differences on the football pitches.
Now, there’s an idea! If only we could all convert those conference tables into football pitches, we might make the world a better place for all of us after all – and even much sooner than we think.
After having spent as much time on my radio as I did on the telly following Germany 2006, there was one major disappointment with radio that I didn’t mention in my review last week.
Whatever happened to radio commentary of the matches? Remember the good old days not so long ago when TraxxFM (then called Radio 4) used to carry some of the important matches live from the BBC on our local FM during the wee hours of the morning?
For those who couldn’t be by their TV sets for one reason or another when a match was on, Radio 4 was heaven sent.
Even for those who, like me, could be in front of their tellies, it was hard to resist the temptation to also turn the radio on.
In fact, I would lower the TV volume and crank up the radio. The radio would offer so much more detail than the TV, serving up a blow-by-blow account of what was transpiring on the football pitch.
Each nail-biting moment would get even more absorbing as the broadcaster raised and lowered his voice with each passage of the ball.
Often, he’d point out events that were happening beyond what audience could see on the TV screen, such as the crowd’s reactions, the start of a downpour or disputes in the field well before the telly picked these up.
I sorely missed that during the tournament just past.
Never underestimate the power of imagination. When it comes to radio and broadcasting, that old adage about the relative worth of an image and some words is true, but in reverse – A thousand words are far better than a picture!
Anthony Thanasayan, who was born disabled, is an avid radio listener. His work, training special dogs for the physically handicapped, has been featured on local and international radio. His dogs, he says, help him ‘stay in tune with life’. E-mail him at athanasayan@hotmail.com.
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