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Tv & Radio > News & Features Sunday October 1, 2006
Didn’t mention the coup
AIR RAVES
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN
THE coup in Thailand a fortnight ago received little mention from local FM radio stations at 6am the morning after it happened.
However, it was RedFM’s David Chew who updated listeners just before 7am on what had happened while they were asleep.
I was fumbling with my radio dial, trying to find out which station had the latest information. The first information I had on the Thai coup was on TV just before I went to bed at 2am.
TraxxFM did not mention it at 6am.
RedFM became my choice because of the detailed coverage that the broadcaster gave to the topic.
Chew, who co hosts the Beauty and the Beast show with Nell Ng (6-10am), spent an extra few minutes furnishing listeners with the details of the events that led to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s ouster.
Chew even went to the extent of presenting a full chronology of events that brought on Thaksin’s downfall.
Information like that was useful to people like me who hadn’t had a chance yet to catch the full details in the morning papers.
And, for commuters rushing off to work at the time, Chew must have been heaven sent as they were briefed on the latest developments on their car radios in the traffic jams.
While many world broadcasters were trying to catch up with the latest developments in Thailand, another event was taking place elsewhere at about the same time that I was listening to the radio.
More than 5,000 people had gathered at Australian naturalist Steve Irwin’s Crocoseum arena at Australia Zoo in Queensland to attend a memorial service for the 44-year-old “Crocodile Hunter”, who was killed by a stingray two weeks earlier.
And although RedFM’s lunchtime listeners were among the first to hear of Irwin’s death on Sept 4, I hardly heard a whisper about the memorial service even though it was scheduled to take place at 7am here. Nor did I hear the event being mentioned on the other FM stations.
I was surprised that Astro stations such as Mix FM, Light & Easy or Hitz.fm hadn’t said anything. If they did, then perhaps they should have repeated it more often.
It was, however, announced on Astro’s homepage and in The Star’s TV pages.
The memorial service was aired live on the Animal Planet Channel 51 and turned out to be a very moving ceremony that lasted an hour.
Looking back, I thought that the whole aura would’ve been simply perfect had our local radio stations also joined in with their own tributes. They could have opened up our telephone lines and asked listeners what they thought about Irwin or if there were unsung heroes like him in our country, too.
FM broadcasters could also have taken the opportunity to talk about wildlife conservation in Malaysia, our own endangered species, etc.
In closing, here are some comments made by Riznal Abidin from Kuala Lumpur on BBC Online’s “Have Your Say” page about the Australian icon on the day that he died:
“It’s sad. It’s like losing a friend who's adventurous and brave, who came and visited you in your house and shared with you his stories, knowledge and adventures.
“And you always listened. He knew the risks and he took them and, from him, we learnt to respect, admire and understand animals and nature.
“I’m sure until the end he never stopped respecting them, and I will never cease to respect him.
“RIP, Steve and my sympathies for Terri, Bindi and Bob.”
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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