Sunday November 4, 2007
Bright and cheerful
Air Raves
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN
WITH Deepavali approaching, two of our nation’s Tamil radio broadcasters, Minnal fm and Thr Raaga, have clearly been working very hard to make this year’s Festival of Lights the best one yet for listeners.
Which one of them will impress the audience more by the end of the week?
Minnal fm (operated by RTM):
Deepavali Eve (Wednesday):
7.10am-9am: Let’s Celebrate! is a drive-time morning show that aims to put revellers in a suitably festive mood by playing Deepavali songs.
4.05pm-6pm: In Children and Deepavali, the youngsters will talk about what the Festival of Light means to them. Festive songs with a children’s theme will also be aired.
6pm-11.55pm: This is when things will start to pick up. The early evening begins with a pre-recorded Deepavali concert that was held recently by the broadcaster. This will be followed by the appearance of a mystery guest at 9.30pm. The only hints offered by Minnal are that he is a very popular actor and a veteran star.
Deepavali Day (Thursday):
3.05am-6am: A non-stop classical instrumental featuring the compelling sounds of the Nadaswaram. The wind instrument is not only one of South India’s most popular but is also the world’s loudest non-brass acoustic instrument.
9.05am-noon: Our Open House invites listeners to the open houses of famous personalities and ordinary Malaysians celebrating the auspicious occasion.
3.05pm-6pm: Have a hearty laugh over Comedy, Then and Now – from past greats to the present talent – with funny tunes to boot.
Post-Deepavali (Friday):
12.05am-3am: In So Long Deepavali, Minnal’s studio telephone lines will be kept open for listeners to call in and share their happy, funny and even poignant moments of this Deepavali.
While Minnal fm kicked off its Deepavali specials only yesterday, Thr Raaga run by Airtime Management and Programming (AMP) launched theirs a week earlier.
And the special festive light will continue to burn bright over the AMP radio station until the next weekend.
Raaga’s four-day radio contest, Udan Balik Kampung, ended on Friday with five winners. All of them will each be driving back to their hometowns for Deepavali in a Naza Ria. The vehicles are on loan to the lucky five for seven days.
In addition to the Naza Ria ride, the lucky five also received RM500 worth of petrol and RM300 for toll on top of RM1,000 cash for their personal expenses!
To bag this deal, listeners had to quickly guess the missing words of song clips played by Thr Raaga.
Meanwhile, the lucky ones could gain special invites to the Deepavali open house hosted by the station.
This contest, of which the details will be announced on the air, takes place through to Deepavali Day.
To our Hindu readers, Happy Deepavali. And happy tuning, everyone!
Despite living in the cyber age, the writer insists that radio still provides a unique window on the world. When he isn’t scanning bandwidths, he helps to raise awareness of positive living with pets through his organisation, Petpositive (Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association).
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