Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts

Saturday, March 12, 2011

ON AIR

In 127 hours, there is a brilliant scene in which James Franco enacts a radio show, including a phone-in. It’s done exceptionally well by Franco and is my favourite scene in the movie. But, thinking about it, it would have been easy for Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle to write that scene (in case it is not from the book the script is adapted from); because you have heard it many times on the radio, and that is the format all radio stations across the globe follow. Very few radio stations try to be different, at least in the music they play. BBC 6 Music, which plays non-mainstream music, is one such station, and much debate has happened on its planned closure (at least put on hold, as of now) - give it a listen on the BBC iplayer.


Reason for posting this – I just finished reading stand-up comedian and Radio DJ Phill Jupitus’s excellent book “Good Morning Nantwich: Adventures in breakfast radio”, an account of his days at 6 Music, hosting the breakfast show. This is perhaps the first book I have come across which celebrates the love for radio (Woody Allen’s Radio Days is an attempt in film). If you are a radio- junkie and loves music, get hold of this book! It narrates what happens in a radio studio and ultimately tells you why Phil quit 6 Music, when the station management wanted him to stick to the station playlist (of course, he must quit in such a situation, what else you can expect from the maverick DJ of an indie music station!) The book also contains a section on how to start your own radio show on the internet. The book could have been edited to make it tighter, even so it was a pleasure reading it.

Since I mentioned the movie 127 hours, it was great listening to Bill Withers’s fabulous song Lovely Day, in the movie. It was something like what radio does - surprise you with a song that you loved, but have forgotten.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

RJ clichés

Often heard on the radio after a song: that was so and so “..belting out..”, “..keeping you company…”, “with his version of..” etc.
Meghna of Radio Indigo, Bangalore, actually said this after a Chris Rea song while I was driving to work: “That was Chris Rea keeping you company with [on] the Road to Hell”.

Note: This was in 2008 or 2009 and Meghna is no longer with Radio Indigo.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

The Voice of America

Willis Conover 1920-1996

You may call Willis Conver a Jazz legend, though he was just the host of the Jazz Hour program on Voice of America. I heard Conover on radio (Voice of America on shortwave) when I was probably too young to listen to Jazz. Perhaps he is the only radio show host who is as respected as the legends of the music genre itself.

The clipping is from the VOA newsletter which I recieved in '96. Click on the image to read.

Read the Conover tribute by the The Hindu jazz critic Jazzebel here.

Also posted on my Radio blog.