TV Killed The Radio Star
Time: 6:45 PM
Worried about dinner? Nope
Why not? Well, i got leftover eggplant cutlets, can put together a matki salad in the time it takes to say 'oh my' [well about 1000 times] and got enough strawberries that threaten to decay if i didnt make em into a milkshake. So nope, am good.
So got time to kill huh? Absolutely.
So whats on your mind? Radio
What else? TV
Allright allright, will stop. The point is, TV killed the radio star. [aw sheesh..I cant come up with something original? well, i said TV, not 'video'] Well, I would argue that video didnt kill the radio, but killed the movie industry instead [you know..video piracy and suchlike..but thats for another 3 hour dinner over burnt food and wimpy salad]. I mean, i get it..the optimism over multiplexes and such in India..hoo haa all over..But piracy is still out there, and my mom refuses to shell out 400 rs when the singhji at shop around the corner can give the same movie, on the same day, with no extra petrol spent. The eyebrow-raisers at my paranoid theory [which, for now, is just one person who shared that godawful meal described above] will appeal to the movie-maniacal nature of the 'masses' as normal people are classified these days, and the enormous spending capacity, and the sheer strength of the rural population that will go repeatedly to the theatres to make 'no entry' a superhit. Oh well.
Coming back to the TV -radio star connection, i would now like to declare my undying love for the medium of radio. no, no, i aint one of those "oh yeah, radio, its cheap and good" fans..I TRULY believe in it [looking intently into the camera with smokey-eyes makeup as I mouth this after Oprah asks the question 'what does radio mean to you?']. I hung dedicatedly to my pirated walkman that played radio all through my BEST bus-ride days, through my 5 hour train journeys to pune, through my 'play the movie 'aandhi' every saturday morning and it gets stuck at the same point every damn time' ASIAD bus days. I simply loved radio mirchi in bombay--memorizing the signoffs of each RJ and laughing at their jokes while the bus conductor glared at my soiled, torn and taped 5 rupee notes.
Radio, simply put, is a fabalous medium. It penetrates deep into the audience, and while it doesnt have the undivided attention that the TV claims [well that aint true anymore, but lets just say the TV is in denial]. Radio doesnt suffer from the multi-channeling syndrome for precisely the same reason--its a background thing. You might be struggling to get the damn atta outta the bag, and when you suddenly drop it all and cover yourself in white flour, you hear an optimistic DING as the host suggests "Try Denny's today..its the place to be"--hell, advertising couldnt get any better than that [well i missed the romantic getaway ads and the spa ads, but hey, ads dont get everyone all the time]. Radio is there, always, like a comforting friend. And trust me, the way i sing those jingles in the car on my one-hour commute, the ad-guys have gotten me nice and clean. I can stand in the aisle of the supermarket singing the washing powder jingle to the last key. TV-fatigue is setting in, radio-guys...the viewers are sick of all the reality shows, godawful ads, pathetic soaps and incessant rambling on the idiot box. News shows are like soaps, soaps arent real at all, and reality shows are starting to create news [notice the cyclic route there?]..ZONE IN, i scream..capture us all, us content-hungry audiences..who want to laugh, cry, dance and sing along, just like they do on those tv ads [whoops]. Which other medium has the power to be a permanent fixture onto the audience you need? [psst--none]..SEIZE the moment, SEIZE the moment of failure of TV and all thats pop-up ads..let the radio turn murderer now..and kill the TV HOST!!!
headphones forever, peps
Worried about dinner? Nope
Why not? Well, i got leftover eggplant cutlets, can put together a matki salad in the time it takes to say 'oh my' [well about 1000 times] and got enough strawberries that threaten to decay if i didnt make em into a milkshake. So nope, am good.
So got time to kill huh? Absolutely.
So whats on your mind? Radio
What else? TV
Allright allright, will stop. The point is, TV killed the radio star. [aw sheesh..I cant come up with something original? well, i said TV, not 'video'] Well, I would argue that video didnt kill the radio, but killed the movie industry instead [you know..video piracy and suchlike..but thats for another 3 hour dinner over burnt food and wimpy salad]. I mean, i get it..the optimism over multiplexes and such in India..hoo haa all over..But piracy is still out there, and my mom refuses to shell out 400 rs when the singhji at shop around the corner can give the same movie, on the same day, with no extra petrol spent. The eyebrow-raisers at my paranoid theory [which, for now, is just one person who shared that godawful meal described above] will appeal to the movie-maniacal nature of the 'masses' as normal people are classified these days, and the enormous spending capacity, and the sheer strength of the rural population that will go repeatedly to the theatres to make 'no entry' a superhit. Oh well.
Coming back to the TV -radio star connection, i would now like to declare my undying love for the medium of radio. no, no, i aint one of those "oh yeah, radio, its cheap and good" fans..I TRULY believe in it [looking intently into the camera with smokey-eyes makeup as I mouth this after Oprah asks the question 'what does radio mean to you?']. I hung dedicatedly to my pirated walkman that played radio all through my BEST bus-ride days, through my 5 hour train journeys to pune, through my 'play the movie 'aandhi' every saturday morning and it gets stuck at the same point every damn time' ASIAD bus days. I simply loved radio mirchi in bombay--memorizing the signoffs of each RJ and laughing at their jokes while the bus conductor glared at my soiled, torn and taped 5 rupee notes.
Radio, simply put, is a fabalous medium. It penetrates deep into the audience, and while it doesnt have the undivided attention that the TV claims [well that aint true anymore, but lets just say the TV is in denial]. Radio doesnt suffer from the multi-channeling syndrome for precisely the same reason--its a background thing. You might be struggling to get the damn atta outta the bag, and when you suddenly drop it all and cover yourself in white flour, you hear an optimistic DING as the host suggests "Try Denny's today..its the place to be"--hell, advertising couldnt get any better than that [well i missed the romantic getaway ads and the spa ads, but hey, ads dont get everyone all the time]. Radio is there, always, like a comforting friend. And trust me, the way i sing those jingles in the car on my one-hour commute, the ad-guys have gotten me nice and clean. I can stand in the aisle of the supermarket singing the washing powder jingle to the last key. TV-fatigue is setting in, radio-guys...the viewers are sick of all the reality shows, godawful ads, pathetic soaps and incessant rambling on the idiot box. News shows are like soaps, soaps arent real at all, and reality shows are starting to create news [notice the cyclic route there?]..ZONE IN, i scream..capture us all, us content-hungry audiences..who want to laugh, cry, dance and sing along, just like they do on those tv ads [whoops]. Which other medium has the power to be a permanent fixture onto the audience you need? [psst--none]..SEIZE the moment, SEIZE the moment of failure of TV and all thats pop-up ads..let the radio turn murderer now..and kill the TV HOST!!!
headphones forever, peps
Comments
but radio still is very underpriveleged, underused.(all the more better that it stays the way it is).....sound. that is what it is....think of the purity of sound and the impact of radio in our lives truly if advertising is taken somewhere in radio. the image of sound is a profound and deep experience.
will see how much radio can get ahead. I am neutral to this radio vs TV. but with TV having bigger sellers, I doubt radio can easily make its way through. :)
despite all the cynicisms, I love radio and never had a TV in 6 years. :) I hope you are right.