FM Radio

Ever since the launch of FM radio in India, circa 2002, I've come to have a love-hate relationship with it:

• When it first began in Mumbai I loved the fact that we had something as awesome and as powerful a media as FM radio which could connect with the people of the city, and hated the fact that I wasn't on my path to becoming the next cool and happening RJ in the city.
Once it became a part of my life, I absolutely loved the fact that most of the channels played amazing tracks most of the times, (with a weekend-bonus of great trance mixes) and the RJs were witty, smart and made sense, (Mumbaikars, remember #SaturdayJam with RJ Jose and Suresh Menon? They basically kicked ass). However, I hated the fact that songs were usually cut short to spare AIR time and that I couldn't listen to all the RJs all the time.
As FM radio became more popular I loved the fact that the city was embracing this new media, but hated the fact that the phone lines to my favourite RJs were now always busy.
When FM radio became as common as television I started loving the creative advertisements and jingles being aired on it, but started hating the dumb ones and the bad "seemingly-different-but-really-mainstream" music that was becoming increasingly popular on FM.
Today when FM radio has probably reached its peak in the country, across cities, I am reduced to love the few good things that I seldom hear on it: a handful good tracks that are still keeping the music alive on FM, some really smart advertisements that not only get the message across but also make you think, laugh and smile, and some interesting, witty RJ-speak that could probably still inspire someone to take up RJing as a career. And all of this happens when the precious AIR time is not frothing with the things I absolutely hate about present-day FM radio: unbelievably dumb advertisements that challenge the limits of human stupidity and make me want to rip off the speakers along with my hair, impossibly repetitive playlists filled with the terrible "mass-appeal" songs that are an insult to the word "Music" and, yet, are somehow popular among the people (yeah, I know, that's what mass-appeal means) and some RJs that are so cheesy and corny that listening to them can clog up your arteries and give you gas.

What happened to you #FMradio? You used to be well in-tune.

Shamanth Huddar.
29th May 2015.