The intelligent box

programmes were to come from Chennai on the 1st of April, three years later. To the average Chennaivasi AIR has been an old and voluble friend. From the chap who irons clothes in our street corner to my grandfather whose fondness for AIR¿s news bulletins hasn¿t dimmed for over half a century, the reach and loyalty AIR has commanded remains steeped in nostalgia. One report puts the number of people who tune into AIR everyday at 15 lakhs. Parents go searching for Grade A artists to tutor their wards in classical music. Noted singer Sanjay Subramanian writes a letter to the editor in The Hindu and despairs over how AIR has rolled back per performance payment by 40% - while it¿s true that he doesn¿t need the support so badly anymore, he could not have forgotten his own ascent.

There is a whole anonymous pool of young talent desperate for performance space and all these panting 24 hour round-the-clock FM channels exploding by degrees all over the place have not a minute to spare for nourishing new creativity or providing public service programming, after we discount sundry ¿social messages¿ sponsored by commercial businesses (for example, Amazer radial tyres telling us not to drink and drive). Health capsules, farming updates, rural sanitation, family planning, women¿s cooperatives, music lessons, literacy classes - all kinds of public interest initiatives have found a voice in AIR, its FM channel included. Says, Jayshree Raveendran, whose Ability Foundation has taken a 15 minute slot every Thursday morning for a first-of-its-kind pioneering programme aimed at the disabled, on AIR¿s Madras A, "The response has been overwhelming - even though we have hardly been able to publicize our programme. People from all walks of life have been writing to us, calling us and meeting us in person to compliment us and clarify their doubts. The producers at AIR have been most helpful, tailoring the output to our requirements and handling everything very professionally."

Prasar Bharati has cut budget allocation by 50% and Chennai AIR has been allowing advertising in all its channels. But it¿s the film based programmes which obviously garner maximum adspend. The audience is there. Ability Foundation has a string of sponsors lined up for its very serious dissemination-of-information programme. Private TV networks do long campaigns on AIR before launching their new channels. But in an age which turns bikini-clad beauty queens into national icons, public service broadcasting has suddenly become the Ugly Duckling. It has enormous potential but no sexy simpering to package the essential contents. If it¿s time for private FM to grow up a little, all AIR needs to do is think young. In the meanwhile, a faraway voice haunts my placid existence. Radio Mirchiiii, she croons, sizzling even more oomph than the silly dhinchak song which follows. It¿s hhhhhhhhot. Ouch.

Lalitha Sridhar is a Chennai-based freelance writer. Contact: sridhars@md4.vsnl.net.in

Posted July 23, 2002