Rooted through music: Radio binds diaspora

BY Aman Malik| IN Books | 08/04/2005

Aman Malik

Ethnic Indian media: A global perspective

The ethnic Indian media, in countries with substantial populations of Indian origin, evolved primarily on account of two reasons. To begin with, the members of the Indian Diaspora, living in alien and often unfriendly lands, needed a medium to remain in touch with their roots. Moreover because the lands they now inhabited were ¿not so friendly,¿ it became essential for them to be networked among themselves.

Apart from recreating familiar Indian symbols, the ethnic Indian media also satisfied certain special requirements of the Indian community by way of matrimonial advertisements, birth and death announcements, and special programmes during Indian festivals.

Over time, ethnically owned media outfits proliferated, especially in those multiethnic countries that accorded freedom of expression to their people. In such countries, issues of political importance, current affairs and news about India gained importance. In most other countries, however, Indian language entertainment and local community issues (non-political) formed the bulk of the content dished out by the ethnic media. In these countries, news on political affairs was controlled either by the colonial masters or, if the Indians were in a minority, by the majority community (post independence).

Why is radio so popular?

Radio enjoys an enviable position vis-a-vis all other media in most countries where people of Indian descent reside. The reasons are not hard to enumerate. Many such countries are ex-colonies, which have attained independence within the last fifty years, and still are ¿developing countries¿ with low per capita incomes. "Radio therefore becomes an affordable medium for inDIViduals and small business establishments, many of whom cannot afford TV," says Pandiyan Azagiya who heads Oli 96.8 FM, Singapore¿s only Indian language (Tamil) radio station. In fact, in a recent AC Nielson survey, it was found that a whopping 96% of the city-state¿s residents listened to radio. "In Guyana, almost everyone has a radio but few people have a TV or even buy a newspaper, so radio is important," reckons Terry Gajraj, one of Guyana¿s best known Chutney singers.

Even in countries such as the United States, where the Indian community is affluent, radio is popular. "Radio can be heard even while working. It also serves as a communication tool while driving," offers a representative of RBC Radio, which commenced service in 1989. RBC Radio, operating out of the Empire State Building in New York City, was the first (and one of only three) 24-Hour Indian radio station in the US.

Rafi Mohammad, a Trinidad based media practitioner of East Indian descent feels that Indian language radio stations provide a good medium for East Indians to air their views on matters of public concern. "You would not believe it," he says, "but in a small country like ours with a population of 1.3 million, half of which are East Indians, we have six Indian language radio stations."

Another major reason for the popularity of radio in some such countries is geographical. Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius and Singapore are made up of clusters of numerous islands that are spread over a vast area. Take Fiji for instance. This Pacific nation with a population of only about 800,000, (45 per cent are Indians), has nearly 360 islands and radio is the only medium that reaches out to all of them. It does have a government owned 24 Hour TV channel, but its reach is limited.

Their beginnings and the way they grew….

Almost all such countries with have substantial populations of Indian descent, are ex-colonies. They attained independence from their colonial masters (the British, the French and the Dutch) toward the second half of the twentieth century. Most Indians in these countries (Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius, South Africa, East Africa, Guyana, Suriname etc) can trace their roots to the indentured labourers who were taken there from British India, in various phases beginning the mid nineteenth century, to work on sugar plantations. Most of those who reside in countries like the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Gulf went much later (primarily post independence).

In most of these countries Indian language radio services commenced in the first half of the last century. By this time the Indian communities in each of these countries had begun to exert some degree of political influence.  So while Tamil language radio in Singapore started in 1936 as a 4-Hour service, Fiji began Hindi radio broadcasting by 1954. Today Singapore has a 24-Hour Tamil FM station, Fiji has four Hindi stations, two of which are privately managed.

In Trinidad, Indian radio started in 1947 thanks to Kamalludin Mohammad, an East Indian who negotiated with the management of the only radio station in the country at that time, to start a half-hour show, which became an instant hit. Eleven years ago, the privately owned 103 FM became the first all-Indian radio station in Trinidad; today there are six, with two signing on soon.

Mauritius, which had its first radio broadcast way back in 1927, liberalised its airwaves only in 2002. Today, this tiny republic in the Indian Ocean has three privately owned FM stations that broadcast programs in ¿Hindustani.¿ In Guyana, where radio broadcasting started over eighty years ago, there are no full time Indian radio stations. The country, in fact, has just two government run stations (one AM and the other FM) and both air a smattering of Indian film based programs, bhajans etc. The Guyanese and Surinamese Indian communities are mostly serviced by radio broadcasts from Trinidad.

While in South Africa the state run Lotus FM which targets the Indian community and gives equal space to several Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi, in Kenya East 106 FM and Sound Asia play the same role. The Gulf region has three Malayalam AM radio stations and two FM stations (Radio Asia and HUM). Sunrise Radio, which is the oldest and arguably the most popular Indian language radio network in the UK, caters to the Indian (and Pakistani) community all over the country. Others include Sabras Radio, Radio XL, Supa AM and Punjab Radio.

The dynamics… 

Besides the country of origin of their forefathers, one thing that binds the people of Indian descent, while at the same time distinguishing them from the indigenous people and other non-indigenous racial and ethnic groups with whom they co-exist, is language. The Indian diaspora has, by and large managed, by default or design, to hold on, at least loosely, to its linguistic traditions.

As mentioned earlier, Indians started emigrating to these lands well over a century and a half ago; theirs was a world which had no telecommunication facilities or modern day transport systems (as we know them) to talk of. Hence these people were at a total disconnect from India. They were, to put it simply, in a complete ¿time wrap.¿

Each of these communities, in the last century or so, has spawned around itself a unique cultural ethos. So while Fijian Indians speak in a variant of Hindi which they call Fiji Hindi, East Indians of Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname have developed a popular form of music called Chutney and Tassa.  

However when it comes to radio broadcasts in Indian languages, stations follow strict linguistic guidelines and for the most part use ¿pure¿ (read: literary) language. "We recruit qualified announcers, with degrees in Hindi," says Deepak Nobeen, a veteran of over 25 years in radio broadcasting who was formerly with the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation.  The radio announcers, who are local Indians, are usually trained locally. However some do come to India for training. "From time to time we have somebody coming over from India to train us here," says Sanjesh Narain, a radio jockey with Radio Fiji Two, a Hindi station.  

Indian music is big business in such countries and most of the Indian language radio stations (especially the privately owned ones) are entertainment channels. Much like the private FM stations in India, most of their content is film based and music is procured from India. While Azagiya claims that his station gets a copy of every CD that is released in India, Narain tells me that while music from India does constitute a bulk of the content, locally produced kirtans, bhajans and faag are regularly aired. Further government run stations, such as in Mauritius, do air public service shows on child abuse, health, unemployment, education etc. The likes of Sunrise Radio and Oli 96.8 FM also air news and programmes on current affairs.

Big money…

"The private players who took the initiative to start Indian radio stations in Trinidad, became instant millionaires," reflects Rafi. And Trinidad is not the only place where Indian language radio stations make a killing. Each radio practitioner that this correspondent interacted with, without exception, claimed that his station, as indeed all Indian language radio stations in his country were profitable.

And for a good reason. In all these countries, Indians are the extremely enterprising. In Fiji, Trinidad and the Gulf, Indians virtually control the economy and in the US, the UK and African countries, enjoy extremely high per capita incomes. Indians manage or own profitable enterprises and the bulk of the advertising revenues generated by Indian stations come from them. In fact in some cases, even multinational corporations advertise. "Today the station has 250,000 Indian listeners and advertisers include Citibank, New York Life, Money Gram among others. The station is also a platform to small retail businesses," claims the representative of RBC Radio. Avtar Lit, who owns Sunrise Radio, recently became the richest media tycoon in the UK.

The Hindi section of Radio Fiji makes at least $0.6 million (Fiji) through advertising revenues alone. Even in Mauritius, advertising revenue hovers around M Rs. 800,000 to 1000,000 for a private radio station. RBC Radio claims to collect up to $30 per spot.

Being politically correct…

While countries such as Singapore, the US and Mauritius have no real history of racial or political tensions among the Indians and others who live there, the Indians of Fiji, the UK, Guyana and Trinidad have had strained relations with the indigenous people of the respective countries. And such political and racial tensions do have a bearing how the country¿s media functions.

When confronted with a question on inter racial tensions and their effect on the media, people from the aforementioned countries answered diplomatically, in a bid to play down the DIVisions. "Yes, some programmes are prejudicial and promote inter racial hatred," contends Gajraj, but then adds, "Most programmes promote interracial harmony, mutual respect and peaceful coexistence."  Narain is equally non-committal as he says, "I think the relationship (between indigenous Fijians and Fijian Indians) is excellent. But politics is a dirty game so people are DIVided on party lines, not racially"

Ditto with Rafi: "People generally live in harmony. However when election time comes around there is some falling out."

"India treats us like step children…"

If there was one thing that almost everyone who I interviewed seemed to agree on, it was that the Indian government was apathetic towards the ethnic Indian media.     

"The Indian government treats the people of Indian origin like step children. There are no links between Indian government and NRI media at all," claims the representative of RBC Radio, and adds, "Once we wrote to the Information minister of India and didn¿t even receive an acknowledgement letter."  Mayshree Bhim who runs a media company called African United Media in South Africa shares this view. Laments Bhim, "Imagine what great radio we could do since a lot of us still perceive Bharat as our motherland, but for the attitude of the Indian government." Azagiya is critical of All India Radio: "We visited All India Radio in 2001, and realized that we were much superior both technically as well as content wise," he says, while adding at the same time that he would be open to collaborative projects with the Indian media.

The Indian government has however entered into agreements with the state corporations of Fiji and Mauritius, to name just two countries. Says Narain, "India has been helpful by providing trainers, but we had to pay the cost, However the Indian embassy here (in Fiji) is trying to send some local journalist to get trained in India." Nobeen reckons that more could have been done as he feels that "more announcers should have been trained by A.I.R."

The spillover…        

An interesting inference that this correspondent is compelled to draw from this study is that Indian language and music have an appeal, which goes beyond just the Indian community. Radio practitioners were unanimous in their opinion that although the indigenous people did not form a part of the target audience per se, they were, nonetheless ¿fascinated¿ by Indian music.  From the Amerindians (or the Buck people) of Guyana to the Chinese and Malay communities of Singapore, DIVerse ethnic groups in many countries regularly tune in to Indian radio stations and form as yet a minor but important part of the audience and programmes are made keeping their preferences in mind. 

Contact: Aman Malik, amanmalik000@hotmail.com