Game Shows in Radio!!

Continuing the discussion on the previous post about FM Channels now we land up where we have got game shows on FM Radios. Though the amount may not be as large as it used to be in TV game shows like 'Kaun Banega Carodpathi?' or popularly called 'KBC' of Star Plus or 'Jeetho Chappad Phad Ke' of Sony but surely they are here to stay.

In Bangalore, Radio Big 92.7 has started 'Lucky Lakshmi' few day back hosted by veteran RJ Kiran Shridhar making a come back in FM Radio after a long gap, Radio One 94.3 offers its listeners to become 'Lakhpathis' daily by answering their 3 questions, Radio City 91 FM went one step more with it offering a flat in National Capital New Delhi for the contest winners. So its raining prize galore this season in Bangalore by the radio bigwigs.

As my friend Nidhi pointed out in a post in his blog about the SMSes playing a lead role in earning revenue both for sponsors and the event organisers in almost every game show nowadays it continue to do so here also.

Talking more of FM Radios, November 1 marks the entry of one more famous media person into FM Radio Space with Ravi Belagere beginning to host a new programme at 8 am in FM Rainbow 101.3 called 'Ravi Belagere at 8 am'. And the punch line of the programme goes in typical Belagere style 'Karnatakada gentlemengala madhye obba gantle-man'. Among the loud voices of all private FM channels in Bangalore now FM Rainbow's voice is hardly heard. Will this move change its fortunes? Lets wait and watch.

On the other front, BMTC in Bangalore has introduced new buses exclusive for BMTC pass holders called the 'Pass Bus' thus justifying the need for single door buses in Bangalore. BMTC has taken several good initiatives this year with it starting the much awaited Volvo Service, and then came Special Mall Bus(to visit all the malls in Bangalore), Hospital Special Bus, Women's Special Bus. Kudos to BMTC. Keep up the good work.

Watch this space in the coming days for new posts.

Regards
Raveesh

Radio Revolution in Bangalore

Latest addition to the growing number FM channels in Bangalore is Radio Big 92.7 FM. Launched on Friday, 06th October 2006, it has already arrived big with Kannada superstar Upendra being its brand ambassador. That takes the count of most listened FM channels in Bangalore to 7. Here is the brief overview of these channels.

Radio City 91 FM : This was the first private FM channel, started in 2001 in Bangalore. For the first 5 years it was the undisputed leader in FM space with large number of radio audience so much so that FM radio in Bangalore meant Radio City 91 FM. Programmes here are mostly in English with predominently Hindi and occasionally Kannada songs being played.

Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM : First FM channel to enter Bangalore after central govt's phase II expansion of FM channels. Started this year with Kanglish tag line 'sakkath hot maga' with similar tag lines in other cities as well such as Chennai and Hyderabad. Programmes are in Kannada rather Kanglish with mix of Hindi and Kannada songs being played. Channel is promoted by the well known media giant Times Group.

Radio One 94.3 FM : A Mid-Day group channel started this year with the tag line 'hit mele hit mele hit'. Programmes in Kanglish with a good mix of Hindi and Kannada songs being played.

Radio Indigo 91.9 FM : Launched about a month ago here in Bangalore, a Jupiter Capital venture, this is the channel dedicated to English songs rather international music with programmes RJ'ed in English.

Radio Big 92.7 FM : Started few days ago, already made its presence felt. It is a channel from the Adlabs group, which has already announced that it is going to launch in 45 Indian cities in the coming days. In Karnataka, Mangalore and Mysore are on its next venture. Programmes mostly in Kannada less in Kanglish with predominently Kannada songs and Hindi songs being played. Occasionally it airs Telugu and Tamil songs too.

AIR FM Rainbow 101.3 FM : Govt owned FM channel under the umbrella of All India Radio(AIR). Programmes in Kannada with mostly Kannada and Hindi songs being played. One thing that has not changed in the case of Govt FM channels compared to the AM version is the news updates. Frankly speaking no other private radio station provides you with news updates except occasional updates on cricket scores.

AIR Vividh Bharati 102.9 FM : One more AIR channel with programmes in Kannada as well as in Hindi and a mix of Kannada and Hindi songs being played. Similar on the lines of FM Rainbow it also airs regular news updates.

Apart from the FM channels listed above there are some more govt owned FM channels probably you have not heard of. They are on frequencies 100.1 FM and 107.6 FM. 101.1 FM is a AIR classical music channel known as 'Amrutha Varshini' and you have 'Gyan Vani' on 107.6 FM. Gyan Vani as the name suggests airs lectures, interviews dealing with education, health, science etc.

This is not the end of radio boom in Bangalore. There is still more with another 4 FM channels on their way to the silicon valley of India. Thanks to the phase II expansion of private FM channels by the central government, tier II cities too witnessing a radio boom. In Karnataka, Mangalore is going to get 4 private FM channels in the near future. These four channels are Kal Radio of Sun Group, Adlabs, ENIL of the Radio Mirchi group and Century Radio. Similarly you will have FM radio stations being set up in Mysore, Hubli, Gulbarga, Belgaum.

With these developments the listener now has a lot of radio stations to choose from. Can we call it a radio revolution in Bangalore? Sure.

Put on your thoughts on this topic by sending your comments.

Raveesh

Blogging - New Age Journalism

Though started in 1994, blogs became popular in the new millenium .i.e in the 2000s atleast in India. Now bloggers are enjoying the status being the new age journalists. According to blogherald.com, there were 70 million blogs in July 2006 with Indian blogs being approximately 100,000. And this number continues to grow.

From being personal diaries to professional write-ups, blogs have come a long way. Google has seperate search page dedicated for blog search http://blogsearch.google.com/. You have blogs of almost every type - diaries, professional articles, sports, technical articles and reviews, film reviews, product reviews.

Unlike traditional journalism, here you have no restrictions in publishing your views (unless you are posting on some news paper's or news channel's site) giving you more liberty and power. But as they say, with great power comes great responsibilities. So you are your own judge when publishing your posts on the net.

Fed up with the reading of film reviews with all their jargon by critics in news papers every weekend then you have now one new avenue to ponder upon. Film reviews in blogs. One of my friends Sandeep has a blog mostly dedicated to film reviews. I did write a film review on Lage Raho Munna Bhai few weeks back. And there are bloggers whose blogs are dedicated only to film reviews. Cricket is one obsession with us Indians. So there are blogs dedicated only to cricket articles. Some of my earlier articles on cricket include Historic Win of India in West Indies, Cricket in the time of Football, Talking Cricket. Not only text, but also you will find pictures and videos embedded in the blog. Some of the blogs are dedicated only to picture/photos or videos.

Technical reviews are a biggest plus came out of blogging. Amit Agarwal's blog is sure a techie's delight as he carries you through the exciting world of Technology with his tips and reviews on latest technology and products.

Compared to traditional journalism I think, here you will find less dedicated readers. And you have to retain your regular readers and if you are a blogger and not updating the blog regularly then you are likely to lose your dedicated readers.

Big names in the media like NDTV, CNN-IBN are providing the netizens with the chance of posting their write-ups on their websites by providing the blog service, shows the importance of blogs in this era. Recently CNN-IBN's Citizen Journalist initiative was well appreciated and it made the channel/ibnlive.com site popular among net users.

Though live news (as in news paper, news channel web sites) is still not in the domain of the bloggers it is catching up slowly. And that by itself does not constitute journalism. Other areas like public opinion, reviews, articles, debates(as it happens through the exchange of comments between the author and readers of the blog) have been strong hold of the bloggers. Blogging community continues to grow and it will shape the things in the future is no understatement.

Comments are welcome

Raveesh

Post to read: Came across a post in Saurabh Saksena's blog titled 'In search of Indianness abroad'. Worth reading.

Suvarna Karnataka - Karnataka at 50

Jai bharatha jananiya thanujaathe, Jaya hey Karnataka Maathe. Karnataka turns 50 this year, so golden jubilee celebrations are on. On November 1, 1956 state of Karnataka was formed though it was called Mysore state till 1973. So now it is a good time to look at how the state progressed in the last 50 years.

Karnataka was formed in the year 1956 comprising of princely state of Mysore and areas held under Bombay, Madras presidencies and areas of princely state of Hyderabad, which even today is called Hyderabad Karnataka. Great men who championed the cause of unification of Karnataka include Alur Venkata Rao, Goruru Ramaswamy Iyengar, S. Nijalingappa and Kengal Hanumantiah. Huyilugola Narayana Rao’s poem Udayavaagali Namma Cheluva Kannada Naadu worth mention here.

Though known now for it’s IT and BT, Karnataka is unique compared to other states in India, it is the only state, which exports sandalwood in India. Karnataka is the largest producer of coffee, raw silk and sandalwood based products in India. Three-fourth of the Indian floriculture industry is based in Karnataka. Brighter aspects of progress of the state include IT boom in Bangalore started in the mid 90s, and now slowly spreading to tier II cities like Mangalore, Mysore and Hubli. One good aspect of this IT revolution was the boom in setting up Engineering Colleges in the state. But unlike other states it has not a developed city to be called next Bangalore till now. Mysore becoming next Bangalore is a long wait and I see it only in terms of IT industry. As per my observations other states have developed other industrial center to provide job opportunities other than state capital – say in Kerala(capital – Thiruvanthapuram), there is Kochi, in Tamil Nadu(capital – Chennai), there is Coimbatore, in Andhra Pradesh(capital – Hyderabad), there is Vishakhapattanam and in Maharashtra(capital – Mumbai), there is Pune. Now with Bangalore becoming victim of its own development there is an urgent need to shift focus to other cities in Karnataka to create an alternative to Bangalore. As Sir M Vishveshvaraiaha told long back ‘Industrialize or Perish’ is the need of the hour. Of course, in this direction lot of right steps have been taken to set up various industrial parks to be set in various centers and establishing airports in prominent district centers and encouraging MNCs to set shop in tier II cities. Right steps in the right directions.

Another industry which needs a boost is the tourism industry. With the kind of geography Karnataka has one wonders where it lost the race to neighboring Kerala and Goa. Karnataka can be good tourist destination if it is projected properly. Chalukya, Hoysala, Rashtrakuta and Vijayanagar temples are sure a tourist’s delight. It is not that now tourists don’t visit here but it can draw big number of tourists if properly projected. Another area which was never explored is Coastal Karnataka. Maravanthe, Kapu, Ullala Surathkal beaches, St. Mary’s Island can be made good tourist spots.

Dasara season is nearing. Mysore is all set to host the grand event. Wish you all a Suvarna Karnataka Varsha and a Happy Dasara.

Jai Karnataka

Talking Cricket . . .

Cricket season is back again. But again haunted by rains. Anyway that is part and parcel of the game. Its been long time before I wrote anything about cricket. So back to square one.

Cricket commentary is one thing which sets apart this gentleman's game from rest of the sports. Every ardent fan of cricket is sure to have fascinated by the words of commentator. In an era when TVs were a luxury, cricket commentry on radio or shall I say transistors was the only source of instant info on cricket.

Its not just the on-field action which gives colour to this game, but also these band of gentlemen who with their words arouse the interest in a loosing game too. To name a few: Ravi Shastri, Geoffrey Boycott,Tony Greig, Harsha Bhogle and off late Navjot Singh Sidhu. For the curious bunch here is a list though not complete. It is these people who add spice to the rather boring play of test matches or one-sided encounters of ODIs with their stories, comparisions and anecdotes.

Talking about cricket commentators, I think undoubtedly Ravi Shastri is the best ever commentator from India, closely followed by another veteran Harsha Bhogle. Not only commentary but also the post-match presentation is well handled by him, whether it be speaking on the occasion or asking questions with the captains of both teams in play. Phrases like 'margin of error is minimal on this pitch' or style of saying score of 101 as one-o-one have a mark of Ravi Shastri on that. Another good thing about Ravi Shastri is his control over his talk and presence of mind. For an instance, once Ravi Shastri had commented 'Good Shot' when a batsman hit aerial shot on the on-side. But it landed safely in the hands of long-on. Then he changed his comment as 'Infact too good'. Nowadays you can find his shades in Ramiz Raja's commentary. Harsha Bhogle's comments have a lot of research and analysis in it. Amazing for an IIM guy who had no background in cricket to become one of the best commentators in the game. When it comes to speaking the language of the common man in commentry box, nobody can beat Navjot Singh Sidhu. Look at some his comments : 'That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it', 'Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald', 'The cat with gloves catches no mice'. No doubt, he has made a name for himself with his 'Sidhuisms'. Coming to English commentators, Tony Greig and Geoffrey Boycott are unique with their British accent. Dont know who among the two pronounces 'crickeeet' for cricket. Boycott's comment on Sourav Ganguly as 'God of off-side' can be remembered here.

On the other side there are commentators who take the interest away from the game with their boring and slow-paced commentry. One of them would be Sanjay Manjrekar. No enthusiasm in his commentary. Michael Holding's commentary makes us difficult to understand his accent.

With the sports channels increasing this breed continue to increase with their own style of commentary. Lastly, a familiar scene after a coin is tossed in the middle of the pitch used to be Ravi Shastri invariably asking whenever Sourav Ganguly lost the toss 'Disappointed with the toss?' and Sourav invariably replying 'No, Not really'.

One good thing about following cricket commentary is the exposure you get to the vast vocabulary of English. In my opinion, if you want to learn Hindi watch Bollywood movies and for a better English follow cricket commentary. Your opinion may differ.

Comments are welcome.

Raveesh

Munna Shines Again

Bole tho ek dum jhakkas. September 11, 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of Satyagraha started by Mahatma Gandhiji in South Africa way back in 1906. So this film Lage Raho Munna Bhai comes at a right juncture to remind all of us of the long forgotten Gandhiyan principles of Truth and Non-voilence.

Interestingly, this film is not a sequel to the earlier Munna Bhai MBBS as many of us thought. Other sequel released this year was Phir Herapheri, sequel of Herapheri, which was not up to the mark set by its prequel as it is the case with most of the sequels. One more sequel was Krrish, sequel to hugely hit Koi Mil Gaya. But this film Lage Raho Munna Bhai breaks the jinx that sequels do not perform well than its prequel(Ironically it is not a sequel and only the concept in the prequel has been carry forwarded).

Here the Bhai with a golden heart comes in a new avtaar of history professor. If it was healing doctor Munna in Munna Bhai MBBS, here he is preaching Satya aur Ahimsa, in the footsteps of Mahatma. The plot starts with the kidnapping of the Corporation official much in the same light as in Munna Bhai MBBS, but with a different plan. Well begun is half done. Thab se shuru hotha hai dil kholke hasne ka silsila jo film ke aakhir thak chaltha rehtha hai.

If you are convinced that Munna Bhai MBBS was the best comedy film ever made in Mumbai, think again, Lage Raho Munna Bhai(LRMB) is set to break all the records. As with the other big budget films of the year LRMB boosted of first several shows in Mumbai being entirely booked before the release itself. So I take pride in the fact that I saw the movie two days after release i.e on Sunday itself. Story unfolds as Munna is in love with the RJ Jahnvi (Good Mornnnnnning Mumbai, as she greets her audience every morning). Munna wins the quiz organized by the Radio Channel on October 2 based on Mahatma with the help of the professors caught by him and gets a chance to meet Jahnvi and go on air. Again for the professors he has prizes if they answer the questions first. There in the studio he introduces himself as professor of history. So he is invited by Jahnvi to her home to give lecture on Mahatma. Munna now goes to Gandhi Library to study about Mahatma and gets into chemical locha to see the Mahatma everywhere in Mumbai and what follows after that is a tale of Munna walking on the footsteps of Mahatma. There is never a dull moment in the film. To be frank you may miss some of the jokes cracked when you start laughing for the first one. Such is the impact that the whole theatre will be indulged in laugh riot.

Film tells the principles of truth and non-voilence in a much acceptable manner. Be it be the confession of Munna to Jhanvi or the facing bribe problem in a govt office by retired teacher or the problem with the neighbour's nuisances. Worth a watch for every film goer. I am now planning to go for this movie for the second time.

On the other side I felt some of the dialogues were repeated from the Munna Bhai MBBS. Like when Munna goes to the Gandhi library circuit says padhai me dhyann de bhai, tension nahin lena ka. Or when circuit and munna decide to leave for the village, Munna asks what will you do in the village. For that circuit says main gaon jaavunga tho bail kya karegi?.

When Munna Bhai MBBS was made, it was remade in Kannada(with Upendra as Uppi Dada MBBS) , Telugu(with Chiranjeevi as Shankar Dada MBBS) and Tamil(with Kamal Hasan as Vasool Raja MBBS). Will Lage Raho Munna Bhai be remade in regional languages? Lets wait and watch.

What I feel is that when everyone comes out of the theatre after seeing the movie one is sure to have tilted a little for the Gandhiyan principles. Lage Raho Munna Bhai.