I
love music.
I love instrumental melodies. I love bass. I love rap. I love
house. I love acoustic. I love jazz. I love rock. I love classical. I love dance. I love trance. I love vocal pop. I love indie. I love hip hop. I love a slick mix. I
love discovering a new artist. I love listening to a new album and deciding on
my top three favourites. I love lyrics that epitomize your situation. I love
discovering an old album and being flooded with a mass of good memories. I love
a beat that can do nothing else but get you moving… whether in the car or on
the street or in your bedroom. I love running for kilometers on end with my
i-pod pressed into my ears and the beat pushing my legs to run harder, faster.
I love sending a song to someone in a moment when spoken words don’t do
justice.
Besides
for music… I love radio.
I
spent some time and had good experience working at a Community Radio Station
whilst I was studying in East London. It was there that I learnt how to “present”
on air and hosted the Youth Show, the Top 40 and a daily half-hour community
chat show. This was a good three years of experience. There wasn’t a set-apart
moment when I recall knowing this was my passion. I just began having fun. There
were many moments of skrewing up, saying the wrong thing, sounding flustered,
being criticized and feeling as though I would never ‘master’ this skill.
However, I believe that – similarly to any profession – if you apply yourself
and work at improving the way in which you do something – you will eventually
become increasingly excellent at what you do.
Although
I do not consider myself to be a professional I do know that I love what I do.
Preparing a show and presenting it to listeners who could possibly enjoy what I
have to say is rewarding. This
kind of interaction with complete strangers is indescribably awesome. I guess
you could compare a well-presented show to a brilliant sale or an excellent
architectural design. The function can obviously vary from informative discussion
to pure entertainment but the point is usually the vital establishment of a
connection with your listeners. Through careful and strategic use of these
functions you can easily encourage, persuade, uplift or simply engage your
listeners with a topic of your choice.
I
believe radio is one of the THE most powerful media tools. It is the one medium
which is most accessible to people of all races and cultures in this world.
Those in rural areas may not have an i-pod, an i-pad, a television, a washing
machine or even a stove… but they have a radio. I remember going on outreach
trips into Africa and walking into a hut where they sold ice-cold coca-cola and
on the top of a box or wooden stool was a radio perched up in the best position
for maximum quality reception. I have seen domestic workers listening to talk radio 702 as
they work in the garden, teenagers begging their parents to change the
frequency to 5fm, elderly folk singing along to Classic FM, patients in waiting
rooms tapping their feet to Highveld, rappers crowded in circles listening to
Y-fm, successful business women blasting the new Rihanna track on Kaya FM as
they drive home from work, grown Afrikaans men speaking about Jacaranda FM, and
students phoning in to express their opinion on 95.4.
Radio,
unlike television, can be listened to whilst doing a million other activities.
Washing dishes, ironing clothes, getting dressed, sitting in traffic, cooking,
drawing, typing, chilling, planning, bathing, eating or even chatting to
someone.
I’m
passionate about it.
The
presenters/ dj’s are my friends whether they like it or not. I talk back to
them and laugh with them. I have listened to them in some of my best and worst
moments. There may talk complete sense or absolute rubbish but there is always
some kind of entertainment, comfort or amusement sought.
I
believe radio can change and challenge our society.
So
this week, when you find yourself in that inevitable place of listening to the
radio, do one thing:
TURN
IT
UP.
Nice Headphones. Love this blog Faye :)
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