The Radio Review Series : Part 6
Niladri Bose"Another post on an RJ ? " , you ask. Well, the answer is yes . Because this guy is a brand name on his own. He doesnt need the name of a Radio station associated with him.
(Note : that I say his full name and not like the way we say the mirchi along with Suchi's name). So that must give you an idea about this blog.
There is something about Niladri Bose ......(Like Mary ) and I wonder what :)
He is one of the guys who has made people in chennai sit up and take notice of the english RJs
(Note : Majority of Chennai city doesnt really dig English music , incase you dont really know the audience here). Rohit Baker was successful doing this when he was in Chennai. And after him , its been Niladri Bose.
I think its his voice....wait a minute , its got to be his voice - its the radio after all
:) . Clear , Fast and deep-throated voice. With an accent thats impeccable. I think that is one reason why he got noticed even on a channel like AIR - at the time when there were no other Radio channels , even in a (english music) conservative city like Chennai.
His last few weeks in AIR had recorded shows. So being averse to recorded shows , at one point , I thought I will stop listening to AIR on Saturdays 7-8 PM ( That was the Odyssey
"Recorded" Hour with Niladri) and tune in at 8 PM instead. And thats when his shows stopped on AIR.
A couple of weeks later , I started receiving SMSes asking me to tune into Hello FM(106.4) to listen to Niladri and also asked me to call a number incase I wanted to talk to him....... The shows were back and so was my curiosity about the recorded bit - I mean how could one do a picture perfect accent without any mistake whatsover for so many days ??? So, one day I actually called in to the show (I was calling him for the first time , Mind it - though I was a regular caller on AIR for a couple of RJs) , and that was when I realised that it wasnt recorded after all. Till he said ,
"Give me your number , Iam gonna have to call you back". Poof !! Ok , I thought , its recorded after all and he probably wont call back either.
But he did call back and put me on air - asked me a question which I answered in a weird state of mind. The best part is that I won the contest . He called me back an hour later , put me on air and announced that I won the contest. I was feeling , ummm, well , funny ! Not that this is the first time Iam winning a contest , on radio or otherwise , but just that , at that moment , I could not recall what was the answer I gave to his question which made him select me as the winner :)
Nevertheless , that gave me a chance to meet this man with the demi God status. And I must say , Iam impressed. A very down to earth person , he even took sometime to ask me the URL of this blog when I told him I blog about radio :) .
So
Niladri Bose , if you ever happen to check this blog - This is to say that you now have an
ardent fan and ofcourse a
free-of-cost brand advertiser for your show - on whichever channel it may be ! :)
Labels: FM, Hello FM, Niladri, Niladri Bose, Radio
The Radio Review Series : Part 5
Big FM - Big Kondaattam.This is the breakfast time show on Big FM. It was previously hosted by Uma Riyaz Khan and Balaji ( same guy who was with Mirchi earlier ). It is now being hosted by Mamathi Chari ( yeah , the same Jillunu Oru Jodi host) and I must say , She does a good job !
Uma and Balaji used to do a good job too , I wonder what is the reason they switched to Mamathi...Not that I regret it , infact what I like about the show is the energy the RJ exudes. She is perpetually on a high - and that makes the show very lively. Its a good thing to listen to so much of confidence in the morning. The choice of songs arent bad either. They try not to play too many
dappan-goothu numbers like other channels do in the morning....and the tracks are peppy enough for the morning hour.
The show these days consists of a couple of segments :
1. Traffic Updates : It is given by RJ Guru most of the times. His updates on traffic not only include where the flow is heavy , but he also includes alternate roads to reach your destination incase you are planning to take the road where there is heavy traffic flow. Definitely innovative.
2. Big Alarm - New series. They select a listener , call him/her the big alarm. The RJ then proceeds to give us the first name of the alarm , tells us a couple of things about them , Also tells us where his/her residence is and where he/she is travelling to. Based on the clues(phyiscal /dress) about the alarm given by the RJ , the viewers can try to figure out who they are. I really dont understand the motive behind this game - innovative though it maybe. Evenings could be fun , but then mornings having such things...might not be really funny. For instance - there was an alarm once - she was a viewer wearing if Iam right a black dress - and she said - Iam on bus 23C or something like that and its just going to start from the bus stop blah...blah...blah.... Imagine the commotion that would have created !!!
Other pieces that make up the show include the daily horoscope , and Mukkiya Nighazhvugal or the Important happenings in which They try to cover the events happening in chennai city - They can definitely improve on this one .
Good Show !! Keep it Up Big FM !
