The failings of Indian media
As part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of Indian Radio this column, recounted the history of Marcel Mahabir's FM 103 as well as the impact of Indian radio stations. It will be remiss to conclude this series without also exploring the failings of Indian radio stations. While the rationale to start the first Indian radio station was economic the essential reason that the station flourished was that it connected at an emotive and psychological level with the Indian Community. It was this connectivity with the Indian community that the first Indian radio station was made a success and so inspired several copycats. When FM 103 was first launched the station achieved a total market share of over 25 percent of the national listening audience. Yet currently the six Indian radio stations combined struggle to achieve fifteen percent of the national audience. Within ten years market surveys reveal there was a decline in the listening audience of Indian radio. Where have all these Indian listeners gone to? The distance between Indian radio stations and the Indian audience appears to be at the heart of the decline of the Indian radio industry. The stations have failed to remain connected with the Indian community. The mainly non-Indian and non-Hindu radio station managers appear not to care or find out about the product or audience they are attempting to target. The love of money takes precedence over the love for Indian culture, and the Indian audience. It must be noted that the flag-bearers and foot soldiers of Indian culture in Trinidad and Tobago are chiefly Hindus. Yet this significant audience almost does not figure in the decision making process of Indian radio stations.
The growing distance between the Indian audience and Indian radio stations is often exhibited by the very music played. The Indian community first flocked to Indian radio stations due to the dearth of Indian music on the existing radio stations — a classic case of niche marketing. Yet this successful niche concept currently escapes the managers, as non-Indian music such as calypsos, and extempo, are commonplace on Indian radio stations. One station manager even purchased thousand of dollars in Country Western music as he ‘felt’ Indians will like that also. The Indian audience is now seen only in terms of numbers and potential advertising revenues while the Indian needs are almost ignored. Shows with names such as ‘Caffeine Rush’ and ‘Insomnia’ reflect this drift from the traditional Indian moorings. New shows and promotions are now done with an American type voice rather than a Trinidadian or Indo-Trinidadian voice on some major Indian radio stations. Indian radio station programme managers now include the ‘Carnival product’ and a ‘Christmas product’ in their packages while Shivratri, Kartik, Ram Navmi, Ramayanas Phagwa and other Hindu religious observances have to lobby to be covered. Indian conferences and Hindi language seminars do not even warrant the attention of the Indian media.
The community outreach programme of Hans Hanoomansingh in the early days of FM 103 is virtually abandoned by all Indian stations as a model to follow. Hanoomansingh made an effort to solicit the support of all Indian based groups. This strategy of fostering a sense of community ownership was reflected in the number of free programmes given to the Hindu and Muslim communities. These groups and their followings in turn felt essentially as part owners of the station. Now these groups that built the Indian stations are all but alienated from the stations. The lack of creativity and imagination also is a major reason for the decline of Indian radio stations. Most stations start the programming with a form of devotional programming almost identical in nature. Every station now has an announcer who is a singer or performer. On a Friday night most stations start their weekend of Chutney music that follows into Saturday. Horoscope or Psychic readings are also a fixed feature of most stations. The programming template pioneered by Marcel Mahabir’s FM 103 ten years ago is essentially still the format generally used by all six Indian radio stations. Indian radio stations have now jumped on the talk-show bandwagon that has swept the nation. These Indian talk-shows have been developed to be neutral in nature.
Hosts fail to connect to the Indian audience and on some stations hosts openly boast to a largely Indo-Trinidadian audience that they are not to be defined as Indo-Trinidadian. The management supports this position as the Indian ethos is incorrectly viewed solely in a political or racial perspective. Again the Indian audience does not see themselves reflected in some of these talk-shows. Indian radio stations promote Indian music yet ironically these stations do nothing sustainable and substantial to develop Hindi among its listeners and thus ensure their life span extends into the future. One will think that the continuity of the language being transmitted will hold some interest among the management of these Indian radio stations. All Indian stations now have the annual ‘mela’ which is essentially a gloried free fete. These melas are characteristically classless and appears more like the sacrifice of Indian culture and as such deserves a brief examination. These melas are dominated by local performances — Chutney. What passes for chutney amounts to nothing more than vulgarity, semi nudity, crude degenerate lyrics, and of course, the alcoholic/suicidal overtones of “rum till I die.” As a result of the on going efforts of these stations to win audience share, the average chutney routine is now a scandalous wining exercise, laced with hip hop, dub, and soca. These melas often display desperate, ugly, and unskilled wining. Guided by a management lacking connection with the Indian community this denigration of Indian culture is what Indian media houses promote. The failures of Indian media industry are easily identifiable the challenge is however to arrest the declining Indian audience by once again connecting to the Indian community in a substantial manner. The media management must now invest into the Indian community some of the revenues it took out over the past decade.
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"The failings of Indian media"