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STATIC
One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity
—Rush,The Spirit of Radio
Rush were more than a band. They are the greatest power trio in rock history. I mean, they put the POWER in trio. Sure, Clapton’s Cream may have cut some deep grooves in the collective rock consciousness and the Jimi Hendrix Experience did change the course of popular music history, but Rush is Rush =).
The triumvirate of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neal Peart, arguably the greatest drummer ever to have picked up a pair of sticks, set the Seventies ablaze with scorching, enigmatic anthems populated by tales of distant star systems, dragons of darkness and man’s constant battle with conformity. And while they were at it, they wrote a great tune about the radio business (see above).
Radio, or more appropriately FM radio, has arrived in Pakistan. Actually, it has been here for close to a decade now, as the first boom happened in the mid-90s, with FM 100 and 101 battling for supremacy of the airwaves. Now, with the government liberalizing its media ownership policies, more and more players are entering the field and suddenly, radio is again the ‘in’ thing.
Before I go any further, I apologize to all those folks outside of Karachi as since I live in this city, I can only comment on the radio situation here. Suffice to say, things are getting interesting. As someone who’s been behind the wheels of steel for close to six years now (hey, I need something to fall back on lest I get booted for Static one of these days), I feel like I know a little bit about the radio business. So here, friends, is a frank review of what I think of the current FM radio climate. If anyone’s interested.
FM 100: Had a massive advantage over the newcomers with a near absolute monopoly in the FM realm. However, with little change in style, presentation and format over the years, 100, as it is commonly known, runs the risk of being swallowed alive by the newbies. Pointless banter, stale formats and bad music are not enough to get by, because that’s what everybody else is doing.
FM 101: The first real challenger to 100’s share of the market, FM 101 was launched by Radio Pakistan in 1998. Though facing the obvious hindrances that come with being a government-run organization, 101 is surviving, but just barely. The station’s recent digitization of its music library was a welcome change, but it has been stereotyped as a very Urdu-medium station, with moneyed past Kala-pul consumers — those darlings of the marketing world — hardly tuning in. Of course giving preference to Urdu over English spells sudden death in our hypocritical society. Plus, schmaltzy paid programming is a real turn-off to listeners who want great back-to-back music without the cheese-ball jingles of sleazy advertisers pushing everything from male virility potions to call-up telephone fun services.
FM 103: The hourly BBC Urdu news updates are quite a plus (though some of the correspondents’ Urdu is absolutely diabolical), as FM news and current affairs programming is almost non-existent in this country. But the quality of DJs (yes, disk jockeys. I don’t care about all those other politically correct terms like RJ, PJ, or TJ. I like to keep it old school and nothing has quite the bharam of DJ). But the music mix on 103 is nothing to write home about, and the DJs are mostly uninspiring.
FM 107: When it was launched as a third option to 100 and 101, 107 sounded like it meant business as even though most of its DJs were bright eyed new kids with scary accents trying out radio for fun or ex-100/101 alums, the presentation was crisp. Yet the pace seems to have slowed down a little and 107 doesn’t have the bite it once did. The station does score points for delving into ethnic programming, like the Gujrati-language Kem Cho Karachi, which helps reflect this city’s cosmopolitan character.
City FM89: Undoubtedly one of the most hotly anticipated players in the radio game, for obvious reasons, 89 had all eyes and ears on it. I have to say they play quite an eclectic mix. A little too eclectic at times. The DJs have to realize this is Karachi, not New York’s Greenwich Village. Most people in this metropolis speak Urdu, so it would be kinda nice if more Pakistani songs were thrown in the mix once in a while. I’m all for shows that mix local and foreign tunes, but at times the DJs’ selection is so off-beat it falls flat.
‘Radioactive’ 96: By far the most superior as far as song selection goes. They play some genuinely gnarly tunes. There are also some interesting jocks, specially those Mani and Azfar characters, who seem to have major beef with the burgar crowd. That’s all good, but sometimes they hit way, way below the belt, transgressing into maila territory. Another drawback is my good friend, Dino. First we had to put up with him on IM, and now on the radio as well. Karachi, what wrong hast thou done?
There are all kinds of characters out there posing as jocks. Some are so inanely horrible that one asks oneself what or who they did to get on air. But I’ve never been one to disrespect, unless someone’s really asking for it. Instead, I want to reflect on some names I consider pioneers in Pakistani radio lore. Of course there was the great Akbar Shahbaz, who I think is still around on one of the stations, who laid the foundation for radio talk shows on FM 100. Then there was Arif Abrar, the pioneer of local western music broadcasting, the dude who put David Bowie and Neil Young on the radio when Bryan Adams’ Summer of ‘69 was considered an edgy rock song. Sharaf Qaiser has done similar work on both 101 and 100, for rock music in general and Pakistani rock in particular, playing bands like Karavan, Milestones and Collage in regular rotation, back when these acts were considered little more than cheekh pukaar by most programmers. So I salute these cats, and all others who are trying their level best to put passion over profits on the airwaves. Now that’s good radio!
On a side-note, ARY’s The Muzik recently held a shindig called Dekh Magar Pyar Se. Hmmm. Classy title. The kind they have on the backs of rickshaws. Pretty much a ho-hum affair with Atif Aslam, Aaroh, Karavan and a few others lip-synching to their hits, it offered absolutely nothing to the senses except an innovative stage. A few more of these, and I think I’ll be ready to offer fateha for the live music scene in this country.—QAM
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