RADIO: RISE AND SHINE

Published August 18, 2019
Photo by Faisal Khan
Photo by Faisal Khan

“The first song I played was Manwa Re by Noori,” says Anoushey Ashraf. Anoushey is perhaps one of the most recognisable television personalities in Pakistan, but she is not talking about television today. She is talking about about her new venture: radio, or rather, The Breakfast Show on City FM89. It’s one of the most popular shows on radio and its hosts have always been somewhat like celebrities — they’re anonymous until they start talking. This is a first for the radio station as well: Anoushey is The Breakfast Show’s first woman host.

“It took me back to a time when I just loved being a part of the music scene,” she says referring to when, more than a decade ago, newer music channels had popped up and the scene was thriving. “I loved being a video jockey, loved being loved by so many people in return … so many memories. So, I thought I’d begin this new chapter of my career with my favourite band from Pakistan.”

She reminisces about starting out young and how far she’s come since then. “I was a teenager,” she relates. “I was 18 years old. This was back in 2002, when I’d had my first job at [the channel] Indus Music. It’s been quite a few years and one fun, long journey.”

Having spent so many years in front of a camera, how is she finding this switch to radio? “Radio is actually fun, a lot of fun,” she says. “It’s a little difficult because you’re just generally talking to yourself. You’re alone in the studio. You can’t see anybody in front of you, you can’t interact with anybody. There are no cameramen, nothing. There’s just this mic that’s taking your voice across Pakistan and people are hearing you. So, it’s a little intimidating, but it’s also fun because there’s no make-up and no prep that you have to do for TV. It’s totally different and yet so much the same.”

Anoushey Ashraf talks about making the transition from television to radio and what she has in store as the first woman host of The Breakfast Show

Habits developed from all those years of presenting on television are hard to let go. “I have my animated self-going on, even when I’m behind the mic,” she laughs. “Even though there are no cameras on me, I’m presenting like I’m on TV. My hands are up in the air, I’m laughing and joking.

“There is pressure to keep on talking but I try my level best to keep it short, and play as much music as I possibly can because I know how irritating it is when your RJ [radio jockey] keeps talking and not playing music you want to hear.” Amen to that.

To make it to the show, so she can entertain people on their morning commute, she has to get up at an ungodly hour — before everyone else. Is it difficult? “It is a little hard,” she admits. “I’m up at 6am these days. I’m a little swollen but I have my Instagram family with me so I always start with them. I get to work and I have company there as well. So, we have our conversations going.”

This is important because, as it turns out, Anoushey doesn’t take any caffeine! “No coffee, no chai,” she laughs. “I don’t have any caffeine so I take my energy from people and bananas. So, I do get excited with them.”

Now that she’s a few shows in, she must be feeling more comfortable doing the show, I venture. How was the experience of doing it for the first time? “My first breakfast show was very interesting,” she says. “My producers were there to support me, but I was a little shaky. I don’t know if people could actually tell that I was a little nervous. It happens that way, you’re doing a couple of shows, introducing yourself. You’re anticipating what kind of messages you’ll be getting.”

She did sound nervous but only in the first 15 minutes of the show. And then she spoke as if radio was something she had been doing all her life.

“You’re not actually taking somebody else’s space, you’re creating a new space for yourself,” she points out, referring to some of the previous ‘legendary’ show hosts. “You are going to get all kinds of criticism and feedback, and that makes you a little nervous. Especially because I’ve always been a little conscious of my voice, but now I think it’s worked out.”

Every breakfast show host brought a certain style to the show. Something that was uniquely them. Sohail Hashmi loved playing more vintage songs, Khalid Malik added a bit of theatrics in the form of live phone pranks etc. What’s important to her that she plans to bring to the show? The kind of music she intends to play? “Of course, the top 40, top 50. The charts really matter, people are listening to that,” she says. “But other than that, I really want to keep Pakistani music going. Keep making people hear about the music that we’ve heard in the past, and that we continue to make today. Keep promoting that to the best of my abilities. Other than that, keep it light, happy and entertaining. Nothing too dark or loud. Keep people’s mornings really pleasant as they drive to school or work.” — BandBaji

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 18th, 2019

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