9.6.2010
Radio Ga Ga
When we were growing up in RRF, radio was a constant companion and sometimes an unwanted irritant playing and buzzing in the background like mismatched background music score of a B-grade movie!
Appa had the habit of tuning in to the radio the moment he returns from work. After the normal broadcast time of Radio Malaysia Rangkaian Merah (Red Channel, later to Radio 6, now it is named Minnal), he would fiddle with the transistor aerial and tuning knob to receive a decent reception of SW transmission from Radio Singapore Tamil Channel. Invariably, the sounds from the radio will be waxing and waning, from melody to static noise, much to Amma’s annoyance. Most of the time, after painstakingly searching the band, Appa would just doze off on the sofa!
Once a week, there will be radio drama on the Tamil radio. Dramas written by Anjalai from Simpang Empat and S. Vairakanoo were particularly interesting and the whole family would be glued to the radio for a full half an hour. These make dramas recorded in the RTM studios with the aid of pre-recorded sound effects were quite spell-bounding and would usher us in to land of make believe of suspense, terror, horror, melodrama and preachy! During those days they also had children drama on the educational radio on hermits, elves and fairy tales (சித்திரக்குளர்கள், chittirakkullargal)
Just like how the Queen and The Buggles were complaining about the glory days of the radio and how the visual media has replaced the nostalgic days of the radio in their respective songs (Radio Ga Ga and Video killed the radio star), those days of the whole family listening to the radio drama with each other creating their own scenario in their minds is over. The newer (post MTV) generation is too lazy to imagine but yearn for instant gratifications! That reminds me of yet another scene from a P. Ramlee’s 1956 award winning movie, ‘Anakku Sazali’, where P. Ramlee and his wife enjoy an intimate moment playing an old gramophone player and singing the song, ‘Mari Mari Che Adek’…. .
The song Radio Ga Ga was a commentary on how television was overtaking radio's popularity and how onewould listen to radio for a favorite comedy, drama, or sci-fi program. It also mentioned the advent of themusic video and MTV. (Ironically, the video would become a regular staple on MTV in 1984.)
Roger Taylor of the Queen (the writer of the song), originally conceived of it as "Radio CaCa" (apparently from something his toddler son once said), which doubled as a criticism of radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played. At the time of release that name was changed to Radio Ga-Ga - rumours denote the publishers were objecting to the original title because of the close resemblance of "Ca-Ca" to a common word for faeces in many languages! (Except probably for Portuguese language; Brazilian star striker's name is Kaka!)
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British Synthpop/New Wave group, ‘The Buggles’ in 1979. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. The song topped the music chart in several countries and has been covered by many recording artists. It was the first music video shown on MTV in North America at 00:01 on 1 August 1981. (Ref: Wikipedia)
Radio Ga Ga
When we were growing up in RRF, radio was a constant companion and sometimes an unwanted irritant playing and buzzing in the background like mismatched background music score of a B-grade movie!
Appa had the habit of tuning in to the radio the moment he returns from work. After the normal broadcast time of Radio Malaysia Rangkaian Merah (Red Channel, later to Radio 6, now it is named Minnal), he would fiddle with the transistor aerial and tuning knob to receive a decent reception of SW transmission from Radio Singapore Tamil Channel. Invariably, the sounds from the radio will be waxing and waning, from melody to static noise, much to Amma’s annoyance. Most of the time, after painstakingly searching the band, Appa would just doze off on the sofa!
Once a week, there will be radio drama on the Tamil radio. Dramas written by Anjalai from Simpang Empat and S. Vairakanoo were particularly interesting and the whole family would be glued to the radio for a full half an hour. These make dramas recorded in the RTM studios with the aid of pre-recorded sound effects were quite spell-bounding and would usher us in to land of make believe of suspense, terror, horror, melodrama and preachy! During those days they also had children drama on the educational radio on hermits, elves and fairy tales (சித்திரக்குளர்கள், chittirakkullargal)
Just like how the Queen and The Buggles were complaining about the glory days of the radio and how the visual media has replaced the nostalgic days of the radio in their respective songs (Radio Ga Ga and Video killed the radio star), those days of the whole family listening to the radio drama with each other creating their own scenario in their minds is over. The newer (post MTV) generation is too lazy to imagine but yearn for instant gratifications! That reminds me of yet another scene from a P. Ramlee’s 1956 award winning movie, ‘Anakku Sazali’, where P. Ramlee and his wife enjoy an intimate moment playing an old gramophone player and singing the song, ‘Mari Mari Che Adek’…. .
Roger Taylor of the Queen (the writer of the song), originally conceived of it as "Radio CaCa" (apparently from something his toddler son once said), which doubled as a criticism of radio for the decrease in variety of programming and the type of music being played. At the time of release that name was changed to Radio Ga-Ga - rumours denote the publishers were objecting to the original title because of the close resemblance of "Ca-Ca" to a common word for faeces in many languages! (Except probably for Portuguese language; Brazilian star striker's name is Kaka!)
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British Synthpop/New Wave group, ‘The Buggles’ in 1979. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. The song topped the music chart in several countries and has been covered by many recording artists. It was the first music video shown on MTV in North America at 00:01 on 1 August 1981. (Ref: Wikipedia)
quite hilarious and could acknowledge to a blackwidow.!
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