Radio Mirchi in Delhi

In its nascent days Radio Mirchi had instantaneously achieved the giant status of being synonymous to (private) FM radio. For quite a few years they kept up with the close-to-monopoly run. And then, Radio City and RED FM grew up and claimed their share. The later even claimed Mirchi’s USP – RJ Nitin, the ulta-pulta phenomenon of radio jockeying. The bandwidth was also deprived of the sparkling infectious laughter of RJ Pallavi.

But then more stations mushroomed up and radio listeners also became a victim of channel-surfing syndrome. In any case these days it’s hard to make out one station from another, except for All India Radio and Hit FM. More on that some other time, for now I shall return to my personal opinion on Radio Mirchi that is based on years of experiential listening to radio.

I am someone who enjoys simple yet witty humor and unpretentious performances. Hence, the only ‘spoken words’ that I would listen to used to be the redefined Khurafati Nitin on RED – that is if I hadn’t already shifted channels in search of some singing and music. Off late I am becoming quite faithful to Radio Mirchi, and here are the drivers…

Topping the list is the heartthrob – Sudarshan…o.k….Sud! Mirchi’s hourly doze of Charlie Chaplin style humor. Sunil Grover, posing as Sud, has created several faithful fans (count me in). The naïve small-towner taking on the big city and its frequent heartbreaks with more conviction than orientation; and dedicatedly performing his karma – the job of reading out PJs from a book titled “Hansi Ke Fuware“…that’s Sud – the ‘partyman’ for you. The recent play-up of Sud’s much (self) spoken off wedding that couldn’t happen, has reconfirmed the fellow’s popularity. Perhaps a few girls could even be feeling hopeful! 

My next favorite is the duo Anant & Saurabh, the self proclaimed radio viruses. They have finally got it in their second innings on the morning drive time slot. The first attempt couldn’t really make up for losing Nitin to RED. RJ Anu and later a RJ Pallavi couldn’t really catch on with the masses despite their grace and super finesse as a radio orator. In fact I was hoping that they would be shifted to another time slot where we could enjoy their pleasant voices that would always talk sense. Unfortunately they are off air completely. No idea what happened or is happening. Coming back to the viruses – their kind of humor does take a bit of time to catch up but when it does … it kind of grows on you. It’s quite refreshing to hear two ‘cool’ youthful voices that are certainly not running on steroids, as Anant promises in his blog. 

The evening drive time comes with the third most prominent flavor of Mirchi – RJ Naved and his multiple personalities. Quite enjoyable, however I wish he would be a bit merciful with the ‘murgas’! Now, every prank doesn’t have to result in too many beeps muting unacceptable references to the prankster’s kith! 

All in all, I am quite enjoying Mirchi these days. It feels nice to sense some good creative direction at work in the radio station.  

But an observant reader might wonder why I am pouring my casual opinions on such a dark day in Indian history. What makes me think of PJs and drive time humor while the fight against terror is still on in Mumbai? The fact is that I can’t take my mind off the terror attacks, have been keeping up with the developments since 24 hours and that’s where comes in the final bit of appreciation for Radio Mirchi that makes me post this today. Radio Mirchi has been the most sensitive to the events. Today morning while various stations were playing “Maa da laadla” and “Dance pe chance maar le“, Mirchi had modified its programming to include songs and words that inspire solidarity. All this without sounding over-preachy. By evening all other channels had followed suite and grabbed the music CD of Rang De Basanti and messages were pouring in from all and sundry…all the while that the RJ continues in super-pacy, hyper anchoring with templatised intonations, without much real feeling. 

I remember hosting a show on AIR the day next to the bomb attacks in Delhi. It was quite a challenge to conduct an easy-listening Sunday afternoon show under the shadow of such misfortune. Neither can you rub in the sadness nor can you ignore the sensitive time and talk around casually like nothing happened. Add to this the multiple restrictions that the government owned national channel puts on its broadcasters. Yet it’s because AIR has a code of conduct and a benchmark of quality (no matter how loosely followed) that it remains my favorite. Out of the commercial channels, I chose Radio Mirchi as my favorite.