91.9, 93.5, 94.3

Umm.. no this is not what you think it is. These are not launch codes for missiles stored in my basement. Nor are these the co-ordinates for the places to be hit by ICBMs. These are the new FM stations launched recently.

I’ve always thought the radio era was over. Dead. I used to wake up, pissed off, to boring (and irritating) programmes my mom put up on the radio, right from 6am. I’ve always wondered what hatred she had towards me to make me ‘suffer’ to this stupid stuff. No, this was the era of Web2.0, RSS, Twitter and Podcasts. FM radio, huh? Not me, thanks!

So when I heard of the media companies and their plans of starting FM stations, I though – wtf! Are they going back to 60s, digging up dead ‘technology’?

Yesterday (May 17) was the launch date for two FM stations by leading dailies of Kerala – Malayala Manorama (Radio Mango: 91.9) and Mathrubhumi (Club FM: 94.3). Ah well, let’s see what the buzz is all about, I thought I’d tune them on my mobile to the new stations. But I’ve this terrible disease that some of my pals are infected with and I didn’t do it.

Venkat called in this morning to say that Club FM rocked (after launch). I said, oh yeah, I’ll see. I tried tuning the ‘new’ stations on my mobile and saw that the existing stations are either not getting detected, or are generating weak signals – pooh!

So there you are – part of the new FM buzz. I’d tuned into Club FM first, no particular reason, but that was detected first. The anchoring is not the typical style you are used to in Kochi FM (102.3) or FM Rainbow. The earlier ones tried to be all and end all of radio. But these ones are hip! Definitely targeted towards charging the youth. ;-)

Also, there’s one from Surya TV channel (S FM: 93.5) that’s ongoing with its test transmission. I’ve found Club FM to be my favourite so far, with S FM with its excellent offerings matching former. I’ve found Radio Mango to be too prejudiced about what the listeners want. It was launched in Kozhikod, Kannur and Trissur, before being launched in Kochi, probably that’s the reason. I think they're imitating World Space or something, dunno. But I look forward to their “traffic jam announcement” system to see how ‘effective’ it will be.

I shouldn’t be dismissing things with prejudice. That’s a lesson I learned. Now all these don’t seem that bad at all. It’s good, and it rocks.

Tune to your favourite FM station – enjoy Tons of Fun!!