Anurag Jain's Blog on Bangalore Events, Travel, IIM Bangalore, IIM, IIMB, Management

Monday, October 25, 2004

Posted 8:00 AM by Anurag

Bangalore Radiocity FM91 RJs

Nice comparison notes on Radio City FM 91 RJs in an egroup I am a member of. This debate was booted up after the news that Jonzie was either fired or had resigned. Remember these are not my views. Having said that, one point I disagree upon is that RJs have to talk non-stop. Methinks that they can talk slow and steady but sense (Remember Sleepless in Seattle?), rather than non-stop nonsense (Namma Benguluru Radiocity?). And I do completely agree that Priya Ganapathy was the best RJ at Radiocity!

"I guess he (Jonzie) had a certain appeal to a certain age group. As for me, I found him quite offensive in his shows.

Sunaina Lal was interesting and fun to listen to. But I found her to be obsessed with money sometimes.

Darius is good. But in a couple of instances I found his guard slipping up. I recall he once refer to one of the callers a pschyo. Totally uncalled for because as an RJ he should remember that while it may amuse one set of people, it may not be so amusing to some of teh listeners.

Priya Ganapathy in my opinion was one of the best RJs. Because her shows very very informative and because she did suffficient research. She also had a fun element that was missing in Sheetal Iyer.

Sheetal Iyer in my opinion was good but too uptight. She was knowledgeable, but she lacked the 'josh' in her to make her program interesting. I also always got the feeling that she probably did not really get along too well with the rest of the crowd at Radiocity except perhaps with Chaitanya Hegde.

The other RJ I had found good was Chaitanya Hegde. He was a gentleman. And he had an awesome voice.

Suresh Venkat has an amazingly quick wit. I do like his sunday show 'Brunch with the Boss'. I always used to wonder who the Boss was :-) I I do like his Deep Voice as well.

Saggy, well, Saggy should not be RJing at all. I think he is better off coming in once a while in everybody show to provide some variety. I think he does come up with interesting things to say. But I definitely don't find the 'way' he delivers it interesting at all. Well, not evrybody can be an RJ I guess.

The shows that I really miss are the English programming and shows like 'Sister Stella' which for a long time hadn't figured out that was being done by Priya Ganapathy herself. I became a fan of hers after that :-)"

On Cyrus and Jonzie comparison

"Cyrus and Jonzie are way different. Cyrus has a great sense of humour. I used to listen to him on the radio (in mumbai) before he even got on to the telly. He had a certain panache and class that Jonzie definitely didn't carry. You know, the best comedians are the ones who crack a joke at their own expense and not at somebody else's expense. I guess that was/ is the difference between Jonzie and Cyrus. Jonzie jokes were always at someone else's expense and that is something which I couldn't digest. But then I guess it is different strokes for different folks.

I guess one of the skill that is essential to be a good RJ is that you should be able to chatter non stop. Chatter is usually when you have to do all the talking and very little listening :-) I guess Sunaina was the best in this and that radiocity ad where she is introduced described her personality superbly. I think this is where Saggy lacks. I don't think he is a chatterbox by nature though he may have all the other qualities. Therefore you will find a lot of 'Hmmmm...s' and 'Ummmm...s' in his shows which I find a little put off."

3 comments

Comments:

I agree that some of the RJs need to improve.However an RJ on note is Darius. He is someone to look out for. He not only is a kind RJ but his delivery and diction are excellent too. However its his intelligence that truly stands out. He comes across as someone really well read. He used to Conduct those sunday afternoon interviews..... they were fabulous!He is the rare RJ with a brain. His partner Sunaina though needs to talk less and think more!

# posted by

Anonymous : May 08, 2006 1:25 PM

i agree,darius is just too good.everyone from my grandmother to my baby sister used to love his show.even the auto drivers liked him. great appeal he had. where is he now?

# posted by

Anonymous : May 08, 2006 1:26 PM

Too bad he ain't there now.

# posted by

Anurag : May 08, 2006 6:01 PM