Love Affair with Radio

Like anyone else, I love my childhood days. The memory of naughty friends now turned into good ones. Teachers whom we were fearful of, now great ones. Moments spent playing marbles and football as the best goal keeper of the football tournament in the village. Getting words of praises from friends, but scolded terribly every evening after returning home. Now I feel that those sweet and sour experiences constitute what I call, life.

With all those simple but great experiences of my childhood and teenage days, I'm enriched. I have many good friends, some of them have gotten married, and some have become professionals in their own fields. I still remember most of them. However, In particular, I remember Radio as one of my very best friends. The fact is, we're still very compatible and I hope the relation will never falter.

I remember those teenage days. My friends, both boys and girls, used to exchange love letters. They used to read romantic novels, talk secretly about sex, TV serials, Bollywood hero/heroines (Sharukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. Sharukh is still doing his magic in Bollywood, now Madhuri's fame has been shadowed by Bipasa Basu and others). When my friends remained busy with these kind of stuffs, I used to pass my time listening to, yes, Radio.

Our family owned a large Japanese radio set, which we still have but no longer use, on which my father used to tune into BBC Nepali service--this became my lifelong habit.

From my childhood, I had crush with Radio. Then, the means of entertainment were limited (more so in Nepal). Although, television was one of the mostly widely used means of entertainment for most of the youth, I enjoyed listening to Radio. However, in those days, a child grew up addicted to the television culture with the TV remote glued to his/her hand. I still remember when I first came across a computer and felt that I was a lucky guy. After S.L.C. (high school), when I was a trainee at a computer learning center, I felt very proud and excited. 

I also recall those days when the advent of FM stations brought a radical change to Radio and attracted many youth. Later on, that large Japanese radio set was replaced by a small FM radio set. One day, I broke our family's small FM radio set and I cried with fear that my father would scold me and not replace it. Surprisingly, he didn't scold me, not even a bit, and promised that he'll buy me a new one, although I ended up buying it on my own. I collected all the money that I received during Dashain (about Rs. 200) and I asked my father to buy me a new radio set. Since that day, my small, new Radio became my bestfriend, always remaining close to me throughout the day and into the night on my bedside.

I preferred the informative programs to the entertaining ones. During those days, I used to regularly listen to the programs on Radio Sagarmatha, the first community radio of South Asia. I was also a regular listener to BBC Nepali Sewa that was broadcast from 8.45 to 9:15 PM. Such fond memories!

I dreamt about getting the chance to speak on Radio. My first actual experience was when I was in Grade 10. Without any previous technical knowledge, skills or training in radio production, I managed to design a concept for a radio program. And, that really was the beginning of my love affair with Radio. I produced a program named Yuva Aankha in collaboration with other friends of Creative Youth Society. 

Change is the only constant thing in the world. These days, people are using mobile devices with an attached radio instead of that large Japanese radio set. The advancement of technology has brought many changes in people's lives. But still my attitude and attraction towards Radio is becoming more powerful day-by-day. I believe that Radio is not only a means of communication, but it can bring positive changes in our society. While other media are expensive and are not accessible to all people in Nepal (especially villagers), Radio is the easiest, cheapest, and best medium to disseminate information and bring a common understanding among all the people. Among all means of communication, Radio is very powerful because it reaches to a huge audience quickly and it allows them to interact with one another more easily. I take it as a challenge and opportunity to raise the voice of voiceless people and to help create positive change with a motive to bring about social change.

I listen to Radio programs more than four hours a day. I now have my own radio program which I produce every week. In contrast to when I first started, there are now over 10 televisions channels and over 30 FM stations (there were only two when I started), but now there are more than 300 FM stations in the country.

I started as a serious listener and blossomed as a radio producer. I still have alot I want to convey. 

My Dear Radio, I will be there for you forever as you have always been there for me...