When reporting or commenting a serious incident like the grotesque sexual assault of a innocent child resulting in her death, do NOT do the following:
- read the account of the incident with an upbeat tone of voice, more appropriate for a movie review than an account of a serious crime
- accompany the account of the incident with upbeat jazz music.
The above happened as I was listening to Radio24 in their late night/early morning show the evening after news reports confirming that the body in the bag found in PJ was that of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin came out.
It was obviously not intentional, but please just listen to your own show and hear for yourself how callous it sounds. As I was listening in during my drive back home, I truly shouted aloud in anger at the superficial and ignorant way the topic was being presented on the show.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Radio 24 titbit
An English business news bulletin by Radio24 at about 10.50 am this morning made me laugh aloud.
"At this time, the market direction for KLCI is quite clear..... It is not going anywhere..."
I must say I do like Keith's anchoring. Good pace, good diction and an undercurrent of calm energy. A trite earnest, but that's ok.
Su-Lin, the English on-site reporter, ain't too bad either.
"At this time, the market direction for KLCI is quite clear..... It is not going anywhere..."
I must say I do like Keith's anchoring. Good pace, good diction and an undercurrent of calm energy. A trite earnest, but that's ok.
Su-Lin, the English on-site reporter, ain't too bad either.
Launch of Bernama's Radio24
Perhaps coincidental but most likely not, Bernama launched an all news radio station last Monday (3rd August 2007). I'm reliably informed that Bernama's application came after ours, but given the fact that Bernama is owned by the Malaysian government, it was not difficult for them to get a spare FM frequency from RTM, their sister government broadcaster (in comparison, we're still ding donging with the frequency boys at MCMC).
One interesting point though is that I do not think Bernama has an official licence yet to operate an FM radio station. But this is Malaysia, rules can be flouted for connected parties.
My feedback on Radio24's programme so far? Please shoot me if I did a radio launch like that. I am not sure who their target audience is (probably Malay urban) but songs that include Pavarotti and Divas singing Italian, mixed up with Spanish songs, Malay songs and Dangdut for good measure, I'm a little confused.
Plenty of technical glitches too - there was supposed to be live reports of Tun Mahathir's by-passs operation, but in the space of 3 hours, I encountered at least 8 instances of:
"Here is a report by Farha, who is stationed at IJN. Farha, what's the situation at IJN right now?"
(Silence)
"Farha, Farha, are you there?...."
(Silence)
"Farha, you are live now. Any reports?"
(Some muted crackle, then some "BLEEK!" reminiscent of sounds DVD players make upon encountering scratched DVDs)
"Farha, Farha, come in"
(At this stage, even the bleeks cannot be heard)
"We are having some technical problems (you don't say!), we'll bring you that live report later" (yes, 8 attempts later, you're still trying to get pass those bleeks).
Must admit though, they had a great programme the other night when a very confident, media savvy Malay financial planner ("I am the first person in Malaysia to get the certified financial planner qualification!") took in calls from the audience with regard to financial planning. It was really funny ("first, you must pay high interest debt, for example your credit card, actually no, first the ah-longs, then your credit card. Nevermind if you have no money to pay the ah-longs, borrow from the credit card first... (good point, at least credit card companies don't employ someone to maim you if you don't pay up...)".
Bernama, so far , you're making it easy for us, let's hope it stays that way....
One interesting point though is that I do not think Bernama has an official licence yet to operate an FM radio station. But this is Malaysia, rules can be flouted for connected parties.
My feedback on Radio24's programme so far? Please shoot me if I did a radio launch like that. I am not sure who their target audience is (probably Malay urban) but songs that include Pavarotti and Divas singing Italian, mixed up with Spanish songs, Malay songs and Dangdut for good measure, I'm a little confused.
Plenty of technical glitches too - there was supposed to be live reports of Tun Mahathir's by-passs operation, but in the space of 3 hours, I encountered at least 8 instances of:
"Here is a report by Farha, who is stationed at IJN. Farha, what's the situation at IJN right now?"
(Silence)
"Farha, Farha, are you there?...."
(Silence)
"Farha, you are live now. Any reports?"
(Some muted crackle, then some "BLEEK!" reminiscent of sounds DVD players make upon encountering scratched DVDs)
"Farha, Farha, come in"
(At this stage, even the bleeks cannot be heard)
"We are having some technical problems (you don't say!), we'll bring you that live report later" (yes, 8 attempts later, you're still trying to get pass those bleeks).
Must admit though, they had a great programme the other night when a very confident, media savvy Malay financial planner ("I am the first person in Malaysia to get the certified financial planner qualification!") took in calls from the audience with regard to financial planning. It was really funny ("first, you must pay high interest debt, for example your credit card, actually no, first the ah-longs, then your credit card. Nevermind if you have no money to pay the ah-longs, borrow from the credit card first... (good point, at least credit card companies don't employ someone to maim you if you don't pay up...)".
Bernama, so far , you're making it easy for us, let's hope it stays that way....
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Licence date
Just a small anecdote on sources of roll-out delays.
Our radio licence was signed (or at least dated) 4th of July 2007. We received the licence and information on its terms and conditions on 24th of August.
A regulatory requirement is that we roll out within 12 months of date of the issue (not receipt) of the licence.
Almost 8 weeks have passed since the date of issue of licence. An 8 week delay (15% of our roll-out time period) is usually very material. Thankfully in our case, the issue is academic as we intend to roll out well within the (now)10 month timeframe.
But I got the distinct impression that the reason for the delay was quite trivial. The physical licence document had to be sent to a third party for ........ binding!
Must admit though, the binding was quite nice!
Our radio licence was signed (or at least dated) 4th of July 2007. We received the licence and information on its terms and conditions on 24th of August.
A regulatory requirement is that we roll out within 12 months of date of the issue (not receipt) of the licence.
Almost 8 weeks have passed since the date of issue of licence. An 8 week delay (15% of our roll-out time period) is usually very material. Thankfully in our case, the issue is academic as we intend to roll out well within the (now)10 month timeframe.
But I got the distinct impression that the reason for the delay was quite trivial. The physical licence document had to be sent to a third party for ........ binding!
Must admit though, the binding was quite nice!
Now the Real Work Begins
At a low key ceremony last Friday, 24th August 2007, we received a licence from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to operate a national radio station.
Though it was a rather tortuous process that took 6 months longer than I anticipated, reaction by our co-attendees at the licence presentment ceremony (TM Net, who received an IPTV licence 3 years after their application) told me that I should be thankful that it took the time that it did. Yes, yes, the licence terms were a little onerous and not quite consistent with objectives and the business plan that we submitted with our application, but as an officer at MCMC said, "Just be grateful you got a licence!".
And grateful we are. And now the real work begins!
Though it was a rather tortuous process that took 6 months longer than I anticipated, reaction by our co-attendees at the licence presentment ceremony (TM Net, who received an IPTV licence 3 years after their application) told me that I should be thankful that it took the time that it did. Yes, yes, the licence terms were a little onerous and not quite consistent with objectives and the business plan that we submitted with our application, but as an officer at MCMC said, "Just be grateful you got a licence!".
And grateful we are. And now the real work begins!
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