Those were heady days. FM had just arrived in India and even so many years later, Priya as a path-breaking RJ, remains unsurpassed because of the content she created and the audience connect she enjoyed. She recalls, “My RJ career began in 2001 when I joined Radio City, India’s first private FM station. In retrospect, we had a first-player advantage – freshness. So whatever came thereafter was compared with our station. At one point, almost all the stations sounded the same…same songs, RJ talk with decibel levels to blow your ears. For me, the focus was music.The jock’s personality shapes a show, makes that vital human connect and keeps one hooked. But station policies have undergone a sea-change and presenters are chosen accordingly. So, as long as a station has a cheery RJ putting a smile on a listener’s face, it’s fine.”
She pioneered the accented witticisms that have been beaten to death since Lingo Leela and Sister Stella and smiles at the memory,”Lingo Leela was an idea to tap into the soul of Bangalore. I found the answer in street slang, which exploited the crucial local element, the mindset, the accent plus humour above everything! Lingo Leela, the slanguage teacher was then born! Emboldened by the response to her, we launched Sister Stella, the ‘Gelf-returned’ Mallu nurse. I had a blast fooling around on air.”
Today Priya is a travel writer but she still remembers, “listeners dropping by with flowers and cakes, interviews with musical legends, tons of fanmail, stalker fans waiting to take me out at midnight, sobbing alone in the studio after the last Retro Show when the station went Hindi, organizing Radio City LIVE to promote local bands!” She adds,”I still get messages on FB and Twitter from old time listeners and it feels great.”
Her own connect with radio though is tenuous now. She says, “While driving, I scan stations and if I hear fake accents, recipes, spelling classes, endless ads or inane drivel…I switch to my trusty CD. Then, it turns into a long drive of uninterrupted ambient dub (like Ott), blues, jazz and funk or good ol’ classic and retro rock. I also trawl YouTube to unearth music I’ve never heard and when I discover something fantastic like Asa, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Absofacto, Toco etc. I regret that I can’t share it on air anymore!”
with The New Indian Express
Reema Moudgil works for The New Indian Express, Bangalore, is the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, an artist, a former RJ and a mother. She dreams of a cottage of her own that opens to a garden and where she can write more books, paint, listen to music and just be silent with her cats.