IN ORDER to give more opportunities to local artistes Minnal FM reserved the whole of Merdeka Day for local songs by Malaysian Indian singers.
Even though it may outwardly look good the problem is the poor quality of local songs and singers as compared to those from India.
Due to this, a lot of listeners feel bored and switch to THR Raaga. There is already a programme for local songs from 1pm to 2 pm daily on Minnal FM. Therefore, what is the need for a whole day of mediocre local songs?
Minnal FM is losing listeners to its competitors and rivals, both local and foreign. Unfortunately, the radio station is too rutted, stagnant and lacks creativity.
The management lacks any initiative to improve itself as the government has probably sidelined the station and gives more emphasis to the Malay radio stations.
The main reason for the downside is that complaints by sincere listeners are not acted upon, and in fact there is no way listeners can channel their complaints.
Decades ago, there was a 30-minute weekly programme where listeners could write to the station with their complaints, feedback and suggestions, and replies were given.
The best people to judge Minnal FM are the listeners. It is time this interactive programme is brought back to improve the radio station’s programmes.
Nowadays most of those tuning to Minnal FM are the nostalgic senior citizens and some in the 30-60 age group. Even the senior citizens have complaints about the lack of creativity or anything new in presenting songs of yesteryear especially from the 1950s and the 1960s.
Tamil songs catering for senior citizens from 11-12pm can be made more interesting by adding new features like interviewing old timers who lived in the estates or worked for the government during the 1950s to 1970s.
These people can give their historical inputs in the programme interspersed with old songs.
People in this group are getting lesser by the year. They can give a lot of info about this long-gone era such as life and work in the plantations, the mobile cinema, temple festivities, Tamil schools, the changing landscape and development, the country’s progress since then.
These old timers can even highlight details and information about the Tamil movies and songs. It must be remembered that movies and songs were the main entertainment of the estate folks during the olden days. Many will tune in to hear these stories and episodes.
Also, senior citizens should not be forced to use mediums they are not familiar with such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram but should be given more choices like postal letters, WhatsApp or the telephone to convey song requests.
Other complaints briefly are that only new songs are featured in the Malayalam and Telugu songs programmes. On what basis are the seniors from these two language groups ignored?
The Hindi song programme at 4am in the early morning on weekdays should be shifted to an afternoon slot as it features only old songs, and senior citizens who have free time during the mid-day can tune in to this programme.
The Punjabi song programme at 3pm on Saturdays can be removed as there are a hardly any listeners due to these songs being easily available on YouTube.
This slot can be used for Hindi songs from the 1970s to the 1980s, a period of popular songs ignored by radio stations.
The Tamil literary/literature slot at 10am on Sundays can be made more lively by including various items by authors from the Tamil diaspora, letters and essays by locals on current issues, book reviews, poetry among others instead of time fillers like songs about Tamil.
This programme can be repeated as there is nothing much daily between 9–11 pm. Good programmes need to be repeated more often. The hourly news bulletins are too short – just 2 or 3 minutes.
More news about the Indian community, new initiatives by the government as well as any worthwhile information for the Indian community should be included. Important info can be repeated to reach a wider audience. The news bulletins should not be confined to general news only.
The government need to ensure that Minnal FM is catering to a growing larger audience and is managed well as it is the official communications channel between the Indian community and the government.
Programmes such as interviews with knowledgeable and experienced persons that could benefit the community in any aspect should be given preference instead of the whole day being filled with music and songs.
A lot of Indians especially those who do not know much Tamil such as the Malayalees, Telugus, Sikhs and the English-educated Tamils should be interviewed for their expertise that benefits the community.
The interviewer can help out by doing some translation to make this program effective and useful. Minnal FM’s website needs changes and a section to relay complaints must be included in the main website.
The government has to supervise Minnal FM and ensure that it has a proactive relationship with the community, and not let Minnal FM do what it likes and ignore inputs and suggestion from the listening public.
The main reason why Minnal FM has now become mediocre and poor in quality is due to lack of proactive monitoring and supervision by the higher-ups in RTM and the Communication Ministry. – Oct 24, 2024
V. Thomas is a Focus Malaysia viewer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: Kementerian Perpaduan Negara
