Golden oldies at a golden oldie

As she continues playing old melodies from this heritage building,she realises that the world back home has changed. The famous segments,Binaca Geetmala and Lipton ke Sitaare,are now part of history and have been replaced by Bhoole Bisre,Purani filmon ka sangeet,Ek hi film ke geet.

Jyoti doesnt get a five-figure salary like some Indian radio jockeys do. At a time when FM stations are competing for business,little has changed for her. There are no SMS contests,nor does she ask her listeners to email their feedback. Apart from the telephone calls,letters remain the most popular mode to request for songs.  

Weve remained a conventional radio station, smiles the 41-year-old,showing her library of 75,000 LP records of Hindi movie songs. People are moving ahead,but we are taking them back to a golden era, she says.

The Sri Lankan government has allotted only three hours,from 5:30 am to 8:30 am,for the Hindi section. Despite the early morning slot,she claims to have one million listeners. Along with playing requests,she also sorts out letters sent to her by fans. She reads out a letter that has come from Shahpur Chakar,District Sanghar,Sindh,Pakistan,asking if she can play a Lata Mangeshkar number.

Once we tried to change our style and started playing latest music. Thousands of our listeners wrote asking us to revert to playing old songs. They said we are the only station that respects old music, she recalls. She remembers how three years ago the Sri Lankan government had stopped the 8:30 pm show and the listeners had dashed off letters to Sonia Gandhi. Nirupama Rao,posted at Sri Lanka then,got several calls asking about the evening show. Sonia Gandhi requested the Sri Lankan government to continue that programme,but it was stopped finally, Jyoti laments.

Jyotis popularity has increased over a period of time and when the Tsunami wrecked havoc some fans called to find out if she was safe,and during the LTTE military operations fans even suggested she returned home.

In our library,we have several old songs,and there are many songs which cant be traced back to a movie. When we play them,listeners call us giving the name of the film, she says.

Jyoti sees many problems ahead. With lack of commercial interest in the Hindi section,Radio Ceylon may fade and die. Things arent going in the right direction and we need support. We dont have a high quality radio tower. Its not easy to set our frequency, she says.

Hudson Samarsinghe,chairman of Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation,says they will get German technology by October which will can help tune in to the right frequency for their listeners.

As the conversation comes to an end,her telephone rings,Jyoti slips into her chatty mode: Hello,ji boliye. Kahan se bol rahe hain aap? And plays the song her listener requests.