ABSTRACT

‘Hey! Great to hear you on the radio with Ports of Call. We’re in Kovalam, Kerala with a short-wave radio in the room and the sound of waves, palms and fishermen with their boats on the sand outside.’ These words on a postcard, sent from friends on holiday back in 1994, brought home to me just how far one’s voice can be heard if one is lucky enough to broadcast on radio. Radio, inconceivable without music, is portable, and accessible in one language or another, wherever one finds oneself. As Jody Berland has written, ‘humble and friendly, it follows you everywhere … [yet it is] commonly referred to as a secondary medium in the broadcasting industry, conveying the industry’s pragmatic view that no one cares whether you listen to radio as long as you do not turn it off …’ 1