In this concluding part on AIR Madras, which has completed 80 years, former producers share their memories"When I joined AIR, weather bulletins had few Tamil words. We came up with a set of Tamil phrases, which were thereafter used in Tamil weather bulletins in all stations," says 79-year old Jayamkondan, who also went on to write and produce plays for AIR. Madras B had a Listeners' choice programme for English songs, and Jayamkondan suggested something similar for Tamil film songs. His idea was approved, 'Neyar Viruppam' was born, and became a run-away hit. In 'Neyar Viruppam,' names of listeners would be read out and a song of their choice played. The opening words 'Vanakkam Neyargale' became Jayamkondan's identity! Once when he wanted to hire a cycle in Pudukottai, the man in charge said he wouldn't let strangers use his cycles. Then an idea struck Jayamkondan and he said, "Vanakkam Neyargale," and the man said, 'It's YOU! Have as many cycles as you want, free!""That week in 'Neyar Viruppam,' I narrated this incident and then played Ennai Theriyumaa!" chuckles Jayamkondan. Koothapiran and Nagarajan alternated with Jayamkondan, for 'Neyar Viruppam,' which was broadcast every Wednesday and Sunday.
Memorable broadcast
Jayamkondan counts his live broadcast of Makara Jothi as the most significant among the many boons that have come his way. It was a joint effort by Trivandrum and Madras stations, with each allotted a booth in the Sabarimala temple.
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| Suki Subramaniam receiving an award from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.G. Ramachandran |
The Kerala staff spotting K.J. Yesudas in the temple, asked him for a song and he obliged. The crowd shouted its approval. The Madras Station Director told Jayamkondan that he had to do something to pep up the Tamil broadcast. Luckily Jayamkondan saw singer Veeramani among the devotees, and pulled him into the booth, and when he sang 'Pallikattu Sabarimalaikku,' the scales were even.The drama section of AIR had always been strong, dramas being broadcast every Sunday. In the 70s, Suki Subramaniam's plays 'Kaappu Katti Chatram,' 'Dubash Veedu,' which ran for 48 weeks, and 'Janatha Nagar Colony' had a huge fan following. A song in Janatha Nagar Colony went 'Seethai cycilil vegamai pogindraal,' sung to the tune of the English note popularised by Madurai Mani Iyer.
Suki wrote 2,000 radio plays. Two of his plays and a documentary were translated into all the scheduled languages and broadcast in the respective stations.Parvathi Ramanathan, trained by Suki, was an asset to the drama section. Her performance as a mentally disturbed girl in Suki's play 'Thanimaiyum Kallaraiyum,' filled listeners with awe. Suki used echo effects in this play, to enhance the impact. Parvathi produced two plays 'Yayati' and 'Thanimai,' in which actor Savitri played major roles. She edited 20 films for AIR's 'Oli Chitram,' which was an edited version of films.Staff artistes were hired on contract, which would sometimes not be renewed if artistes did not kow-tow to higher officers. Some, like Suki, rebelled against the crushing of creativity under the bureaucratic heel. When Suki worked in Tiruchi AIR, he wrote a play about an officer in an organisation, who indulges in all kinds of vices and mistreats his subordinates.The character was patterned after an officer in AIR Tiruchi. Staff artistes gleefully took up roles in the play! But the errant officer objected that the play should not be broadcast, because it was an almost exact portrayal of him. The station director took that as a confessional statement, and promptly transferred him! When Suki was with AIR Madras, radio stations were told to produce programmes on Indira Gandhi's 20-point programme. Suki came up with scripts for only 15 of the points for Madras A station, and said that the rest did not lend themselves to dramatisation. Despite threats of dismissal, Suki refused to budge. But because of further needling, he eventually resigned.To prevent such arbitrariness and to ensure security of tenure for staff artistes, a national association was started. Jayamkondan was for some time president of the association. "The Government finally heeded our demands, and I became a government servant six months before my retirement," says Jayamkondan.R. Mahadevan, who joined AIR as transmission officer, recalls that a staff artiste, refused to play for a young lady vocalist, saying he never played for women. But, the same mridangist gladly played for M.S. Subbulakshmi! The station director M.S. Gopal said to him, "Think of how happy a young artiste will be if a senior like you plays for her. We should nurture young talent." The next day, when Mahadevan asked the mridangist to play for an upcoming lady vocalist, he did not utter a word of protest. "From M.S. Gopal, I learnt that creative people had to be handled tactfully," says Mahadevan.
Welfare programmes
Later, Mahadevan became Family Planning officer, and Nallathambi was his script writer. But people looked askance at the section, because talking about family planning in public was considered obscene! So Mahadevan adopted a more wholesome approach, and focused on the health of women and children, nutrition, etc., subtly slipping in messages on family planning. Mahadevan wrote a script for a drama titled 'Mechanic Murugesan,' with only one character, played by Nagesh. Broadcast as a series of five-minute daily segments, it was a hilarious take on large families. Nallathambi wrote a play with Sowcar Janaki and M.N. Kannappa in major roles.'Mangala Maligai,' produced by Mahadevan, also had family welfare as its theme. Each episode was written by a different writer — Vasumathi Ramaswamy, Cho, Ja. Ra. Sundaresan and Saavi, and the actors were V.S. Raghavan, Cho, Manorama and V. Gopalakrishnan. He announced a contest for the best script on family welfare, which was won by Salem Sangeetha Ratnam.
When paediatrician Balagopal Raju told Mahadevan that the cries of a baby gave a broad indication of what ailed it, Mahadevan felt this was something mothers should know. So, he recorded 12 different cries, with an explanation for each by the doctor, and broadcast it under the title- 'Vaetru mozhiyalla mazhalaimozhi.' A panel headed by Melville de Mellow picked the programme for a National Award.
"The first FM channel in the country began in Chennai in 1977, to mark the golden jubilee of All India Radio. Monthly advertisement revenues from Kodai FM, which reaches 24 districts of the state, is roughly one crore rupees. DTH Tamil, a 24- hour bouquet of six channels, has a big following among the Tamil diaspora. Chennai station has three dedicated DTH platforms, one each for DTH Tamil, FM Rainbow and FM Gold," says Chakravarthy, current Station Director, AIR Chennai. AIR has kept pace with technological advancements. "AIR Chennai is present on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Since only FM can be heard on mobile phones, we plan live streaming of Chennai A and B channels. AIR Chennai now has DRM transmission – Digital Radio Mondiale, the latest in digital audio broadcasting technology. FM and Vividh Bharati go on this. The station has a dedicated Whatsapp number for feedback. But even now some people send in responses by post card!" he says
AIR has fulfilled its social responsibilities in more ways than one. "FM Rainbow was the only transmitter that was functional, during the 2015 floods, serving as the link between those seeking help, and those who had volunteered to help," says Chakravarthy.
Contributed by:- Shri.Jhavendra Kumar Dhruw ,jhavendra.dhruw@gmail.com
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