SIGHT & SOUND
AIR not ‘All India’
AMITA MALIK

I have been listening to and covering All India Radio for about 50 years. I even worked for it as a student announcer and briefly on its production staff. And this is the first time ever that there has been no cricket commentary on the radio.

From paanwallahs, whose customers increased if they had a transistor radio to clerks hiding their transistors under their desks to play hooky in office to those of us who were cooking or driving could keep pace with the match are feeling cheated.

And, most importantly, the poor who cannot afford TV sets have been robbed of one of their few sources of entertainment.

And in a way, it is AIR’s fault. Battening on its monopoly, first on radio and till recently on TV until the private channels came up, it first tried to get everything for free, or from other people’s labours when some private channel built up a reputation for good coverage.

It tried to exert its divine right as a "national" channel and a "public service channel" although both claims are subject to scrutiny. It was flaunting its clout as a sarkari channel, in spite of calling itself Prasar Bharati and pretending to be autonomous. But while it faced competition on TV channels and they showed up DD’s poor commentaries by second team commentators, its monopoly of radio made it get away with each dated, sub-standard commentaries that only those who had no choice listened to the radio.

But it was not always like this. I am old enough to remember the princely Vizzy, from the royal family of Vizianagram. We all made fun of his verbosity, but he knew his cricket.

There were Berry Sarbadhikary and Pearson Surita of Calcutta, knowledgeable commentators who knew when to stop talking. And AFS Talyarkhanmir "AFST" as he was known, was a legend in his time.

The rot really started when Hindi commentaries got equal status with English. For absolutely no rhyme or reason, certainly not for professional tradition, the commentators decided that (a) they had to keep talking all the time, even on TV, where viewers can see things for themselves and only want expert analyses. Then (b) came the silly practice of getting excited from ball one of an over, whether Sachin hit a six or an over yielded only one run. This practice of making every sentence into a hysterical climax persists even now on Prasar Bharati. And has been the bane of viewers as well as listeners.

However, what finally nailed AIR’s coffin is its monopoly. For the first time, Nimbus has both TV and radio rights and AIR is facing the unusual situation of having to pay for its relays. And, completely oblivious of its responsibility as a so-called national public service channel, it has let down millions of listeners by failing to drive a bargain before the Nagpur Test. And, it is doubtful if the Mohali Test will fare any better. I am all for supporting the case for private radio channels, perhaps even the existing FM channels, being given a chance to do sports commentaries and offering some healthy competition to AIR, as it has to Doordarshan.

And meanwhile, AIR should ask commentators the ones in English are only slightly better) to update their style of commentaries. They should not talk non-stop when they have nothing to say and, above all, not remain in a state of perpetual climax.

The Bush visit, the earlier Budget coverage and, for human interest, the revival of Jessica Lall case, have kept channels on their toes.

The power of the media was shown when our President, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, received a team from NDTV, led by Prannoy Roy, listened for 20 minutes and watched a tape on the Jessica Lall petition signed by more than two lakh viewers and then said: "I will study the case and take whatever action is required. That is my promise".

An Internet and computer buff himself, our scientist President also showed, in the words of Prannoy Roy, that he is, indeed, a People’s President.