Sunday 11 April 2010

The Role of Radio Presenters in Music Promotion

I have ever said that I have problems calling Malawi radio presenters Disc Jockeys or fondly shortened to DJs based on the knowledge that I have of who a DJ is and what the radio presenters who call themselves DJs do.
Nonetheless, the Professor today is not bothered with whatever names, titles, ranks, designations or positions radio presenters bestow upon themselves. I am here to wonder aloud if these people know their role to make Malawi music what it needs to become.
Forget about the question which one is the Malawi music. But one statement that I have to register from the onset is that Malawian Radio presenters or Disc Jockeys as they love calling themselves are a huge disappointment.
This is not because of the way they live their lives with their spouses and other extramarital activities as it were, but this is to the choices they make when playing music on the radios.
I have no problems with a radio like MBC Radio II or Capital FM who have declared that they are bent at promoting music, which is music. Meaning the foreign music all of us strive to emulate.
However, radio stations like Zodiak Broadcasting Station and other religiously inclined broadcasters their interests has been cast around locally produced and sang music, call it gospel or secular.
The general complaint is that we have talent when it comes to music and musicians. We also have outlets that suit us but fail to satisfy us all.
Back to the radio presenters, the positions these dudes hold is very privileged and in some countries like Zambia they have used it massively to promote their local music. Someone was telling me there was a time when a decree was imposed where all media outlets in the country were asked to only play Zambian music; I doubt its truthfulness though.
Not that I am suggesting that we do likewise in the country; because we risk clamping down sources where we can learn from.
In that way, we will not have anywhere to assess ourselves as a country to see if we are indeed doing what we should be doing as a musical nation or whether or not we are stepping on the same spot or moving either forward or backward.
However, given that we also impose a similar decree, do you see ourselves achieving anything? Considering that even when the radio presenters have the opportunity to play our local music, others creating programmes that have local music as the only input it still raises a number of questions when you see how these radio presenters comport themselves.
You find that they will stick to a track or an album of a musician who everyone who has an ear for music is condemning due to his or her mediocre feat and yet the so called DJ will be heaping praises that you who is listening fail to see its justification.
In the process, the questions of corrupt radio presenters which has ever come up in this regard pops up again.
While other presenters will do likewise due to naivety, others largely seem to have a hidden interest that is not even well hidden...
If the Malawi music has to grow and glow, its fate, to an extent, also lies in the hands of these people.
Radio promoters or DJs, as they would like me to call them, are promoters of sorts. If they play bad music on their respective radios, then it has to be on the back of trying to point at weaknesses in our artists’ music.
May be it is high time radio station started deliberate programmes that look at a particular song or singer and critique their way of performing and final music production.
Patriotism comes in many ways, if presenters give us quality music we promote quality products from Malawi, which can bring us forex before we know it, not to mention catapulting the artist to international stardom.
Feedback: drummingpen@columinist.com

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