A
Konkani bulletin covering news and current affairs on Goa and Mangalore recently hit the airways
from Auckland, New Zealand, for listeners across the globe.
The 5-minute news bulletin ‘The Susegad Danpaar show’ in Konkani
for an Auckland-based radio station ‘Planet Audio’ goes on air every Saturday
at 8.15 AM IST (https://www.planetaudio.
org.nz/susegad-danpaar) and
it is aimed at the Goan diaspora around the globe to connect with news from
their home and that too, in Konkani language.
The Konkani radio programme at Planet FM 104.6 was started by a
team of enthusiastic young men in 2017 and over the last three years, has been
very successful. While the pradio programme otherwise has chats and songs in
Konkani. It was only this year that a Konkani news bulletin on current affairs
was introduced.
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“‘The Susegad Danpaar show, more of a coffee table chat, is
interspersed with Konkani news and Konkani music, making Saturday afternoons
indeed ‘Susegad’ – calm and peaceful,” Baptist Lobo, organiser of the show,
said.
The Konkani news coverage is a new addition to the program. It
provides an opportunity to Frankey to channel his talents and also provide a
platform to promote the language in addition to music
Frankey’s initiative is immensely laudable, as it is selfless
and exemplary. He has obtained the engagement of Shamir Deniz and Reggie
D’Souza to put the news clip together every Saturday without fail
Hector de Souza, Baptist Lobo and Richard Miranda are the
presenters for the show, while the Konkani current affairs news is delivered by
Frankey Fernandes, who traces his roots to Vasco da Gama in Goa.
“It was Baptist Lobo who suggested that I use a bit of my
experience with Radio Adelaide and All India Radio Panjim to put out a news
capsule of the current affairs in Goa,” explained Fernandes, who closely
monitors news developments in Goa.
“Honestly, other than gathering news, I don’t have much of
technical knowledge but good old friends, including Shamir Deniz, from the
Herald (Frankey worked with Herald in Goa in the nineties) days in 1993 and
college mate, Reggie D’Souza, a versatile musician, came to my rescue. Shamir
edits my stories while the opening and closing music is arranged by Reggie, who
otherwise plays with the band ‘Archies’,” said Fernandes, who is based in
Melbourne, Australia and is able to provide news capsules to Auckland in New
Zealand.
“Current technology has made it quite convenient to gather audio
bytes for my stories,” added Fernandes.
What is interesting is that Frankey hasn’t even met the
presenters of the Konkani radio programme at Planet FM 104.6.
“Honestly, I haven’t even met Hector, Baptist and Richard, but
the team give me all the encouragement and much-needed support to carry out the
task on a weekly basis.”
The bulletin provides SD a wider listenership and a small step
towards building a Konkani speaking community globally
Frankey now hopes that his Konkani news bulletin will motivate
others to set up similar Konkani bulletins across the world, to keep the Goan
diaspora connected with all things Goa and Goan.
“I
hope other Goan journalists spread across the globe can replicate this sincere
initiative from my end,” summed up Fernandes
