Remember the lines of this song
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
Pictures came and broke your heart
And now we meet in an abandoned studio
(ohh)
We hear the playback and it seems so long
ago
And you remember the jingles used to go ……
Recorded by Bruce Wooley, the song laments some twentieth
century innovations which offset traditional ones like the video superseding
radio.
Goans who lived in the Portuguese era recount how intrinsic the
radio was to their lives, connecting them not just to neighbouring villages but
to India and the rest of the world
As we observe Indian Broadcasting day, when the Indian
Broadcasting Company (IBC) began organized radio broadcasting with the first
programme which was aired in Mumbai on July 23, 1927, the milestone is not
merely that of history. It’s actually a historical look back when radio was not
just a medium for the broadcast of news and culture but the medium itself was
intrinsic to the culture of the land.
As AIR Goa prepares to celebrate this day, it can surely
announce that video hasn’t quite killed the radio star. As it reaches to the
diaspora through the internet, it still remains the star.
And this is how the start was born. Giving a brief history of
how broadcasting arrived in Goa, FM Rainbow Programme Executive, Savio de
Noronha says, “José Ferreira Martins, a radio amateur, donated a small
transmitter to a group of enthusiasts. Encouraged by this offer, these young
men improvised a microphone using a coconut shell for its outer covering, and
started broadcasting under the technical guidance of Victor Carvalho, an
engineer at the Panjim Telegraph Station”
The birth of Emissora de Goa
The first experimental broadcast took place on May 28, 1946 and
on the same day, the then Governor General, Dr José Ferreira Besa released a
special stamp to commemorate the occasion. A government decree that the radio
station would be called Emissora de Goa was issued. Following the liberation of
Goa, in January 1962, Emissora de Goa, was re-christened as All India Radio and
has had a glorious history since then – now known as the Mhadei Channel on MW
1287 Khz. July 1971, saw the arrival of Vividh Bharati service to Goa, its
legendary presenters and fantastic programming has a pan-India presence and is
hugely popular.”
The arrival of the ‘Rainbow’
In January 1994, AIR’s flagship channel, FM 105.4 Mhz was live.
“Besides the metros in our country, Goa got the privilege of commissioning its
stereo service, ultimately developing into AIR FM Rainbow – its programming has
been par excellence dishing out music in Konkani, English, Hindi, Marathi and
Portuguese, Hindustani and Western Classical. All its programmes are live and
listeners are treated to a different Radio Jockey everyday,” adds Savio.
Meet the artists who became stars
Tomazinho Cardozo from Candolim is a director, actor and was one
of the first Konkani singers to sing live for All India Radio. Reminiscing
about his experience performing for the main entertainment platform at that
time, Tomazinho says, “We didn’t even have a radio in our home and we used to
go to neighbours house to listen to music and news. It was a luxury to own a
radio or a gramophone. During the Portuguese rule, the Emissora de Goa had
programs highlighting the achievements of the Portuguese and often criticising
the Indian government. After Liberations, All India Radio had different
programs and including ‘Kantaram’ where five songs were recorded in Konkani by
an artist and that singer would be paid Rs 6-7 in 1964-65 which was very big money
then. One could not just get on the radio and sing. They would have auditions
and the best were given a contract for the show. Before the recordings, it was
live singing, you sang directly live on air with no room for errors,” says
Tomazinho, whose brother, Joao was the fourth singer who recorded post
liberation on All India Radio.
Some of the best and most noted singers, Tomazinho mentions are
Allan Costa, Johnny Sylvester, Paul Fernandes, Ismelia D’Mello, Dioguinho
D’Mello and Baleruino Araujo and not forgetting the musicians who added beauty
to those vocals especially music director of All India Radio, Antonio D’Souza
from Siolim.
Vasco Pinho, a historian has lived through the Liberation of Goa
and was an avid listener of the radio which he calls the state of the art. “In
those days, we had quite a powerful transmitter which was a great leap forward
and very popular. Most people had a radio and it was a great means of
entertainment and news. The three most popular stations were Colombo, BBC and Voice
of America I have also dedicated a chapter on the Radio in Goa in the third
volume of my book, ‘Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History III: Panjim Then and
Now,” says Vasco, a resident of Panjim, at the foot of the Altinho Hill which
houses the All India Radio station.
And there she was, Goa’s first woman jokey Imelda
The voice of, Goa’s first woman radio jockey, Imelda Dias
captured the hearts and minds of radio listeners in Goa during the late sixties
and seventies. Imelda worked for 27 years in the radio, starting off as an
announcer at the commercial services of Radio Goa in 1958 and retiring as
Transmission Executive of All India Radio in 1985. The station was later named
Emissora de Goa in 1946, where she worked as an announcer, news reader and translator
being fluent in English and Portuguese.
Her daughter, Margarida Tavora, who owns Nostalgia, Raia, was
only ten years old when Goa’s Liberation took place but was in awe of the love
and admiration her mother received. “The Radio was the main hub for news,
entertainment and music. After Mass on Sundays, people would tune in to ‘Your
Favourites’ a show my mother hosted and she would get messages on postcard
requesting a song, especially messages from a boy or girl dedicating a song to
their loved one. It was the only entertainment in the 1960s and the programs
catered to everybody. Then most housewives were not working and they would
listen to the radio throughout the day. There was no traffic and the only sound
would be a loud radio. Radio marked the era of Goa’s golden age for us Tavora
siblings,” says Margarida.
Besides, being a radio channel in Goa, AIR has reached out to
the listening pleasure of its Goan diaspora. It is now available on Prasar
Bharati’s digital global platform and one can download the app ‘Newsonair’. AIR
is also very popular on social media through their facebook and twitter
handles.
It clearly hasn’t paused or remained in rewind mode but very actively gone fast forward to ensure that neither video, not any other medium could kill radio, the real star.