In Phase with fm -- (The Friday Suppliment)

'Video killed the radio star…' that's one song I've not heard in a long time. But now the phrase does not sound quite right.

It wasn't long ago that most evenings I turned the TV off and listened to the radio. That was the beginning of the fm craze that still lurks wild amidst the younger ones of our society. It started with just a few programmes on air and now we marvel at what that tiny experimentation has blossomed into. Concentrating at the populous capital it probably has more faithful listeners than it could have imagined of and this number is not at the least on the decrease.

What probably enabled it to be a success was that it was new, innovative and on-track with the young at heart. The latter one probably being the most significant one. FM entwined these young people into a sort of free society much like MTV had done in the eighties. It was a platform where new music was played, where they could voice themselves from the crowd, where the people behind the microphone understood their desire for music and gave it to them. Kathmanduities tired of the mundane programmes of the state run radio service had a new source of music. Hit's fm was quite right in saying -'Hits you where it matters' and it hasn't changed a bit. Fitting in for fm wasn't a big deal either because almost everybody likes change. Besides, the society already had a niche in their hearts for such welcome changes and took in the new fad with open arms.

Here the use the word fad isn't that inappropriate because there were times, when fm was still in its infancy, that some of my friends took pride in their listening to fm. Much like the pride in wearing a new set of designer clothes, better if french designed. A mixed feeling of peer pressure and inquisitiveness present in all youngsters also proved a winning hand in favour of fm. But some who thought it just only as a fashion accessory probably didn't realise that this one was a fad that had come to stay. Their short-sightedness has already been proved wrong by the array of numerous programmes being aired everyday at different frequencies. These probably seem to laugh right at their faces and those good humoured short-sighters have come in terms to laugh along at their own follies.
The single frequency that pioneered this whole fm entertainment biz was to bring about a series of other fm stations popping out with their own frequencies and their own distinctive class of music and RJ's. Among them the oldest being Hit's fm, which still has maintained it's distinctiveness, and not to forget the more informative HBC, which not only plays global music but gives a whole deal of extra information. Could it get better?

But fm's reach lay not just in captivating its listeners to open their ears but it also ignited an even greater passion for creating music. The musically inclined who had lain dormant stirred awake and now the nepalese music industry is bubbling with new bands, new sounds, new faces and new music ever on the increase. Great music and numerous bands, and an even larger number of garage bands just waiting to contribute something to the nepalese music industry.

Then there are other contemporary media, which surfaced at about the same time, like cable T.V. and of course not to forget the ever increasing internet. The internet has also captured the minds and hearts of numerous nepalese here and abroad. Even though it is comprehensible to surf the net while listening to fm it's a better solution to make fm global without the need to set up new radio towers. And what better notion than this to make fm available via the net. Such has been done too. Now for those of us who miss our home and friends can give our messages and not feel so left out of home with just a click of the lil' mouse.

Now with more fm stations to choose from its no wonder that I find myself turning the dial to another frequency whenever the programme starts to sound boring. But fm has really got me in its grip because I can't seem to concentrate on my studies with fm playing in the background. Daily studies would have been an exception but listening during exam was going a bit off-track. I meant to stop this fancy but it seems like something is missing when I turn the radio off. So now the fm plays on even while I study. And this piece of write-up is no exception for in the background the radio is now playing the song I've been meaning to hear for quite a while - 'video killed the radio star………'