Action stations

To say that the bantering between Toni Sant and Ray Bajada, on Joe Tanti's drive-time programme (Radju Malta) last week, set the cat among the pigeons, would only be putting it very mildly.

Some of the broadcasters, who for one reason or another were not on the programme, took the statements "no one ever listen to radio any more" and "radio is dead" very badly indeed.

On their own programmes they said something to the effect that if radio is dead and no one ever listens, who are the people who call them? They are right, of course, but that was not the main thrust of the argument.

I have often said that I don't like being called a "nobody"; yet I can safely attest that, on the bus or in a queue or in a waiting room, I am the only one listening to a pocket radio; iPods and MP3 players and even mobile telephones being the choices of others, even people of my age-group (50) who chose not to stare, read, or gossip. However, the fact remains that inside shops and on buses, the piped sound is rarely provided by CDs; it is usually a radio station of the management's choice.

It was felt that Tanti ought not to have invited people from other stations "since they never invite us over to theirs" - failing to realise that someone has to start the ball rolling. It is at times like these that I wonder whether the people who are behind microphones actually deserve to be there, considering that they use their own airtime to be sarcastic or rude to people who call in and make their show what it is.

Now most of us know that Norman Hamilton once came third in an international contest for radio presenters. At the time, he had no internet technology or callers to rely on; all he had was his attitude and his knack for spinning records. Of course, there was no local competition at the time.

However, having myriad radio stations does not necessarily mean that one is spoilt for choice, as the statistics never fail to indicate.

I contacted some of the persons who were guests on radio programmes in order to obtain their opinion; ironically, those who boast that they are the most sincere and voluble of all those currently on air decided to pass over the invitation.

Albert Zammit said that radio is not dead but it is a sleeping dinosaur. Unfortunately, pluralism in broadcasting is making it less effective but it can be revived and it will be revived. When, I do not know; how, I do not know either, but nobody listens to the voices of reason, here. So let it slumber.

Twanny Scerri told me that not all presenters realise the responsibility they have towards their captive audience. We are meant to educate and inform, as well as entertain; each of us has areas of expertise, and this must be put to good use.

Toni Sant puts down the reasons that young people don't listen as much to radio as the older generations to three reasons: the quality of radio programmes has deteriorated exponentially with the number of radio stations in the country; too many good presenters are either stuck in the past or don't play enough new Maltese music; and that it's easier and better to make up your own playlist on the Internet.

Ray Bajada agrees on all counts with Twanny Scerri and Albert Zammit: he says he was trained by professional broadcasters - the likes of Victor Aquilina, Charles Arrigo, Charles Abela Mizzi, who, albeit of a very conservative school, were masters of their profession. "They inculcated this into us beginners way back in the years of Rediffusion".

Despite the fact that times and technology have changed, the three fundamental rules for good radio still hold, i.e., that it must entertain, educate and inform. The situation of broadcasting as presented by our national station is archaic, geriatric, and 30 years outdated - in a nutshell, a dinosaur. A fully-computerised system to rig up a station today would not cost more than €30,000. That much could easily be saved from extraneous expenditure in mailshots sent to households by government departments annually.

• Guests, of course, are what make a discussion programme; and sometimes they break it too, for several reasons. This week the biscuit goes to the English-speaking person who actually faltered when he had to find expressions related to his profession - and said them in Maltese.

Meanwhile, I would think it is the responsibility of the person(s) from each radio and television station, whoever goes on a course related to broadcasting, or journalism, to write a mini-report and have it presented as a news item in the station's news bulletin and/or on the station's website.

It would also help if the public gets to know how these people, and not others who do the same kind of programmes, were chosen, and why some entities were more heavily represented than others. It would seem that pluralism has not given us more transparency, either.

• I have always said that television is bad for you - but, for at least one person, no television was definitely worse.

A case that made the headlines in the Bronx recently was that of a teenager who stabbed his mother's boyfriend to death. The latter felt that the former was free-loading off him, and disconnected the family's cable television.

This was not an act of bullying, as it may have appeared prima facie. The teen had a bad track record with the law - and the man had been ready to adopt his partner's unborn child as his own. What made it so surreal was that the boy stood quietly at the door of the apartment, waiting to be arrested.