If I were a betting man, I would fix odds against hearing music being played on any radio channel in Malta. The odds are even shorter because Malta does not employ continuity announcers.
Once a programme ends, one only hears music being played or adverts being broadcast. The listener is left wondering whether there has been a breakdown in service or is unaware when the next programme will be broadcast. This is not just a lack of courtesy but a malady that has taken root in Maltese radio broadcasting.
I do not know if it is within the Broadcasting Authority’s terms of reference to look into such a poor ‘take it or leave it’ service. Surely, such standards are simply not good enough and certainly intolerable compared to European broadcasting networks.
I like music just like everybody else. Anything that contains the essential elements of music, comprising melody, harmony and rhythm, will do me fine. However, the amount of time given to music is disproportionate to other forms of programme presentations. What I am criticising here is not so much the quality of the music but the quantity of it.
In any afternoon weekend in Malta, the majority of music one hears on the radio are chatty song request programmes or non-stop music without any announcements.
One station played pop music for eight hours straight, only breaking off to read stale news. A particular political station plays a type of foot-tapping dance music to attract the younger generation of voters. Quality standards are not a priority on their agenda.
Having conducted some research on the subject I have concluded that the broadcasting of music is surely out of proportion to the variety of services that were promised when the licence to the station operators were given. At the moment, radio stations are all competing against each other to attract the young money spender by offering them an addictive form of music.
Music offers nothing but a quest for pleasurable satisfaction. Others simply have the radio on without really listening to it, thus creating noise pollution. A study at UCLA in California has found that music provides no stimulus for the brain, and that too much of it can be counterproductive.
I have not taken into account music on any other media or of the so-called interest in song contests. I do not advocate abolishing music, only keeping a balance on the amount broadcast.
I am also asking for choices other than music to be heard on radio. Many a time I keep switching channels only to find music.