Thursday, August 14, 2008

Let US ALL Look In The Mirror First - Part 1

Sorry for the late posting...i have a good and valid reason for this...you see...i've been doing some research and study after lunch today to support what ever i'm gonna write here...i want to be sure that i have the facts and figures before i say anything (unlike someone)...this is an important step i took as to not mislead my fellow riders (readers)...
As promised i shall share with you my thoughts on the 90:10 subject...before i proceed i would like to believe my riders have an open and sensible mind (unlike someone) towards this posting as it maybe controversial to some...i will be sharing my thoughts by wearing my other helmet (see picture below courtesy of wifee) as the vice president of CRM and not some1 representing Suria...this is important to eliminate any doubts on partiality...to many who are unfamiliar with CRM (Commercial Radio Malaysia), it is a VERY active and close knitted association...it's members are almost all of the private commercial radio station in the country...it is headed by Dato Borhan as the president (kalau u all nak tau Dato Borhan ni Kudsia Kahar nye boss)...(we had a meeting just now...see pics below)

Ok lets get on our bikes...this issue about foreign music and artistes has been around for quite a while now...in many previous instances the debates were only held at kedai mamak over teh tarik if you know what i mean...never it was brought n discussed seriously among the relevant parties (i.e. artistes associations, record labels, ministry and radio stations) in the local music industry...

Only recently about 2 months ago Karyawan were perceived to be trying to bring up this issue to the industry's attention...this information was not made known to the public...but i can reveal to you here that Karyawan made a visit to AMP Radio Networks (Astro's Radio) to express their concern (more like dissatisfaction to me)...that 'unlike someone' person met up with Kudsia Kahar (i call her Kuds) and her team of highly professional radio people, together with a group of about 40 other members of Karyawan...i see this initiative (but not for what transpired during the dialogue session) as a healthy move by Karyawan...

You see...this matter was brought to the CRM's attention by Kuds in our very next monthly meeting (it is important that i mention this to prove that CRM is sensitive to the voices in the industry)...but after listening to Kuds' brief (on what transpired in the Karyawan dialogue) we collectively feel that Karyawan was acting more on emotional grounds...simply because they coudn't provide Kuds with the following research info : (of which that 'unlike someone' person should find out first before making any baseless accusations)

1. Have our local album production increased or decreased in the last decade?

2. The total number of local artists signed on to record labels both local and multinational

3. Perception of Malaysian Malay music being inferior quality compared to Indonesian songs, especially among the under 25 crowd

You see...every private commercial radio station in this country (and any where around the globe) we do heaps of in depth research about our songs, music and listeners preference...we spent hundreds of thousand of RM (i know AMP spent millions) just to make sure we get things spot on when it concerns our listeners' taste...as when it comes to them we simply CANNOT compromise!...

My fellow riders...it is absolutely unfair to compare us with the situation now to that of the radio stations that have been around more than a decade ago (im talking about before radio Era even existed)...those days we didn't have internet, ipod, mp3 or even MTV and etc available here...listeners were only confined to what they listen over the state radio stations i.e. govt owned...today private commercial radios not only have to compete among themselves...but also other new medium (internet, ipod etc) that technology has created in order to capture the listeners...because with no listeners = no commercial = TUTUP KEDAI...

We are running a business here...and like any other business we need to be prudent to stay in business...business mana yang tak nak tutup kedai lepas satu hari?...kita kena faham tanpa iklan di radio...radio akan lingkup...untuk ada iklan kita kena ada cukup pendengar...untuk dapat cukup pendengar...kita kena pastikan apa yang pendengar inginkan MESTI kita sajikan...

Ok that's just 1 part of the problem...lets look at the other part that maybe a bit sensitive...before i carry on...allow me to make this very very clear...my patriotism shouldn't be questioned here (IF you are a seasoned rider of my blog you would agree 100%)...

Why are we accused of allowing foreign artists to enjoy much airplay over our radio when we don't have enough QUALITY (and i'm not asking for high quality here ok) local products to offer our listeners?...yes we do have a lot of materials to play...but let me put this question to that 'unlike someone' person...do you really think the radio listeners in our country would listen to 'those' materials if we put them on air?

My fellow riders...let me tell you what that 'unlike someone' person said to us..."Kalau kita putarkan lagu-lagu yang tak best tu banyak kali, lama-lama pendengar akan kata sedap"...to me that is a very silly statement coming from someone high ranking in the industry...because in a way it is outrightly INSULTING our listeners (whom are you guys) intelligence...

You have no idea how much Era, Sinar, Hot, Suria, Cats FM, Best 104 and others not mentioned here...have invested our time and RM to support our local industry...if i were to list them down here mau jadi kontot jari2 ku....

Lets not punish the creative penggiat seni dari seberang for coming up with good products consistently...di negara kita pun kita ada ramai artis yang talented seperti the KRU brothers, siti, annuar zain, ning, amy search, m nasir, kaer, dayang, aizat AF5, noryn aziz, sean ghazi, atilia, reshmonu, sasi the do (yo bro!) and ramai lagi lah...kami memang senang untuk memutarkan lagu2 mereka kerana product memang bagus...

We NEVER practice double standards here...our local artists are always our number one priority!...but please give us the 'product' that will not turn off our listeners...trust me, we (CRM) are even hungrier for it than anyone else in this industry...the biggest sin in radio is when A listener tunes out to another channel because he/she doesn't like the song...

To demonstrate our professionalism i would like to draw your attention to Sakura's comment in my previous posting...even wifee doesn't get special treatment from me (but we do play her songs ok, Sakura u have to listen to us more often lah)...simply because we need to follow strict guidelines and principles to remain in this very competitive industry...i.e 90:10 is impossible to execute...

Stay tuned for Part 2...believe you me you don't want to miss it...hint hint The Legend!









13 comments:

Anonymous said...

bro, me see no pic, why eh? hehe


-edin

Sakura said...

Salam...

Thanks Mr EE with your feedback & respon..I just hope you share opinion as leader in radio stesyen.Anyway 'TEPUK DADA TANYA SELERA'..Ops! Wah!ada story ttg CIK SAM CIK BONG dalam Berita Harian hari ni la.Tak sangka ek media pun ada hehehe..Harap diteruskan lagi ok...All The Best

Cik Sam & Cik Bong hangatkan Suria FM
Oleh Serimah Mohd Sallehuddin
serima@bharian.com.my


Cadang babitkan ramai selebriti sertai kuiz menarik

SAMBUTAN hangat kuiz Cik Sam & Cik Bong anjuran Suria FM menyebabkan program kelolaan penyampai Breakfast@Suria, Tuah Zulqarnain dan Zizi diteruskan lagi.

Kuiz Cik Sam & Cik Bong adalah sebuah kuiz di mana pemanggil harus menyambung suku kata terakhir perkataan dengan pantas dan betul yang memerlukan mereka bertarung dengan Zizi & Tuah.

Berikutan permintaan daripada pendengar yang mahukan Tuah dan Zizi bertarung dengan Ketua Pegawai Operasi Suria FM, Engku Emran Engku Zainal Abidin, pertarungan itu pun diadakan pada 1 Ogos yang lalu.

Bagaimanapun, dua penyampai Suria FM itu tewas kepada Engku Emran dan mereka dikenakan denda memakai rambut palsu Erra Fazira. Jadi pada 4 Ogos yang lalu, Tuah dan Zizi muncul dengan rambut palsu.

Bagi pendengar Suria FM yang mahu menyaksikan kembali persaingan sengit antara Engku Emran bersama dua anak buahnya. Pendengar Suria FM boleh melayari www.suriafm.com.my, kemudian pilih suriafm.tv.

Oleh kerana sambutan yang menggalakkan daripada pendengar juga, Suria FM akan menjemput golongan selebriti pula untuk menyertai pertandingan ini. Golongan selebriti ini bakal muncul menerusi segmen Selebriti Room yang ke udara setiap Khamis jam 7.30 malam.

Selebriti pertama yang diundang untuk kuiz berkenaan ialah Toi dan Riz daripada Akademi Fantasia musim keenam. Ramai lagi artis popular akan diundang bagi memeriahkan kuiz berkenaan. Denda bakal menanti peserta yang kalah, cabaran itu boleh disaksikan secara langsung setiap Khamis menerusi laman web Suria FM.

Kuiz Cik Sam & Cik Bong diperkenalkan sejak Julai lalu. Kuiz ini menemui pendengar pada setiap Isnin hingga Jumaat jam 9 Pagi.

Hak Cipta Terpelihara 2007 -Berita Harian Sdn. Bhd

akumangkok said...

I hear u bro!
I do agree with u that it takes a listener half a second to change a station's channel. I must admit that is one of the forms of exercise that my fingers get when I drive to and from work each day. The choice of music is of utmost importance to a driving listener.
Play crap and no one listens to u.
To be honest, the music that your station currently plays does not appeal to me 100% but it still aint too bad. (actually NO station plays entirely MY kind of music).

Edzlin said...

thanks for the posting mr emran. kalaulah benar karyawan fikir 90:10 itu relevan, dah lama stesen radio yang mainkan 100% music malaysia tu ranking no 1 sekarang ni. but whatever it is, i still enjoying myself listen to malaysian songs or just indie music than indonesian.

Anonymous said...

HI sir EE,

i agree with ur opinion about the 90:10. kalu radio x siarkan lagu asing (indon,inggeris or whatever)we still have the alternative.
However, i believed your radio station play equally with this. Most of the song air at SUria is very good selection. full of combination..Suria becaming my favourite station now...

i rasakan.. karyawan mahu kurangkan lagu2 asing nie diputarkan..esp radio ERA n HOT FM..lagu2 indon is like priority to them..lagu2 baru indon lebih cepat dimainkan drpd lagu2 melayu..tgklah mcmmana ERA kenakan lagu kak Ramlah n then ada music discrmination..kalu u rasa all CRM is fair to local music industry,,,nape lagu dangdut.irama malaysia yg bagus x mau diputarkan..dulu lagu Amelina nape bole hits..bukan x bagus pun..tapi biasala org melayu suka menurunkan darjat sesama sendiri....
lagu2 indon 2 semuanya lebih kurang jer..apa beza ungu n samson..peterpan ..and 1 more thing kalu u buat survey pun, yg dengar radio esp waktu mlm is mat2 indon..sbb 2 CRM nie byk putarkan lagu diorang..kalu waktu siaran frm 7.00am till 7pm tuu byk org malaysia dengar radio..sbb tu ,,sapa dpt siaran pagi number 1 is the best in Malaysia..

conclusion..kurangkan lagu indon ..mcmmana INDONESIA buat dgn our artis..DIORANG HANYA BENARKAN SATU ARTIS SAJA DLM SATU MASA UNTUK POPULAR..FRM SHEILA MAJID..dan suam sikit,,dia buka utk SEARCH...pas tuu..IKLIM..then..SLAM..EXIST.N LAST SITI..ada diorang putarkan 5 lagu malaysia yug bagus dlm satu hari???? xda SIR EE...

Anonymous said...

;) tak sabar nk bc Part 2.
lepas ni nk cari helmet jugak la...nk ngdap notebook pakai helmet mcm Che'Em

sazzy said...

hi,
I listen to all the radio stations. I just want to listen to good songs. Tak kira lah lagu Malaysian ke, lagu Indonesian ke or lagu English..

Anonymous said...

My two cents, giving more crutches won't help with the issue. Listeners are far more sophisticated now, if the quality is bad, they will turn to another option, simple as that.

Imagine if the 90:10 ratio is accepted and the worst case scenario is that the listeners simply gave up and refuse to listen to radios, what then? Will that help the local artists? Will that boost record sales?

What would the next crutch be? Force everyone to buy at least 5 local artists's CDs a year and get tax exemption for that?

Votre Ami

Me said...

Hi Emran,

Any kind of sanction or censorship on creativity will only stunt growth of a nation as a whole. In the long run, it will only hurt us more. In this case, our music industry will deteriorate in quality. Competition promotes the needed growth.

What is up with people telling others what to do - who gives them such authority and why do they think that they have those right? I also have similar problem with people who does not stand up for their own rights.

It's a big world out there - to impose is a costly mistake.

Mrs. Alexis said...

I second you EE. As listener we want something good

Hisham Stylo said...

Bro Imran, Saya di yogyakarta, Indonesia, Artis kita terlalu di manjakan kan, suruh buat lagu sendiri pun tak tau harap composer aje, Cuba tengok band-band top dari Indonesia seperti Nidji, Dewa, Padi dan lain-lain. Semua boleh buat lagu sendiri dan tak bosan di dengar berulang kali, Sampai bila orang Malaysia di perbodohkan dengan lagu rock kangkang yang meleleh.. so Good Luck Bro with your station radio!

Anonymous said...

Tidak ada aturan Radio di Indonesia tentang pembatasan musik. Asal Musik itu bagus pasti akan diputar terus. Tahun 2000-2002 Indonesia banyak kemasukan Lagu dari Taiwan,China dan Korea. Bahkan dalam 2 jam putar lagu Taiwan dan China(siang-malam). Bahkan artis-artis lokal ikut menyanyi lagu itu dengan ubah lirik ke Indonesia. Waktu lagu Siti popular di Indonesia pun sering kali di putar. Intinyanya bersikap dewasa lah, dan mau bersaing. Kalau ada peraturan 90:10 udah menunjukkan tak confidence. Pendengar pasti akan mencari yang bagus kualitinya meskipun hanya 10%. Mudah-mudahan tidak terpengaruh orang yang mencoba menjadikan muzik kearah politik guna memperoleh minat ramai.

Anonymous said...

sorry bro aku dah lama give up dengan station radio kita dah lama aku tak dengar radio . Kalau aku nak

cari lagu local yang best aku cari kat internet jer imeem, youtube ke.Kalau terlamapau bergantung kepada

radio local macam hot, era, sinar ke kita tak akan tahu artis2 malaysia yang baru dan muzik yang variety. Memang satu kerugiaan radio kita tak siarkan banyak lagu Malaysia sebab sekarang ni aku boleh cari muzik artis local yang lebih bagus di interent. And sorry to said aku tak minat sangat ngan lagu Indon tak masuk ngan test aku tapi itu terpulang pada taste masing-masing.