There should be more radio stations

Dear Editor,

I am moved to join others complaining about the continuing downward slide of local radio presentation, especially on 98.1 FM which I listened to from its opening in the late 1990s. It is indeed sad to see the deterioration in the station with more music, less talk. The station never got back presenters of the quality and standard of the first batch, but currently, this is the worst ever.

I think quality went out with the deejays. And now a person is doing the morning show who pretends to be American. Come on NCN, we are Guyanese. But the accent does not distract listeners from the bad pronunciation. This guy cannot even say the name of the station correctly. ‘Hat FM,’ he says. His alphabet has no Os or Us or Ws. He says ‘nooz’ for news and ‘dook’ for duke, among many other things. Is that what the authorities want our children to learn? He makes a mockery of prayers and cuts in the middle of songs. His selections are mainly North American. It is now a telephone call-in show and the callers are no better than the guy on air. He belongs to the night-time when the DJs can be Jamaican, Trinidadian, or whatever, and we have the choice of TV. If you get over the twang, he is monotonous with that dry, unconvincing laugh.

I could bear it no longer and I contacted NCN. My call was forwarded to the person in charge of radio. I related my concerns and he told me the guy made the show “lively.” I could not believe that was the reason for putting him on the air. That’s the level of broadcasting in Guyana.

My biggest surprise, however, was that the person who spoke to me was none other than the original morning man, ‘Big Brother.’ He said he was not employed as an on-air person. But if he cannot do the show himself, surely he could train his charges and demand some standards from them. This surely lends to the call for more radio stations.

Yours faithfully,
Paul Richards