Politics in Radio?

I've read a lot of complaints regarding Malaysian DJs, particularly those coming from one of the Astro radio stations. They have been playing Indonesian songs over Malay songs that Malay artists do not have room to promote their songs. And among the famous complaints are from our internationally-acclaimed rockstar, Amy Seach.

A lot of comments were given. Some said that the radio stations shouldn't always play Indonesian songs. Some said that the DJs should be replaced with Indonesian DJs while others believed that Malaysian songs are actually poor in quality that they could not compete with Indonesian songs. There are also people who believed that Malaysians prefer soothing love songs over philosophical local songs.

But the question remains: Why Indonesian songs in particular? I found it sometimes uncomfortable that Indonesian songs are played on the air for almost 24-7. Not that I hate Indonesian songs -seriously I like them very much, but not to the extent that they are repeated for almost every hour by the DJs. And when it's time to play local songs, it's always about Mawi and Siti Nurhaliza. Well, Maestro artists did have their chance to get their songs on air at times. But where are the other local artists from other record labels? What about the Indies? If they are not given the chance to perform how are they actually going to make money?

There is a probability that politics are going on in the radio station itself. But it may not be a government issue, rather than business one. Maybe because they are losing hardcore DJs that they try to buy listener's attention through Indonesian songs -since that they are proven to be successful in their own country. They know for one thing -Malaysians prefer love songs. And one of the commenter has proven himself correct. And the second one maybe because of appearance -and you know how oversea artists may look and dress up like. Sometimes they look like Koreans and Japanese, when they are actually Indonesian. But Malaysian artists looks more towards the West, so they are considered 'overdressed'. So, the DJs would exploit these ideas and put up those popular Indonesian songs on the radio. Sometimes I wonder why they didn't put dangdut songs instead. Oh, I forgot! These songs are not popular to young listeners.

And the other one is the 'gam' case. Just to  silence the local artists, they don't consider looking at the albums.  To me, that is the most treacherous thing to do towards local music industry. They may even result into playing Spanish songs or other international songs which to me they are not proper since that they are rarely be put on air. Why can't they put French and Russian songs too? They have popular songs too. But it may not be popular to the listeners. Bollywood songs would prove to be more relevant.

Now back to the Indonesian music epidemic. The reason of them choosing Indonesian songs over others maybe because they thought that they are considered 'malay songs'. In my opinion instead of playing other people's songs, you should play local Chinese or Indian songs. Since that it is a Malaysian radio station, there's no harm playing their songs. They have good quality songs too. But hey, these DJs don't want to risk losing their listeners. They are actually afraid of their own shadow.

To me such prejudice should not occur in radio stations. It is a foolish idea to actually think that putting a lot of international songs can save your neck and get your fans to stay loyal to your station. If you want that to happen, you should rename your station. Let people know that it's not just about the latest music rhythm, it's more towards international rhythm. I'm not saying that I don't like international songs, but I beg these stations to give more room for local music industry.