Bawaannya pingin ngorok… pingin balik kasur…

(It feels like you want to continue snoring… and go back to bed…)

Gen FM’s host Kemal sang the line one early morning, greeting his listeners as he started his show Semangat Pagi (The Morning Spirit) with his partner TJ.

Up, close and personal: An announcer talks into a microphone. Listeners say they prefer radio due to its intimate approach.

Some might think the duo did nothing than just say a line of funny words, but they were actually trying to connect to their listeners’ lazy mood — and boost people’s spirit as they kicked off their day.

Yes: Realize it or not, just like your hot cup of coffee, the radio could be your mood-raiser in the morning, as it greets your day with jokes — something your MP3 player couldn’t do.

“For me, listening to music from a CD or MP3 player is so boring,” says 16-year-old Garit Kirana of SMU 2 Bekasi state senior high school. “I’d rather tune in to the radio because it’s so much more entertaining. They have people who talk; I can also listen to some funny shows,” adds the fan of Gen FM.

Just like Garit, 18-year-old Kania Azrina spends part of her day listening to her favorite stations as she travels by car.

“I want to be more updated about the latest music,” says the fresh student at the Bandung Technology Institute (ITB). “So, if I want to find new Western songs, I’d listen either to Prambors FM or Trax FM, while if I look for local songs, I would tune in to Gen FM,” she adds.

Kania and Garit are among young people who still stick to the radio, despite the popularity of new media like digital audio gadgets and the Internet — things that are said to have steered people away from the radio. Although both confess the radio isn’t their main medium for entertainment, the girls have indicated that the radio still owns a place among the Gen Ys.

“The radio fulfills our aural needs, while still allowing us to multi-task,” says radio expert Dodi Mawardi
of the University of Indonesia (UI). This, he goes on, “fits young people, since they tend to be mobile and active.”

These unique characters of young people surely affect the way radio stations design their shows.
“Radio [stations] targeted to the young usually go after music programs,” says Dodi, who used to work in several radio stations.

“They also tend to make programs that involve young people, including those who invite them to express their views.”

Interactivity is surely the key to grab the younger people’s attention, but underneath that, radio stations actually don’t only seek to attract their listeners, but also to deeply connect to them.

“Our strategy is to focus on morning and evening shows, as we realize those are the times when we can bond with our listeners the most,” reveals 98.7 Gen FM public relations officer Ainur Rafika. In the morning, for example, “We want to set the mood for our listeners. We know how we start the day usually affects the rest of the day, right? So, we want to set our listeners’ moods — making them feel good as they start the day, before they go to schools or campus.”

This one way to establish a “connection” to listeners’ moods, Fika goes on, continues in the evening, as people rush their way home and get trapped in congestions.

“We find it important to help ease listeners’ stressful evening as they deal with traffic jams,” she says.

“Some might also feel tired after doing their activities, so we want to make them feel relaxed [with our programs].”

Established three years ago, Fika says, Gen FM is actually targeted to young people aged 20-24. However, on a wider scale, it wants to reach people between 18 to 35 years old.

“We’re for the young and those who are young at heart,” she says, adding that the station’s parent company Mahaka Media also owns Jak FM, which targets professionals aged more than 25.

Stepping into the young people’s segment, Fika says this means finding out what they really want. They surely knew the segment is all about music and entertainment, but in order to be different from other stations, Gen FM says it digs deeper to be precise about their programs.

“We then narrowed our music selection into famous-only hits, with more Indonesian music,” Fika says. “Just want to be precise: We’re hits player, not hits maker,” she adds.

And did they make it? Our young fellow Garit has the answer.  

“In the first place, I like Gen FM because it plays more Indonesian songs,” Garit says. “I like it that way because I can sing along,” she adds.

Just like any Jakartans who agree that Gen FM is a phenomenon in the radio scene, Garit also puts her thumbs up for Gen FM’s prank show Salah Sambung (Wrong Number), saying: “It’s very, very funny!”

Salah Sambung, which soared to popularity following its fresh reality comedy concept, has a host calling up a “victims” and throwing tantrums on an issue. After the heat is up and/or confusion arises, the host will eventually say: “Congratulations; you’re on Salah Sambung Gen FM!”

“Salah Sambung was inspired from one of our crew members’ experience. We thought it was interesting because it happens to many of us,” Fika says. “We were looking for something simple, yet attractive and entertaining — something people can relate themselves to.”

Just like Gen FM that seeks to make a connection to its listeners, 101.4 Trax FM also does its game to make it closer to its listeners by exposing more young figures that could inspire them.

“Our motto is ‘Bring out the goodness and coolness’, so we don’t only highlight something trendy, but also something good about the youth,” says Karina Soegarda, public relations officer of MRA Broadcast, which owns Trax FM, Hard Rock FM, Cosmopolitan FM and Brava Radio. As a consequence, she goes on, “Trax FM doesn’t only have music and lifestyle programs, but also offers programs that highlight young talented people and those with achievements.”

The Now Generation show, for example, features young people from different backgrounds and professions that are expected to become inspiration for the station’s listeners.

“Like last time, we featured a very young legislator, who shared to the audience his daily routines at the House of Representatives,” says Karina, who’s also a radio and TV host. “We also expose high school students with achievements, like the winners of Science Olympiad, as well as initiating an award dedicated to the young called ‘I Love You Mother Nature Award’.”

Calling itself the Youth Station for the New Generation, Trax FM first aired in 2000 with the name MTVonSky, targeting listeners aged between 15 and 25. In 2005, however, it changed its name as it ended its cooperation with MTV channel. As a consequence, its parent company MRA also changed the name of its magazine MTV Trax into simply Trax. Both the magazine and radio station, Karina says, complement each other, with many sections in the magazine, the written version of the radio shows.  

It’s said to be clever to grab more Trax fans this way, combining both broadcast and printed media. And today, with the massive development of the web world, Trax FM also embraces what they call with multi-integrated website to grab more listeners’ interactions..

“Just last year we launched www.traxonksy.com, where listeners could log in to its Facebook and Twitter accounts, while at the same enjoy streaming our audios and videos,” says Karina. “On the website, they can see what’s going on in our studio, watching their favorite DJs doing things.

“We also invite bands to perform in its studio and provide the live video streaming on the website.”

This way, she says further, “listeners don’t only listen, but also ‘watch’ us”.

Creativity and innovation, thus defines today’s success of radio stations as they strive to survive. However, if anything else matters, according to Dodi, it’s to consider less-talk hosts.

“As listeners, we find it annoying if we listen to the hosts yap all the time,” he says. “So, it’s better for the radio [stations] to minimize talk, or at least try to involve listeners in discussions.”

Both Trax FM and Gen FM say they have realized this, and already coach their hosts to not talk more than three minutes.

“We know our listeners love our hosts, but we also realize they want to listen to the music, so we want to have balance,” says Karina.

Fika agrees, saying, “We acknowledge that people need short but packed information, as we realize that people in general tend to listen to the radio without focus.”

Besides, she says further, “Young people tend to grab short information only. That’s why we package our information in a brief format, so our messages are well delivered.”

— Photos by JP/Ricky Yudhistira

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