Radio, having survived world wars, pandemics and to a certain extent even the Internet, has evolved over the decades.
Malaysian radio personality Patrick Teoh, while acknowledging the evolution, believes the personalities behind the microphones these days do not connect with the masses.
“Radio back in my days, people treated it more as a friend … (For the listeners) because the radio tells things that matter to my life, what’s going on in my community and radio back then was also a tool people used to communicate with each other to tell about their joys, their problems,” said Teoh, who has been a familiar voice over radio for decades, namely Redifussion, Radio 4 and BFM.
“Radio now has evolved to something purely entertainment. Deejays, the presenters, tell jokes, they have gifts for competition and that’s about it. They don’t talk about things that really matter in people’s daily lives.
“That’s how it (radio) has evolved and that’s the reason why I don’t listen to radio anymore. It means nothing to me. I don’t like the music they play because of the generation gap.”
Teoh added the other thing he didn’t like about radio these days is it is “emotionless”.
“It doesn’t make me happy. It doesn’t make me angry. It doesn’t make me sad. Totally unemotional radio which I don’t like.”
A rather vocal personality, Teoh has dealt with a fair share of controversies during his time on air. However, he doesn’t regret it one bit and feels more should have been said.
Teoh said this on The RSS with HD – Extended aired on YouTube today at 4pm.
The RSS with HD – Extended is hosted by actor and comedian Rashid Salleh and joined by Twentytwo13 editor Haresh Deol.
The weekly talk show is produced by Toucan Media and Professional Storytellers.
