Chinmoy Mahato tunes in a radio at his Kadma residence in Jamshedpur on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

I’d sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio

Radio

Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what’s new?
Radio, someone still loves you!

British rock band Queen recorded this song years ago in 1984 as a commentary on the waning popularity of radio, unaware that one day, it would actually define the feelings of a motley group of people in a small town far away in India.

Members of Guide International Radio Listeners’ Club (GIRLC) simply love the radio. In the age of dot com and FM, they tune into stations from the gulf and Japan and have now embarked a mission to rekindle the old love affair with transistor under a newly launched wing called Jamshedpur Radio Shrota Sangh (JRSS).

“It’s true that the transistor has lost its popularity, but then there are people who remain untouched by the tube. We intend to create more such examples so that people don’t stop listening to radio forever,” said JRSS secretary Chinmoy Mahato, who is optimistic that the radio age would make a gradual comeback.

Mahato, who founded GIRLC with four others in 1974, said they had switched gears to increase membership. “We are organising conferences and seminars to generate interest in radio among people under the banner of JRSS. We have plans to soon launch a booklet Shrota Jagat, which will contain information about various programmes broadcast on the radio as well as the names of announcers,” he said.

An advocate, Mahato went on to add that several programmes in Bengali, Hindi, English and Urdu are broadcast by Radio Germany, Radio Philippines, Radio Japan and those from the gulf countries.

“But people are not aware about these programmes. We hope that the booklet will turn the situation around and radio listening will pick up,” he said.

JRSS also organised a seminar on radio listening at Michael John auditorium in Bistupur on August 21. “The seminar was intended to bolster our campaign to bring more and more people under our club’s fold. We have managed to increase our membership from 10 to 45. It was over 100 when we started the club in the 70s,” Mahato, the only Indian to win a digital transistor (Siemens) for participating in a Radio Germany annual quiz in 1996, said.

According to him, transistors made by Murphy, Siemens, Sony and Philips and some other brands were still in use. “But I have remained loyal to my Siemens set,” he added.

Aakash Rai, a member of the club, said they listened to almost all programmes in Hindi, Urdu, English and Bengali. “Be it sports, politics, social affairs or quiz — we tune in to everything. We also participate in quiz contests,” he added.