My mornings are made of this. I mean the “Ninaithaale Inikkum” programme broadcast by the Suriyan FM. It is from 2 am Indian time to about 5 am there. It is a comfortable 6 am to about 9 am my time here in Sydney Australia. Highly nostalgic pleasure for Tamilians in their 40s age, like me. The programme is originally meant for night shift workers, truck drivers etc of Chennai and suburbs.
Superb selection of songs right from 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. I even listened to yesteryears voices like JamunaRani. The three kavignars (poets) who anchor this programme are Yazh Sudhakar, Panappakkam Sukumar and Jyothi Basu. All are superb in their selection of old Tamil film songs. They dish the songs out either subjectwise, singerwise, decadewise or even “raagam” wise. I especially enjoy Yazh Sudhakar when he links the songs with the period in which it was popular and talks about those days. It has the same superb nostalgic effect on the listener. Sometimes my kids listening in, ask questions like “what is a gramophone” (their generation being that of CDs and DVDs).
When writing this I am still listening to the programme. I just now talked to Yazh Sudhakar over the phone and conveyed my appreciation. He really puts his heart and soul into his work while selecting and describing about the numbers before broadcasting them. It is very clear that he really enjoys his work. You can contact Suriyan FM on 91-44-24325346.
Suriyan FM comes to me included in a package which telecasts SunTV and KTV. Not very costly considering the overall value of the bundle. A dish antenna and set-top box with decoder is installed, by the local company representing SunTV here. One great thing about listening to radio over watching TV is that it never ties you down to a couch. I get ready to office with Suriyan FM on the background. Besides this is the only channel which is relayed “Real Time” (as and when broadcast in Chennai). The TV channels SunTV and KTV are recorded and telecast delayed by 23 hours to Australia to meet prime time viewers needs.
Congratulations and good wishes to Suriyan FM and especially to Yazh Sudhakar, Panappakkam Sukumar and Jyothi Basu. Thanks a lot for making my mornings great.