Nammaradio starts services in dialects of Karnataka
Among the unique characteristics of Karnataka are the distinctness of its regions and the tongues spoken within the State. Yet, for long, what people heard on the radio were Kannada, Hindi and English. In contrast, one radio channel — Nammaradio, the state’s first Kannada radio station on the internet launched in February 2016 — has started airing programmes in eight languages and dialects of the State. It’s likely the only web radio in India to air programmes in Kodava, Konkani and Tulu, and some of the lesser known dialects of Karnataka. These include Byari and Nawayathi, spoken by sub-sects of the Muslim community bearing the same names in coastal Karnataka, and Sankethi and Havyaka, spoken by Brahmin subsects.
Avnidhar Hawaldar, CEO, Nammradio.com, said that the target audience are Kannadigas living outside the state, and extensive interaction with them revealed that while there were avenues for Kannada content, there was nothing for people speaking the dialects. “It’s a true embracing of Kannada in all its diversity,” said Mr. Hawaldar.
In February 2017, at the Nammaradio studios in Bengaluru, in-house radio jockey Varsha started the first such show in Havyaka, a dialect spoken by Havyaka Brahmins. “The response was huge, and our listeners were elated when they heard a show in their mother tongue. That set the tone for the rest,” said Raj Malleswaram, programming head of the channel.
Since there is no history of radio programming in these languages and dialects, trained jockeys are hard to come by. So housewives, students and working professionals fill the need. Ashutosh Dikshit who works as senior innovations manager with a leading firm in the UK has a second career now, hosting a weekly radio show in Sankethi language from his house in London. “Our community may be less than 30,000 across the world and we are very concerned about our language, which is a large part of our heritage. The radio show has been welcomed widely in our community,” Mr. Dikshit said. He added that the channel viewed dialects like Sankethi or Nawayathi as not community linked, but as a linguistic heritage to be preserved.
When it comes to film songs, however, the one-hour radio shows through the weekend play Kannada songs. Except for Tulu, no films have been made in the other tongues. The Tulu show will soon start playing Tulu film songs.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by K.V.Aditya Bharadwaj / Bengaluru – May 29th, 2017
