I had really planned for a while now to pen another essay on radio in Guyana. It’s one with an extremely positive tone—most of it anyway. But I must give kudos to those who have sought to upkeep our wonderful radio tradition over the past decades. Radio in Guyana has been one of the oldest forms of media here and indeed in the Caribbean region, even South America. Before all the TV stations, newspapers (except the Catholic Standard) was Guyana radio, or Guiana, for that matter.

The merger of the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Guyana Television Network (GTV) surely had its positives and negatives about it. But radio has played a very significant role in many people’s lives, especially our older folk, and the ones who performed the merger; I am sure had to take that into consideration. Radio has been around for quite some time and has a distinct edge and advantage over many others forms of media, although today we’d like to believe the television has overpowered all other forms of media.

Radio today exists only under Voice of Guyana and 98.1 FM. Radio Roraima is no longer available to Berbicians, and the online feed has not been on either. I will get to online feeds in a moment. Shortwave has been under testing over the past couple of weeks. Could anyone say if our interior locations are receiving the Voice of Guyana?

My mom and dad have grown up loving oldies. It’s their kind of music. I found myself loving the thing too. Ever since I was small, I heard my dad playing his golden oldies, from the stacks of TDK Cassettes in his wardrobe. Those songs have a special meaning for him and mom too. They resonate well with our older folk. I love oldies today as well. As I told mom the other day, oldies will always remind me of them when they would have left this world. I love to listen to them on Guyana radio. Guyana radio plays oldies almost everyday. ‘A Better World’, ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’, ‘Party Time’, ‘Breakfast Show’, ‘Banks Sunday Moods’ (great job last Sunday Michella), ‘Triple M Show’ (I missed this show for over a month since VOG online has been down, and I just imagine the vintage songs Mr Langhorne serenades his listeners with every Tuesday evening), ‘Feedback’, ‘Music to Remember’, ‘Ron’s Rendezvous’ and ‘Basil P Special’ (Basil, where do you dig up these oldies from each Sunday bro?!), you make my parents sing their hearts out from 8-10 each week.

But I do not know what the heck 98.1 FM plays on Saturdays. There is a series of dub and very unappealing songs (at least to the ear) that are played almost all morning and all day. Maybe a revision is needed there. Moderation in everything is the key. Listeners don’t want to hear one genre of music all day every day. Sundays are exactly the opposite on 98.1 FM, so pleasing and soothing. The music takes you back in the nostalgic journey the listeners travel from 6am- midnight, with Basil Persaud ending the broadcast day.

Mr. Oswald Singh has a great voice for morning radio, great to wake up the nation. Messrs Ron Robinson, Franklin Langhorne, Basil Persaud, Oswald Singh, Frederick Rampersaud, are among the great men of Guyana radio. The ladies include Misses Michella Abraham- Ali, Wanita Huburn and Andrea Joseph. Forgive me if I missed out any names. But those are whom I regularly listen to.

Now, the internet has been a zone where radio has evolved through the click of a button. NCN has been providing real- time streams for 98.1 FM and VOG for the past couple of months. Only 98.1 FM streams have been stable and reliable. I can’t say the same for VOG, which has been off for over a month now. Please, whoever is at fault (GT&T or NCN or whomever) fix VOG on the internet. My pocket radio does not pick up VOG clearly, as the transmission is being affected by electronic equipment interference, static, etc. Please, once again, fix the internet radios for good. Don’t let me write about it another time.