One of the less appealing facets of regular travel out of Colombo can be the radio station that’s on. While this minor annoyance is generally avoided when the vehicle is your own, sharing an office transport leaves you with little alternative.
The nature of my new work is such, that I get to travel in a number of different vehicles driven by different drivers. That practically all of them listen to Shree FM is a fact that cannot be missed. That the same songs - notably “Chandani Payala” (BnS), “Nage” (Centigradz), something about kids ducking into “salons” to dab eau-de-cologne - can be heard EVERY DAMN DAY at more or less the same time is also a rather harsh reality that I escape thanks to my phone’s radio function.
Then of course, we can’t forget the female presenter who does the rather disturbing “Kanamediri Rathriya” and the way she asks the listeners to send in more tragic stories to be shared amongst the general populace. I wonder whether they have a similar show where they share people’s success stories…
Shree FM can also be noted for “Shree Hadhu Gee” (translated: Songs made by Shree). Should you be listening in, you might find the tunes to songs like Rhinestone cowboy, Take me to the Mardi Gras and recently Knock three times accompanied by sinhala lyrics.
All of these little things were in my thoughts today when I noted a rather interesting advertisement on page 92 of the Sunday Observer (It’s a little ritual of mine to browse this lovely newspaper on sundays - I get to know what kind of jobs are in demand, what kind of second hand cars I still can’t afford to buy and revisions to english grammar and spelling that I was hitherto unaware of) about Shree FM being Number One in Sri Lanka for the 14th consecutive quarter.
I found this absolutely hilarious, since I’d read with interest the advertisement on page 75 by Asia Broadcasting Corporation. Written rather emotionally IMHO, it starts off with “It has been revealed that certain rating agencies that compile the ratings of radio stations in the country are being bribed or influenced heavily and in turn are misleading the public” and goes on to warn “Don’t be mislead - take evasive action before it’s too late!!” in all capitals at the end. Whoever did the copy for that ad certainly shares the Dulan Abeyratne style of long-winded-sentences…
I can smell a storm brewing over advertising on radio… But seriously - you absolutely HAVE TO read these two ads together!
On a totally unrelated note, it seems Sucheta is as colourful online as he is in real life, Al-Juhara is hilarious, while Anonymous surely deserves a blog of his/her own.
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