Revamping radio at Monash (an
interview with Murad Jayah)
By Ushah Kazi
After trying to start Radio Monash for more than a
year, the club officially began in March 2014. And if
one person could be singled out as the main reason
for its inception, it would have to be Engineering
student Murad Jayah. “Since I joined, I wanted
something to happen,” he said, “I have been trying to
start it for a long time.”
Having been started and stopped as a club before,
the advent of radio at Monash was bound to be a
difficult project, “obviously there were reasons for
them stopping it,” said Murad when asked about past
attempts at radio, “and the same questions kept
coming up when we tried to start a radio club. To
make sure the same mistakes are not repeated.”
Some of these mistakes dealt with copyright, and
conduct. “Hopefully the same issues will not be
repeated.” Murad stated.
Now, with regular live shows broadcasted online, and a dedicated team of fifteen, it is safe to say that Radio
Monash Malaysia has established its presence. “Last semester was slow,” laments Murad, “we had eight
shows recorded for the entire semester. But this semester we have already had up to twenty live shows. We
don’t have a call in system yet, so we can’t take live calls just yet, unfortunately. But we are working on it.” The
club is also working on branching out into different aspects of radio apart from just music, “we are having talk
shows, and live performances as well,” he said, “and we aim to have a campus news section.” Perhaps their
biggest future venture is the upcoming radio documentary competition, which entails prizes worth more than
RM5000 for the winner, along with a chance to have their documentary aired on the popular radio station
BFM89.9.
“We could not have done anything without the support of the
Arts faculty at Monash,” said Murad, acknowledging that Radio
Monash Malaysia has in a short time garnered a lot of popular
support, “the response has been much better than we
expected,” he said, “at the end of sign ups we had over a
hundred people. And some people came up to me saying that
this is the coolest thing happening at Monash. It was really
good to hear.” And as the club expands, they are looking for
more support and are hoping that more people will be
interested in working with them.
Left: Anis Nadia Jilid (left) and Vhysh Raj (right)
get ready for their show ‘RealTalk’ for Radio
Monash. Above: Murad Jayah, with Radio Monash
RJ Balakartik Balaravi (BK)
If you want to work
with Radio Monash Malaysia, or want more information regarding the club, visit their Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/radiomonashmalaysia
To listen to the live stream, visit, http://radiomonash.com.