ONE ardent radio listener from Kitwe is concerned about the quality of a Luvale drama Chifwoyo after the departure of Christopher Chishinji who was main character.
Chifwoyo, aired on ZNBC Radio 1 at 21:15 hours every Sundays, has not lived to its expectation since January 2015.
It could be that followers of Chifwoyo could have gotten used to Chishinji’s role and maybe failing to adapt to the new actor.
Another concern is, Nsangu Jamukayi, a Lunda version of World News which is no longer as detailed and informative as it was when Brighton Matoka handled it.
Dyamumabuku, a Kaonde broadcast that reviews literature books presented by Justin Kawisha is yet another programme that has left followers asking for more.
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One wonders why a newscaster can read; “Opposition MP has said,” without mention the name of that opposition MP and from which party.
In fact, the first reading should spell out full title to read as ‘Member of Parliament (MP)’, and not simply as MP.
RCV
Radio Christian Voice (RCV)’s Choolwe Mweemba qualifies for Best female Radio Deejay nomination for the forth-coming awards.
Like her predecessor, Lombe Machilika who undoubtedly was the best female radio deejay, Choolwe is live enough for a wake up morning slot.
Here are some qualities that qualify her recognition; she has been consistently impressive on her morning shows, has a great sense of humour, eloquent, knowledgeable, mature, synchronizes in the music she plays and has a good voice for radio.
RCV being a Christian radio station, may not compete on equal footing as other commercial and community radio stations, the principle of accessing best broadcaster remains the same.
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The news item on President Edgar Lungu releasing finding of the tribunals set to investigate Judges Emelia Sunkutu and Timothy Katenekwa could have been well read on RCV.
Reading the news that morning, the caster simply said; “President Lungu has released reports of the two tribunals.” The best way would have been to go ahead and state what the findings were.
SUN FM
Given an opportunity to nominate a name for best male radio deejay, the name of Allan Mbewe who is also, known as Big Al pops up. He has a good voice tempo that bellows smoothly on air.
PLAY LIST
One of the innovations in today’s broadcasting is that Deejays are able to select and instantly play music from the internet.
No wonder, radio deejays are able to instantly play any song requested for live on air, at a touch of a button.
The other side of that story could be that with such innovation, radio deejays do not have adequate time to select, pre listen to some lyrics before playing them.
Back then, radio deejays went in the Library to select, sample and prepare scripts based on each song that would be played on air, this was so, because some songs may not be pleasant for certain stations.
Apart from enjoying music played on radio, listeners also want to know about the artiste behind the song and an interpretation of the song, if it was sang in uncommon language.
One of the deejays who acquitted himself well in playing music on radio was late Mike (the Maverick) Tabor, who also called himself ‘Double MT’ on air.
Some first time listeners would not appreciate his style of speaking that was punctuated by sound of a bell, yet he gave out detailed information of each song he played.
OVER TO YOU
Back in the day the term “Over To You” was used in so many ways on radio and television in Zambia. For instance, when an announcer in Lusaka was getting ready to cross over to Kitwe studios (that is, to hand over operations to the Kitwe based broadcaster) after so many hours of broadcast from Lusaka, phrases such as “Hello Kitwe, are you there?” or “Kitwe, can you hear me?” were a common feature.
If all went well, the Kitwe based announcer would respond in the positive, with greetings, thanks and goodbyes to the Lusaka announcer. The Lusaka based broadcaster would then end by saying, “Over to you Kitwe!”
“Over to you” was also a title of a popular programme which ran in six other different local languages. By the mid- 1980s, it had run for almost 30 years in English, making it a Sunday station programme.
In this programme, two announcers (one based in Lusaka and the other in Kitwe) would alternate as DJs and signal the handing over of speaker or announcer role by uttering the phrase “Over to you.”
The programme would feature a musical selection, of which would be listeners requests accompanied by their dedications and greetings and the witty exchange between the two announcers all inclusive.
One of the best pair of English announcers of the “Over to you” programme during the 1980s was a combination of Kenneth Maduma and Lawson Chishimba.
They attracted not less than 50 listeners on each Sunday’s one hour slot.  The reason was simple – crack jokes that are mature and appeal to a wide audience, play the music as requested by the listeners.
The result was more advertising by way of commercials placed in the programme and more revenue for the station.
The downside though was that more time was taken by the commercial spots and the programme had less time for listeners requests.
Nowadays, the “Over to you” programme on radio in Zambia has taken a format of two presenters in the same studio exchanging the speaker role – be it on a breakfast show, news, sports or musical programmes.
It is easy to understand the impetus of such programmes. First, it offers two different varieties in terms of voice – the alternation from one voice to another. It opens up the possibilities of a sense of conversational interchange.
All in all, the “Over to you” programme format is all about two or more broadcasters presenting the programme the way they want it.
The usual rules of listening to other radio stations, experimenting and practicing the roles of speaker over and over again makes perfect. It is all about having the right attributes.
The chemistry between the co-presenters must be right, mostly mutual respect for each other. Frankly, there is no excuse not to.
Stay tuned, don’t touch that dial! – jackmwewa@gmail.com   0955115777