City radio stations offer phone-in programs

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A caller said a man was walking aimlessly along the side of the Jakarta-Merak toll road and that he could endanger himself and the commuters.

The radio announcer said he would immediately contact the toll road operator to take care of the problem. Minutes later, another caller said the man had been picked up and order restored to the toll road.

This sort of call-and-response program, along with international and national news, has been aired around-the-clock by Elshinta radio since early 1998.

There are a number of radio stations in the city offering similar programs, such as Jakartanews FM, Sonora, 91.1 FM and Radio 68H. Elshinta, however, is the one most familiar to Jakartans.

On the first day of voter registration, a housewife from the slum area of Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, said she knew about the registration because of Elshinta, while many of her neighbors were in the dark about the matter.

"I got the information from Elshinta because that is the only radio station I tune in," she said.

Founded in 1966, Elshinta started out airing programs on Indonesian culture. In 1978, the radio switched to an adult contemporary format. Then in 1993, the management made the decision to change the frequency to FM.

"This time we chose to put jazz on our playlist," Edi Purnomo, deputy chief editor of the news division, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The station knew that to survive the competition it had to reach out for a certain segment of the population. So in 1996 the management began to concentrate on news.

"We saw the social and political turmoil in the country in 1998 as a blessing, because it was the first time the public began to have the urgent need to remain up to date on current affairs," Edi said.

Furthermore, there were no radio stations that could cater to the public need for information at that time, he said.

Now, with 100 reporters in Jakarta and about the same number spread across the country, Elshinta has claimed the title as the country's only 24-hour news radio station.

"Over the years we have tried to deliver the message that if people want the news, tune in to us. They can change the dial as they please if they don't want to hear any news on their radio," he said.

Asked if Elshinta could turn a profits airing only news, Edi said: "If you are successful at becoming a radio station the public can count on for news, advertisers will come to you."

As proof that the 90.05 FM radio has gained wide acceptance, Edi cited the results of the Survey and Research Indonesia (SRI), which showed that in 2002 the station had about 1.2 million listeners in Jakarta.

"That figure is a dramatic increase from about 800,000 in 2001," he said, adding that with these listener numbers the station had seen an increase in advertising, which made the station profitable.

With all these resources at its disposal, Edi said, the management of Elshinta was preparing to offer services as a news agency.

"We can provide up-to-date information for both the domestic and foreign media," he said.