'Dangdut' music is a gold mine for local television stations

By Mohammad Yazid

JAKARTA (JP): Do you want to sing a note with Indonesian singers and get Rp 1 million? Just join the live television karaoke show Laris Manis, every Wednesday night on SCTV. Your voice is not sweet? No problem. Pick up the phone and guess the title of the song. If you are lucky you will win Rp 500,000.

Laris Manis, brought to you by presenters Ulfa Dwiyanti and Derry Sudarisman, is a program dominated by dangdut music, which is strongly influenced by a Hindi, Indian and Arabic beat. It is one of the favorite television programs for dangdut lovers throughout the country, as well as overseas -- some of the callers are from as far away as Malaysia and Brunei.

"I've never missed the show. The guests are always prominent and top singers," said Sutopo, a construction worker.

Dangdut music used to be associated with the lower classes. But Laris Manis, which has been aired by SCTV since May 2000, is only one example that the music appeals to a broad spectrum. In fact, all of the country's television stations have their own dangdut programs. This is a far cry from a decade ago.

If in the 1980s and 1990s, this kind of music could be seen only on state-owned TVRI, and the dangdut was usually only 15 percent of music programs.

Now the five private televisions also present dangdut with the music sometimes being broadcast in live performances.

TPI, which aims its programs at the middle to lower classes, has featured dangdut since it began operations in 1991. Now the station presents this type of music every day on such shows.

Besides Laris Manis, SCTV also has Sik Asik, which has been aired on weekday mornings since January 1997.

Indosiar broadcasts Tak-tak-dut from Monday to Thursday, Goyang Suka-suka on Monday night and Dangdut Ria on Sunday.

Meanwhile, ANteve features dangdut on several programs, including MTV Salam Dangdut and TVRI broadcasts three dangdut programs. RCTI airs only one dangdut program, JogeD.

Of course, all of these programs cannot be separated from their advertisers, the source of their broadcasting funds. Dangdut programs attract such large audiences that they have few difficulties attracting advertisers. In fact, it would be no exaggerations to say that dangdut is "a gold mine" for television stations.

"The advertising for dangdut programs is always full," said Almoenir Rahmat, a SCTV producer.

He declined to say how much money was made on the ads, however, he said the rate for a 30-second spot on Laris Manis was Rp 10 million. There are at least 24 ads run during this live one-hour show. The program has another source of income as well; the show's cosponsor pays Rp 1 billion for three months, or 13 episodes.

Compare the advertising rates on this show with the most expensive rates in the business; the Rp 15 million it costs to run a spot on some of the sinetron. Clearly, Laris Manis holds its own quite nicely.

The ad rates for other dangdut programs depend on what time the show is aired. Another one-hour program, Sik Asik, is broadcast at 8 a.m. and does not charge advertisers as much, with spots costing between Rp 4 million and Rp 6 million.

Theresia Ellasari, a TPI corporate communications executive, is also quite high on the possibilities for advertising income on dangdut shows.

While she declined to reveal how much advertising revenue was brought in by the station's dangdut programs, she does not protest when it is suggested the revenue could be as high as Rp 100 million. TPI's advertising rates are from Rp 5 million to Rp 15 million per spot, depending on the time of the show.

Advertising income can be even more when TPI broadcasts its monthly live shows. According to Ellasari, "(Advertising revenue) is enough to cover the (show's) budget of about Rp 200 million."

However, these numbers have not induced RCTI to air as many dangdut programs as other stations.

"The most important thing is how to produce the show," said Masitoh Hanum, a producer of JogeD, aired every Friday at 7:30 p.m. It is not surprising that since its launch, JogeD has been the station's highest rated, tabloid Pro-TV reported in September.

SCTV does not have a daily dangdut program because, as Munir said, "We want to avoid the public impression that SCTV is a dangdut station."

On the contrary, TPI is proud to feature dangdut every day. "We are the pioneer of dangdut programming," Ellasari said. This is deliberate, part of the station's plan to appeal to middle to lower-class viewers. "Isn't dangdut from medium to low classes?" she asked.

All of these programs have change the image of the music which once was called kampungan music.

"It is very good", Jaja Mihardja, a dangdut singer, told The Jakarta Post. "Those who said dangdut was kampungan was because they were envious. Now these programs have proved that they were wrong," said Jaja, the presenter of Kuis Dangdut for seven years.

"Generally, the programs have shown that dangdut is welcome in society at large", said Rhoma Irama, the leader of the dangdut music group Soneta and someone who has been involved in dangdut since 1965.

He is happy "the music is no longer pinggiran (marginal). It has entered high society".

For dangdut lovers, all of these programs have made it easy for them to enjoy the music they love. Now they can sing and dance with prominent dangdut singers such as Elvy Sukaesih, Rhoma Irama, Rita Sugiarto and Mansyur S. in front of their television sets every day, morning or night.