Video didn't smash the radio stars, but money did

Video didn't smash the radio stars, but money did

By Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): Once the king of the air, heard by tens of
millions of Indonesians every day, from housewives to government
employees and youngsters at street-side warung, radio plays are
now giving way to the almighty, and profitable, boob tube.

People now prefer watching television soap operas while doing
their household chores. Officials are now glued to television
sets rather than their radios at the office. Youngsters seldom
crowd street-side warung to listen to radio plays blaring from
the stall owners' antiquated sets.

Video hasn't killed the radio stars, it has just lured them
into the more lucrative field of private television. In the
past six years, the audio-visual media has grabbed former radio
listeners and the advertising dollars attached to them.

"Sponsors have switched to television to advertise their
products. They think radio plays are no longer effective as a
marketing gimmick," August Kusuma H., director of the PT Swadaya
Prathivi production house, told The Jakarta Post.

One of the country's oldest and largest radio play producers,
PT Swadaya Prathivi has produced blockbuster plays such as Saur
Sepuh (Elderly's Advice) and Mak Lampir (Mrs. Lampir) by Niki
Kosasih, and Tutur Tinular (Passing on Wise Sayings) and Mahkota
Mayangkara (Mayangkara Crown) by S. Tijab.

August said the popularity of radio plays, which hit their
peak of popularity in the 1980s, started to wane this year.

"Last year, we were still able to produce nine to 10 radio
series. This year, we only produce five. Next year, I am afraid
we will only be able to produce two or three series," said
August. His studio is located in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta.

Other production houses have stopped producing radio plays. PT
Idola Citra Utama in Tebet, another large production house, whose
productions include the hit series Ibuku Malang Ibuku Tersayang
(Poor, Beloved Mother) by Eddy Suhendro, has switched to making
television dramas.

The Kayu Manis radio station, a popular Jakartan station
famous for its radio plays, continues to broadcast four plays
every day: Kayungyun (Mad in Love), a Javanese play, Ariati Nagih
Pati, a Sundanese play, and two Indonesian plays, Menanti
Matahari (Waiting for the Sun) and Kembar Mayang (Garland).
Menanti Matahari is a rerun.

"The series was first broadcast in the 1980s. We re-broadcast
it now because it is good. Besides, we don't have any new
series," E. Koswara, a Kayu Manis staff member, told the Post.

Only PT Swadaya Prathivi can afford to produce more than a few
series. They produce Kembar Mayang, a story set in the Mataram
kingdom; Dapur Ngepul (Smoky Kitchen), a modern story about a
Javanese village woman who moves to town only to end up being a
prostitute; Asmara Gang Senggol (Love in Senggol Alleyway), a
modern story about a jamu (herbal medicine) salesgirl who is
lucky to marry a rich man after having several love affairs with
poor men; Nyai Lambong (Mrs. Lambong), a horror story; and
Misteri Kalong Wewe (Mystery of Ghost Bat), another horror story
about a vampire with a bat-like face.

Last year the series were broadcast six days a week in Java,
Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali, said August. All the shows are
targeted at Javanese audiences.

A sponsor covers all production costs, including the fees for
the writers, artists and production house, in return for the
royalty rights and the right to air commercial between acts. The
sponsors, as the royalty holder, market the cassettes, deliver
them to radio stations, and pay radio stations which broadcast
their play.

Kembar Mayang, the only commercial free play, is produced,
marketed and distributed by PT Swadaya Prathivi.

Usually radio stations look for advertisers to pay for plays
like Kembar Mayang. The advertisers buy individual air slots for
their commercials. Producing a series without a sponsor is risky.
The series must be popular for advertisers to buy air time.

Shows without sponsors often succeeded in the past, when there
were fewer radio plays. The blockbuster series Tutur Tinular, for
example, was independently produced in 1989, but within two
months Dankos medicine bought the royalties and distributed the
plays to 400 radio stations nationwide. The series aired until
1990.

Radio play fever has abated, though.

Tutur Tinular's writer S. Tijab is now writing Kidung Kramat
(Magic Song) for Yasir Denhas studio in Condet and Dapur Ngepul
for PT Swadaya Prathivi. The former was produced without
sponsorship, and distributed by Yasir Denhas. After almost half a
year on air on over 100 stations countrywide, no sponsor has
offered to buy the royalty rights.

"After one to two months on air, a sponsor bought the royalty
of Tutur Tinular. After four months on air, we staged a meeting
in Ancol between listeners and the series' players. A large
number of listeners came," recalled Tijab with pride.

"When Tutur Tinular was on air there were only two TV channels
in the country, TVRI and RCTI. The latter was still pay-
television," he explained.

Aside from the attraction of television, increasing production
costs have scared sponsors away from radio.

Artists used to charge Rp 5,000 (US$2.1) to read a half hour
episode. Today, the fee is Rp 10,000 an episode plus Rp 7,500 for
transport expenses.

Voice artists started raising their fees after TV networks
began to dub foreign series into Indonesian. A dubbing artist is
paid between Rp 50,000 and Rp 250,000 an episode, which lasts
about an hour.

"The artists won't come for radio plays if the pay is not that
much. They would prefer dubbing TV series," reasoned Tijab.

Radio stations have also raised their broadcasting rates. A
sponsor once paid radio stations as little as Rp 300,000 to run
an episode. Today the rate can reach Rp 2.5 million or Rp 30
million a month. A series needs to be aired by at least 200
stations to become popular so a sponsor is looking at laying out
about Rp 6 billion a month for what is often dubbed free
advertising.

E. Koswara, from the Kayu Manis station, said radio stations
have had to raise their broadcasting rates because all their
costs have increased.

"The rates are still negotiable," he added, though.

"Sponsors have to spend very big money. No wonder they go to
television," said Yodam Hardono, the chief of programming and
production at the Sanggar Prathivi production house.

The dominance of television has certainly not hurt the
production industry. The radio artists have not lost their jobs
-- earning 25 times as much dubbing television series. No
production house has closed -- they have flourished on dubbing
orders from TV networks. Writers have not lost their jobs -- they
are busy churning out scripts for television dramas.

No one has suffered. But a period in the history of Indonesian
radio, a period when radio plays were king of the air, has just
past.