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.