Thursday 16 October 2008

Treat for football fans on Capital FM

Wednesday October 15, 2008

Capital FM treat for footie fans

By ANTHONY THANASAYAN


Football fans in the Klang Valley are having a terrific time on the weekends, thanks to Capital FM.

Listeners with a penchant for the beautiful game will find their Saturdays less boring these days. The reason behind that is a two-hour show called Football Now! (FN!), starting 6pm, which Capital FM claims is the nation’s only radio programme dedicated to football.

However, the personalities who anchor the programme certainly sound impressive. They are Fly Guy (real name Saufian Mokhtar), Jeevan Selvanathan, Ross Yusof and David Swinburne.

I listened to the show over the last weekend and liked what I heard. The presentation together with popular songs made the show sound different from previous football offerings aired by other broadcasters. Over two hours, topics might be anchored heavily on the English Premier League, but news and views about international matches, the other European leagues and beyond also get a mention.

The programme segments include features on players and team spotlights, callers’ viewpoints, contests and, of course, top song hits.

There is one important thing that the boys on FN! ought to be careful about though: soccer jargon! These terms might unwittingly turn off non-football fans who may decide to tune out of the show altogether. A few simple explanations along the way should solve the problem.

And how about adding a female personality to the show? If not as a regular host, as a special guest?

This would not only debunk stereotypes that women and football don’t mix but a female voice will also help to liven things up on the show. Nevertheless, Capital FM promises that FN! will be a “pulsating 120 minutes” each week.

Capital FM can be heard in the Klang Valley on FM88.9MHz.

Mail

Here is an e-mail by Ruwaidy Mat Rasul from Muar, Johor, on our recent Raya programming on radio:

“I agree fully with you that there was a good mix of old and new songs for Raya. The conversations between the listeners and the deejays were also very touching. However, regretfully not everyone was like that all the time. One or two deejays mumbled to listeners and were sometimes not serious with them.

“Don’t these jocks realise that we listeners can pick such things up instantly?

“The best moment for me was a recorded interview with a prisoner who was jailed for 35 years for a drugs violation. His painful ordeal was the perfect eye-opener for anyone thinking about messing with drugs: stay away!”