When in school, I used to discuss news with my friends, saying, "I read it in the newspapers." Those were the days when we were dependent on The Times Of India and Indian Express!!! When I grew a little older, it was, "I heard it on the radio." My only choice, of course, was All India Radio, which I listened to on my father's favourite radio set. Years later, it changed to, "I saw it on television." That was when Doordarshan was all about Test matches and Here's Lucy. And boring, boring news. Until the advent of "cable television." CNN, Star News, Zee News, BBC World... Then came the World Wide Web and "I read about it on the Net." Today, though, I boast to all my friends, "I heard it on the radio. And this one is a satellite digital radio receiver!!!" Ever since WorldSpace began its digital broadcast of audio and multimedia programmes directly from satellites to compact, portable receivers in India, this is what I enjoy doing the most. (The WorldSpace business was founded in 1990 by Noah A Samara, its chairman and CEO. As a result, crystal clear, fade-free news, music, education and entertainment programmes are available to more than two billion people in Africa, the Middle East and Asia through the WorldSpace AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites. Programmes are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Hindi, Pakistani, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Tagalo, Malay, Bahasa and many other languages. The three WorldSpace satellites hope to provide WorldSpace services to a potential audience of more than 4.6 billion people.) The receivers are manufactured by Hitachi, JVC, Panasonic and Sanyo. I, of course, trawled the Net and purchased the cheapest Hitachi receiver available. It was sent all the way from Bangalore to Vasai, near Bombay, where I stay. But the installation, I was warned, would only be done later. The initial days were hell. I cursed myself for purchasing a white elephant. Friends laughed at me. My already angry wife wondered what my latest toy was all about. It seemed an ordinary transistor to her. She even wanted to know why I had spent so much money on it. Repeated e-mail messages about getting the set activated failed to get any response from the WorldSpace guys. The set remained silent. I cursed myself. My e-mails continued. Finally, a saviour emerged in the form of Bhanushree from the WorldSpace centre in Bangalore. She did whatever she could to help. She gave me a password to activate my set and receive WorldSpace programmes. She sent instructions, by e-mail, on how to get started. It did not help. I was getting desperate. What had I done wrong? The satellite receiver just refused to work. I kept getting a 'No Beam' message. The silence was just killing. Then a former journalist colleague, Rajlakshmi Iyengar, offered to help, all the way from Bangalore. Bhanushree wanted me to set the antennae in the south-east-south direction. The problem was I did not have a compass. But Raj had a quick answer: Simple, the sun rises in the... that gives you the direction. How dumb of me. So that was the solution. And it was so simple. Actually, NO! Not really. With my odd shift timings, I have never seen the sun rise or set. I was beginning to get really desperate. It was time for drastic measures. I would stand in my building compound, silly as it would look, and point the receiver in various directions till I got the programmes. It worked! Then, I struggled for over a week (even suffered the mosquito bites) till I got the right positioning for the antennae from my flat window. It was all worth it. Because, today, all I do at home is listen to my satellite digital radio, which is an out-of-the-world experience. I never dreamt I would be able to hear BBC loud and clear on radio. Or CNN International. Short Wave radio can be particularly exasperating. You have to fiddle with the knob, to try various bands till you get a reception that will most probably have intermittent breaks and a lot of disturbance. Satellite radio has none of these problems. There's Love Radio (R Nation) for the greatest love songs, BOB for rock music, Ultra Pop for all kinds of music, 24x7 for pop, Potion for urban music, Upcountry for country music, Maestro for classical, Riff for jazz, Ritmo for African music, Earz for children, Letters is a talk show radio station, Radio Mid-day for trendy, hip sound, Sunrise for music and news of the Indian sub-continent... all top quality stuff. It goes on... 22 stations at present. Including language channels like Khanak, RBC, VRG and RM Radio. These days, I just cannot decide which station to tune in to. And, yes, my colleagues have been warned not to call me at home. I'll be busy. Listening to the radio. Satellite digital radio. Anthony D'Costa's colleagues have finally figured out why he falls asleep at work. RELATED REPORTS WorldSpace launches digital audio system WorldSpace launches 22 radio channels in India RECENT DIARIES Just a wet autumn day... Aaaaarghhh!!! The gift of a lifetime Bloody silence! Glimpses of America Do tell us what you think of this diary
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