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KUWAIT: It is interesting to learn about how a live radio show is produced. In fact, a successful radio presenters have now become household names. Two popular radio jockeys related their experiences to the Kuwait Times. Talal Malik and Sandi Ismaeil present a popular radio show titled ‘Mix Mornings’ that is aired live on Mix FM station.

This show is broadcasted between 8:00 am and 10:00 am from Sunday to Thursday. This show covers the usual staple of entertainment news, health news, and miscellaneous subjects. Competitions are held and prizes worth $200 are given away. Mix Mornings began a year ago with different talents. Talal and Sandi have been presenting the program for the past six months.

Mix Mornings is presented in a mixture of English and Arabic, predominantly in English. People interact using SMS, Face book, and Twitter. "We mostly play western songs, and sometimes Arabic, and modern fast music too. A demographic break up shows that most listeners are university students. Later, we found that people belonging to all ages, genders, nationalities, and occupations follow our show. We have Americans, Kuwaitis, Indians and others as listeners. Our show is for everybody who speaks English as
a first or second language," Talal Malik told the Kuwait Times.

It is very important to love one’s work place. "Although I’m not a morning person, I now wakeup at 5:00 am with pleasure, looking forward to the show. I feel very excited to come to work. The show starts at 8:00 am, so we have to begin preparing for it an hour and a half in advance. We have to follow the news all the time,. We like to stay keep abreast with the latest," said Sandi Ismaeil.

Here at Marina or Mix FM, talent is fostered. They don’t tell us to do this or not do that. They place their trust in us. We also have the best equipments, that are not even available in the US. All these factors steer us clear from problems," Talal added.

Like any other place, unfavorable situations have to be confronted. "The majority of the listeners are our friends. We even remember them individually. We have some fans that send us SMS every day. So, from about one million SMSes, we receive one bad one. These people want attention, and we do not give it to them. We simply delete such messages," stressed Talal.

Talal and Sandi also shared their most interesting experiences at work. "We have two fans (a couple) who listen to our show every day. They would call us regularly and tell us that they listen to the show while on their way to work. They would call us even when they faced problems. They share their feelings with us and demanded advice. After breaking-up a few times, they finally got married and sent us an invitation to their wedding party. I attended it. You see, we lived their story for all these months,
added Sandi.

These radio are friends with their listeners. "Sometimes when winners in our show come to collect their prize, we ask them to come to see the studio and see us. It is easy to visit us as we are stationed at a shopping mall. Many times, we have guests who would like to come and join us in the studio and we welcome them here. If some of these guests are talkative and are not shy, we let them speak to listeners live on air," noted Talal.

They also have a wide fan- base. "Our work is built on love. Many of our fans invite us for lunch or dinner. Once a fan brought me a music CD that I had mentioned that I liked on the show. We blur the divide between us and listeners. We continue with our show even if it is crowded, even if three or four guests are seated," highlighted Sandi.

Sandi also presents another radio show called ‘Black and White.’ This show is broadcasted every day between 2:00 pm – 3:00pm, except on Tuesdays. This show plays English music from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. "It is a recorded show and I present it in Arabic even though English music is played. I play requests that people demand through SMSes. People usually register their comments on their demands for a certain song. It usually reminds them of certain memories," Sandi pointed out.

Sandi entered this field by accident. "We were friends long before we started working together. We knew each other from college. Once I invited her to come visit me at the station. She likes to talk, and I let her talk through the microphone. Talal Al-Yaqout heard her that day and asked me about her. He then asked her to work with us, and went on a did three-month long test run. Within two months, she was assigned another show: ‘Black and White," explained Talal.

The Mix FM also presents other shows. The Alkhatar Feletter, a game show broadcasted between 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, is presented by Osama Fouda. Then there is the Dardachat, broadcasted between 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm by Rasha. It is a call- in talk show where social issues are discussed in Arabic. Guests from different fields such as spiritualists, doctors, comedians, actors have been featured on our show.
Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer