Talk through your hat

Radio One is on a talent hunt designed to bring out the best in radio talent through an inter-collegiate competition called College Champions which is currently being held in the City.Ten colleges with a team comprising of two members each will make to the final cut chosen by a panel of celebrity judges. The selected ten teams will then proceed to the next level of the competition, which would be conducted on-air from the studios of Radio One in each City.

“Winners will be chosen on the basis of their music knowledge, humour, ability to handle pressure and chemistry between team-mates,” said organisers of the event.
 At Mount Carmel College, ten teams vied with each other, with Meghna Singh and Hita Gujjar making it to the finals.

“Last year, we were placed first runners up in the contest and we worked on certain areas that needed improvement so we were pretty sure that we would do well this time,” says Hita, a second year Mass Communication student.

“If you like talking non stop, have something interesting to say and are comfortable in the world of music, radio jockeying is a fun way to explore your talent. It is a good career option for young people today with a gift of the gab, a sense of humour and an awareness of the world around them. We were wowed by the level of competence we witnessed at Mount Carmel College and the vivacity of the participants. Since we only listened to their voices, we were not influenced by any other factors like the way they dressed or looked — just how they sounded,” said Prasad Bidapa, one of the judges of the event.

With ten teams participating and four rounds of competition, the contestants had to keep the audience and the judges entertained and interested right through the different rounds of competition. The first round involved a self introduction, then an impromptu set of topics that the judges came up with. A voice modulation round followed and finally a Stop me if you Can round, where the contestants pull out all the stops and go with the flow chattering away till the judges told them to stop.

“Competition is tough in the world of radio and television and it takes more than a pleasing voice to win the audience over. A good tip for aspiring jockeys is to listen to a lot of radio, try to put yourself in the shoes of listeners,  come up with ideas, use oodles of wit and pack your voice with energy,” added Prasad.