My Tryst With Go 92.5

This post is about the now-no-longer-existing FM radio channel Go-92.5 and how I used to adore it. Its gone now and I certainly am definitely gonna miss it when I go back to Mumbai.

I dont quite remember when was the first time I heard it or who initiated me to it, but I do remember listening to it regularly starting 2003. The one thing that made me get hooked on to it was English music. It was the only FM channel in Mumbai to regularly play English songs. That naturally suited me because I like English songs more than I do Hindi.

Coming back to 92.5...I remember it was the cricket world-cup and all RJs used to talk about it. There was buzz all around about how well India is doing and that this might be a second time coming. It was also when for the first time half-celebrities (like Mandira Bedi) were initiated into the pre and post match telecast. I remeber in one show, this bimbo (yeah..thats the perfect word for her) was wearing a spaghetti top and a transparent black saree revealing half her cleavage to the whole of India. Yuck!

Okay sorry for the digression, I remember distinctly one evening I was listening to this show called "Horn OK Please" hosted by RJs Jak and Jaggu. There was some talk going on about if Mandira Bedi were to be removed then who would it be and they had asked opinion to the listeners. The listeners could SMS their opinions to a certain number. I thought I'll just give it a try and I sent an SMS saying JAK (the other RJ who had a very sweet voice) would be the best person.

After a few minutes, I'd forgotten about the SMS and just concentrating on driving when suddenly Jaggu read out my SMS...Live on Air!!! I was so elated and ecstatic that I forgot I was driving and almost banged my new car. For me that was it - THE KILLER BLOW. I had listened to number of channels and I'd sent numerous SMSs to these "other" FM channels but none were read out on Air. But this one did and instantly I almost felt like a celebrity. :-))

Mid-2003 I was on an official assignment to Germany and hence a break in my FM listening and when I came back to Mumbai after 7 months (in December), I saw (rather heard and realized) that JAK was no longer with Go-92.5 and Jaggu had begun to host the morning show along with Tarana. The show was called "Good Morning - Mumbai".

The evening show was being hosted by Malini. The name of the evening show is rather catchy. "Horn OK Please". Anyone who's driven in Mumbai would immediately realize that when you're driving and you're in a traffic jam stuck behind a truck, these are the exact words that you would read again and again and again until you got out of the jam or you overtook the truck.

There are 3 things I liked about Go-92.5 - the music (good mix of hindi and english), the amount of user involvement and interaction, the RJs. I think for an FM channel to be really successful, you definitely need these three things.

I loved the user involvement and interaction. I used to send a phenomenal number of SMSs. I can safely say that atleast 60-70% of my SMSs were read out on AIR. No Kidding! I am not exaggerating or boasting . Its the truth and I became an expert at the art of typing an SMS while driving. Thanks to Nokia and predictive text of course. :-) I regularly used to send traffic updates. I remember, once there was this huge traffic jam and vehicles were moving at a snail's pace due to the amazing number of potholes and I sent a message saying "There are more potholes on this road than the number of pores you can find on a single slice of bread". And this was read on air by Jaggu in the morning show.

I participated in lots of contests run by them and I won prizes in 3 of them. One contest was that you had to narrate your experience of being stranded at an airport. I SMSed this incident that I experienced when I was coming back from London to Munich and I won 2 tickets to watch the movie "The Terminal" at Regal.

In another contest I had to sign up for a contest where you had to speak about your interests, activities, hobbies and the listeners would guess your age, occupation and your sun-sign. The RJ Malini selected me for this and for the first time I was on Radio, On-AIR. Quite a number of people guessed right and I won a Go-92.5 umbrella. :-)

In the 3rd contest - and this was the funniest of all - there was this song snippet which Tarara (RJ for Good Morning Mumbai) hummed an instrumental tune and the listeners had to guess the song and complete the tune (instrumentally). The contest was called "Aao Guess Karen". I messaged in saying the tune was the "Tom-And-Jerry" tune and I can hum it. A few minutes later, I got a call on my cell, it was from Go-92.5 and it was Jaggu and Tarana. I was absolutely over the moon. They asked me to stop driving, pull over and asked me if I could do it on air. I emphatically answered yes. They put me on air and I did it. They burst out laughing and later Jaggu said - "you've guessed the tune wrong but for you being a sport, we'll give you two tickets to watch a play at the Prithvi theater".

I also participated in another contest where you had to select a subject of your choice and you would be asked 5 questions and if you answer them correctly you'll be given a prize. I got selected for this one too and I was on air, but I didnt win. :( I got nervous here. My topic was world capitals and I screwed up bad. I was asked the capitals of Kenya, Indonesia, England, Thailand and Vietnam. My answers were Dar-Es-Salam (wrong), Djakarta, London, Bangkok and Ho-Chi-Minh City (wrong). The right answers are Nairobi and Saigon.

There were innumerable times when I sent a message to have them greet someone and my SMS was read out. I have a very good friend, she used to work in my firm in Mumbai but later she left. This one time (I remember American Pie when I mention these words ;)), I dropped her in my car to her house and I thought it'll be fun to send a message to the radio station and greet her. So I discreetly did and she was pleasantly shocked! It was awesome fun.

I've also many-a-times requested for songs and they have been played. I remember when I'd requested the song "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal and it was played. I was overjoyed. I adore the song and whenever I listen to the song, I just pause whatever I'm doing and just enjoy it. It's sung so beautifully.

I was so addicted to the channel that when I came to US in 2005, I used to listen to snippets of the shows on their website and relish hearing the voices of my fav RJs. For full 2-and-a-half years, the channel was an integral part of my daily life. Be it driving to work, driving back from work, visiting friends during weekends, going out with family, only one FM channel used to play in my car.

In early 2006, they decided to do away with all English and started playing only Hindi songs. I was absolutely devastated. Now, after this change, I no longer visit their website and no longer keep track of which shows are being hosted by which RJs.

I miss those old days of driving and listening to Go. I wonder if they'll ever come back.