Dear Editor,
I sometimes smile wryly when I read the offerings of Leon James Suseran regarding the performance of NCN and its various branches. I get the impression that he is living in the Land of Nod. I mean, can’t anyone ask for anything better technologically? Can’t anyone ask for anything better intellectually?
Sometimes I am made to wait when a programme or a song ends, and this wait is sometimes indefinite. It seems contingent upon the expertise or alertness of the operator on shift. The whole show smacks of a lack of professionalism. Also, the programmes that are aired seem vacuous and monotonous. Announcers still struggle with the English language in its most basic form. Tell me, where there is a place for “the management and staff wishes…”; or for words like ‘voilent’ (voy-lent), ‘vunerable’ (vuh-nuh-rable) and homogenous (ho-moh-gi-nous). In high school, one meets these words and their spelling, and in the profession of broadcasting, they should be mastered. I once heard an announcer pronounce ‘persuasion’ with five syllables, and he now says ‘homogeneous’ with four syllables, when this one is really five. Add to this, the poorest of readers, and you have NCN. I am not exaggerating. This very morning the 98.1 Hot FM announcer said GTM’s time, using the possessive. She again exhibited her deficiency in the English language, by her ‘here’s to wishing you’ leitmotif. Right after that, the melodic news reader sang her way through the news.
Well, let the PPP and NCN have their way, but the few remaining sober-minded Guyanese want something better. So I repeat the clarion call – Guyana needs a few more radio stations. The earlier this happens the better.
Yours faithfully,
Shane Rizwan Ally
