CHENNAI: RJ Dheena HE’S known for his PJs (poor jokes). Listeners wake up in the morning to listen to him and start their day. RJ Dheena’s breakfast show Kalakal Kalai in BIG FM is one of the shows that not just plays songs according to the mood of the people and the city but also gives information, of course laced with a lot of his trademark drollery. And especially, when people are stuck in the morning traffic, they call Dheena to laugh a bit and relax. Besides the usual songs and information, Dheena makes his show lively with witty questions related to current topics. “Recently, after the announcement of the election dates, I asked a question ‘Whom would someone select at their home for the various post like PM, FM and CM?’.
Listeners came up with answers but their reasons for the selection was the funniest part of the show,” he says.
Dheena, who is known for his poor jokes, does not use them with a consciousness to make people laugh but it goes spontaneous with him. “I don’t force myself to tell a joke. It comes naturally when I converse with my listeners,” he says.
Spilling his sense of humour throughout the fourhour show in the morning might not be a difficult one for him but the Guinness attempt took a toll on him, as he had to maintain the same energy and the wit throughout. “I think a good sense of humour is something you are born with and you cannot succeed as an RJ if you try to learn and force yourself to make your listeners laugh,” he says.
For Dheena, it is his local accent and an ability to connect his listeners and his wittiness that made him tick.
Kalakkal Kalai: 7 am- 11 am, Big FM
RJ Ananda Kannan
HIS show in Radio City might not be the one that can make many forget their sorrows and laugh but RJ Anand Kannan’s wit can sure steal the hearts of many. So, when he is on-air in his show Dhool Maame Dhool in the evening, listeners of all ages call him not just to dedicate songs or sing one for a funny situation but also share their thoughts with the RJ as the whole conversation finally turns out to be a memorable one. “I don’t crack jokes to make listeners laugh. In fact, I would be asking a listener a very serious question but it eventually ends up becoming funny and the listeners laugh,” says the RJ. Listeners, be it IT professionals who are travelling back home or school kids, after their day’s work, call Ananda Kannan just to listen to his homourous banter.
“I think it has to be from within and not a conscious thought to crack a joke or pass a funny comment,” he says. The most memorable incident that happened in his show was when a girl called up to convey her apologises to her father for not talking to him after a quarrel.
And the RJ, with his sense of humour made the situation more light and the caller eventually hung out on a happy note.
Dhool Maame Dhool: 5 pm to 9 pm, Radio City
RJ Bosskey
He can make you laugh at any time and on any topic. In his show Recharge Chennai, Bosskey discusses 3Cs- Cricket, Cinema and Chennai.
He never leaves any news, even the developing stories get a new angle through his witty jokes.
“Maniratnam is more into global warming as his films use lights minimally…..,” says Bosskey on the topic global warming. “My aim is to go crazy and people have to keep laughing. My show is on time when people feel like relaxing after a hectic day,” says Bosskey, who is well versed in commenting on cricket.
“I played along with Azhar, Srikanth and Ravi Shastry. That was in the year 1981. I told Srikanth ‘You won’t sweat as you have fans’ and everyone started laughing,” remembers Bosskey, who will be presenting a mix of cricket and humour in Vijay TV’s Chennai Super Kings Juniors.
“When you crack a joke, you want to make listeners to visualise it and that’s a measure of your success,” says Bosskey, who never becomes serious even at the time of crisis.
“I look at it (crisis) humourously.
The day my father died, within hours I went for a show as chief guest and made others laugh.” On his show, Bosskey comments on civic amenities with a sense of humourous and that seems to have attracted everyone. “Wherever I go, people point out the difficulties and ask me to tell that on my show humourously. You give me anything I will do a satire on it,” says Bosskey with full of confidence and that’s something that draws huge listeners to his show.
Recharge Chennai: 6 pm to 9 pm, Big 92.7 FM
RJ Ophelia (Imsai Arasi)
When she starts talking you can’t stop laughing.
Well-known for her slang and way of presenting show 'Jill Jill Neram' on Big 92.7 FM, Ophelia says, “Callers expect me to crack jokes and not any serious stuff.” While the first hour is for games, the second hour is reserved exclusively for 'mokka jokes‘ and the third to discuss recent topic in a funny way.
“A husband sprinkles water on his wife’s face. Do you know why…… his father-in-law told him to take care of his daughter like a flower,” tells Imsai Arasi on her show. Her jokes are timely and catching, not to forget her tongue twisters. “I write those and sometimes listeners ask me to tell it correctly.
And I too tell that with mistakes.” Creating her own topic and presenting it with full of humour, Imsai Arasi’s show makes listeners revive their energy and that’s something Imsai Arasi too wants!
Jill Jill Neram: 3 pm to 6 pm, Big 92.7 FM
RJ Shiva
He might have become a busy man in Kollywood these days but Shiva is well known in the city as an RJ who can make people laugh their guts out, even as he strikes a serious conversation to his listener. And his show ‘Mirchi Mokka Nights’ in the weekdays in Radio Mirchi is something that makes his listeners not to think but just to blindly laugh at things he speaks about. “We discuss all sorts of useless things. Our goals is to make people laugh. Not prod them to think and question,” he says.
For Shiva, announcing songs and giving out traffic information is only the job of an announcer, while a radio jockey has to have a sense of humour without which he or she cannot succeed in the field. “It all depends on the character of the person,” says Shiva, who once got a letter from the prisoners of the central prison praising him for making them laugh and forget their worries.
And then there‘s his weekend show where he changes the script of a particular movie and makes a serious action thriller to a comedy film. “Recently we had 'Jurassic Panagal Park', 'Bill Kitna Paambu Kottana' and many,” he recalls, adding that this weekend show, movies in radio won the Rappa award recently.
Mirchi Mokka Nights: 11 pm to 1 am, Radio Mirchi
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