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| courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3u_FORbuW4 |
I grew up in a very strange time. I was born in 1994 when my hometown (Aceh) was at the height of civil war. It's easy to imagine that in a war time development crawls very slowly. That explains exactly my whole experience growing up. When other cities have started enjoying the magic of portable phone (cell phone) and the internet - we were stuck with no or few televisions and radios. I can still remember vividly how many houses had TVs in our village, which were only a few. Neighbors would invade the private lives of the people who had TV in their houses by joining them at the worst time imaginable, afternoon times. But I suppose it was a source of pride for them, too. Owning TV was a visible sign of wealth and accomplishment for village people. So, although in the general sense it looks like they are being intruded, they did not mind at all.
We got our TV set quite late in our lives, too. After the war ended in 2004, everyone could finally get back on their feet and started to make a good living - now that nothing can stop them from earning a living anymore. And that was a huge luxury. During the war, male members of the family were not able to leave the house. If they did go to the farm and got caught by the Indonesian army they would be mistaken for a GAM (the rebel). If the GAM caught them, they would be forced to join the rebellion. Now that the war had ended, the male members of family can resume their work again as farmers. So did my father. After the war, my father went back to farming for a while. Soon he changes job to become a contractor.
It is from his contractor job that we got to have what we did not have like TV, gas stove, and washing machine. It was around this time that I was sent to study at a boarding school. Before owning these things my mom would cook on a fire that she had to build before cooking, and she used to wash our clothes by hands too. It was a tough time.
Saying that I did not grow up with TV would not be correct. Although we did not have TV, every day I would go to my neighbor and watch with them. Basically I was the intruder in this story.
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Moving forward, I finished middle school and resumed my high school in Aceh province's capital - Banda Aceh. By now (2009) many people have started to own dummy phone. And because I would be away from my parents, I was given a dummy phone too. The only features it had was call, sms, and a radio.
(side note: I was so obsessed with Nokia N-gage phone at this time around - and I was not and am not even a gamer).
I am glad to say that I was once a frequent radio listener. My favorite radio channel was 102.8 OZ Radio FM Banda Aceh. I would request song. I still remember very vividly - one of the songs I requested very often was Rio Febrian's Aku Bertahan. (I am literally laughing with joy writing this).
In two years time from this moment, technology grew even more aggressive. Now, people started to own blackberry. I, too, started to save up my pocket money to buy one. So, I bought with my own saving (I am proud of this) when I was in 3rd grade of high school. I got the gemini one (the cheapest one). Believe it or not, I had it until 2017. The blackberry was my companion through high school, university, exchange, and even the first few months of my real job. It was only when I gathered enough money from my salary that I finally decided to buy a new phone. An Asus phone - the one I am having right now.
Let's us not get carried away. What I wanted to talk about is actually the radio culture.
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It is true that radio has never died, but it is fair to say that it has been having near death experience ever since people started to own smartphones. But luckily, radio culture has evolved in an effort to catch up with the ever changing culture and technology. Now we have podcast, which is literally the biological child of radio.
I don't know if it has anything to do my past experience, but I am loving (hell… I am obsessed with) podcast! I listen to podcast when I am on bus. I listen to podcast when I run, walk, cook or simply sitting in my room.
The podcast culture fits me very well. Unlike radio, where I spent my time listening to music, - with podcast, I only listen to inspiring interviews and news. Well, I do listen to music on my Spotify. If we consider Spotify the modern version of radio, then I do listen to music on modern radio (podcast) too.
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Here are some of my favorite podcasts:
- What It Takes
I have never heard of the Academy of Achievement before. So, when I discovered this podcast I was instantly hooked. Plus, the podcast announcer has the sweetest voice. Who can say no to her podcast, right?
Basically "What It Takes" is a podcast where the announcer goes through the Academy of Achievement's old archives and republishes it with a fresh touch.
- Oprah's SuperSoul Conversation
Who does not know Oprah, right? The queen! If you don't have time to look at the video version of her SuperSoul Conversations, you can actually listen to them. It's available on Spotify or wherever you listen your podcast.
For my favorite news related podcasts, you can check here.
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What are your favorite podcasts? Let me know in the comment! I would love to expand my podcast library.
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