In an exclusive interaction with MediaBrief, RJ Malishka of Red FM discusses her experience as a keynote speaker at FOMEX’24 (Future of Media Exhibition) and its personal and professional significance for her.
Malishka expands on what sets Red FM apart from other radio stations and the honor of being the only Indian radio station at the event because of its resonance and value to diverse audiences. She sheds light on the topics she highlighted at the event, including the art and importance of storytelling and the significance of finding one’s unique voice.
Malishka also elaborates on the challenges and opportunities for radio broadcasters in India in light of the evolving media landscape and shares invaluable advice for those looking to enter the industry. Read on.
Tell us about your experience of being the keynote speaker at FOMEX’24 in Riyadh, KSA, what does it signify for you personally and professionally?
FOMEX stands for the Future of Media Exhibition, and it took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which is aiming to grow manyfold by 2030 and perhaps surpass Dubai. In such a fast-paced world, in something that represents the ‘future of media,’ I am absolutely thrilled to be a keynote speaker and to represent radio when I take the stage.
I’m the kind of person who does a lot of things. I am an actor, I’m active on social media, I give talks, and I host events. But of everything that I do, radio has been with me the longest on this journey. Personally and professionally, I feel like radio has been phenomenal for me. The medium has given me a lot, as much as I have given to the medium.
There was a time in college when I was asked to speak in front of the class, which was filled with friends, about 20 to 30 people. We could talk about anything we wanted, so there was no pressure on the topic. However, as I went up there and looked at my friends, I started thinking, and I lost it. I couldn’t speak.
Similarly, I began my career as a singer, performing with a band. I could sing and dance, but I struggled to speak to the audience. Fast forward to the present, you could wake me up from my sleep and ask me to converse with anyone in the world, and I would be able to hold a conversation. I believe that is what radio has done for me personally and professionally.
I’ve been in this industry for a long time now. I am known as Mumbai ki Rani, so I have a deep love for the medium. Being able to represent all of this in Saudi Arabia, in front of a group of people who are looking towards a brand new future in media where women are taking center stage, was truly special.
As more and more women enter the workforce and join the media industry, I had the opportunity to speak to them about the art of storytelling, while also comparing our cultures.
Growing up with tales like the 1001 Arabian Nights, compared to India’s storytelling traditions and our shared experience of Bollywood, brought us together. They also expressed their love for Bollywood.
Bringing all of these elements together on stage made me realize that, regardless of our differences in language, we are all fundamentally the same. It was a remarkable experience to engage in such conversations. And now, of course, you’re interviewing me, so it must be beneficial for me professionally.
Red FM was the only radio station from India to be invited to the event. How important is it for Red FM to engage with such international platforms, and what value does it bring to the brand and its audience?
With regards to the International Radio Festival, numerous editions have taken place. I believe I have been invited the most from India to represent radio. This was my third appearance at the International Radio Festival. The first time it occurred worldwide, it was in Switzerland, and I attended that. A couple of years later, it took place in Milan, and then in Malta.
The International Radio Festival’s tagline is ‘Listen to how the world sounds.’ I think in this day and age, when you question the relevance of a medium like radio, it’s wonderful that a festival like this exists. Here, radio professionals and studios from all over the world converge in a single city, and perhaps the entire country tunes in to listen to them through a specific frequency.
It brings a lot of value, not just to the medium itself, but also in terms of exposure to what is happening across the world. You understand policies, you grasp issues, and you meet people who have been in the business much longer.
Also, in countries where FM has been established for a longer duration, you get to meet individuals who are planning to innovate. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is aiming to become a significant player like never before, with women receiving more opportunities than they ever had.
Being able to go and lend my voice, which I believe is quite strong – I have opinions and I express them, and for them to invite me to a place that is just opening up, I give them kudos. I think it’s a great opportunity for us as well.
What sets Red FM apart from other radio stations, and how does it resonate with its diverse global audiences?
I think Red FM has always been a radio station that moves with the times without undermining its own roots, unlike what I recently witnessed with another radio station. There, they suggested that radio as a medium was losing its relevance and that new media was taking over, advocating for adaptation, but then falsely claimed they were shutting down, which they didn’t actually do.
I found it in very poor taste. I believe radio stations across our country need to uplift the medium even more. That’s what Red FM aims to do every time. My participation in the IRF is another effort to demonstrate and ensure that radio not only survives but also avoids falling into the trap of questioning its relevance. Instead, we should focus on finding ways to remain relevant, produce better content, and amplify new voices.
I’ve always believed that the oral medium, the auditory medium, is incredibly powerful, sometimes even more so than the visual medium, considering our saturation with visual content. This is evident in the growing popularity of podcasts. Therefore, our focus should be on both quantity and quality, aiming to provide our listeners with an enhanced experience.
And that’s what I believe Red FM consistently strives for, whether it’s promoting independent artists, developing new intellectual properties, or engaging with audiences in various ways. I’ve always observed us thinking critically and reinventing ourselves, constantly asking, “What’s next?”
So, when we venture out into the world, representing the brand, it’s been seamless interacting with individuals from global radio stations. I’m proud of the manner in which we conduct ourselves, how we represent our radio stations, and ultimately, how we represent ourselves.
As the keynote speaker, you discussed the art and importance of storytelling for both on-air and online platforms. Can you share what key elements and other points you highlighted in your speech?
Well, interestingly enough, since I was speaking in Saudi Arabia, and over the past few years, they have radically changed. India has been in that ballpark for a really long time; women are strong, and our women are encouraged in large ways now to work and to go out there. Our workforce is ever increasing, and we’re finding ways to make it a better space for women. So I was very excited about that in the first place.
I think I had to amalgamate storytelling in the sense that you can’t tell a nation that’s already into storytelling about how to tell stories. However, I find it interesting, I find women telling stories very interesting. I think we’re on the threshold of where more women are telling their own stories.
While it can be much better, we are talking about it. I was making up building blocks for not just storytelling, but also the storyteller, right from the courage it takes to just get up there and tell a story, to the creativity it requires, to how to make it more interesting and giving them examples from what we’ve done on Red FM in interviews with celebrities.
I remember playing snippets of Shahrukh and Salman and telling them how a headline is important or how it’s important how you edit stuff so that it’s more interesting to the viewer. Basically, it was an amalgamation of what a storyteller can do to make the story more attractive and more engaging, and how you can make the story itself more engaging and more attractive by using certain pointers.
How do you think platforms like FOMEX’24 contribute to the growth and recognition of radio as a medium, especially in the digital age?
The fact that it’s called the Future of Media Exhibition, now in its third edition, and it had a whole space for the International Radio Festival, as well as other people and me who were representing radio, talking.
For example, there was a radio jockey who was discussing AI and the future of media, and there was the head of the International Radio Festival, who shared his insights about how radio is a medium that can bring about significant change.
While we often mention the digital age, for a radio festival to exist, bringing people from all over the world together, I think it should answer quite a few questions. When new things emerge, new media will always be present.
There will always be new ways to listen to things, to view things; it doesn’t mean that something that existed earlier ends; it just means that the game needs to be elevated.
And I think the radio festival, to begin with, is a wonderful game-changer, which demonstrates that radio exists all over the world in large numbers, is thriving, can introduce new features, and that not everything needs to cater to the visual medium to be effective.
Finding one’s unique voice was a key aspect emphasized in your speech. How do you encourage aspiring radio professionals to discover and cultivate their own voices in an industry that is constantly evolving?
I think every person who is in any form an artist or creator needs to find their voice. We see so many creators, and if you check them out online and look at the content they put out, you will see that they have found their voice and figured out, “This is who I am.” And I think that is one of the most important aspects of storytelling. It’s one of the most critical elements of being able to tell a story.
The storyteller himself is the most important. If the storyteller knows themselves well enough, then they can be absent from the equation, and the story can take precedence.
The storyteller or the person speaking needs to know the subject matter like the back of their hand so that they can present their best qualities in a certain way. Then they need to step back from it so that while the storyteller is the main character, the story becomes the hero.
Finding one’s unique voice is a key aspect. I truly believe that knowing oneself is akin to discovering one’s voice. Once you understand yourself as a storyteller, as an artist, or as a creator, I think that’s the most important thing you can do for yourself. Because once you have figured out who you are, then you can choose to be as absent or as present as you want within the story. Because you are as important as the story itself.
Very often, we find ourselves laughing at somebody’s story because of the perception we have of that person. The person may not have said something very funny, but our perception of them is so much greater. So, to know who you are and then to present yourself as such takes a lot of courage. I believe that was one of my key points.
Tell us some of the challenges and opportunities you foresee for radio broadcasters, particularly in India, as they navigate the changing media landscape?
I believe our challenge and opportunity can be the same thing. The challenge is to not fully succumb to visual mediums so deeply that we forget that primarily we are voices that people love listening to.
This does not mean that we should neglect visual content. As an actor, I am involved in a web show that I shoot for every few days, and I am very thankful for that opportunity. I love engaging in digital creative work.
However, what I am emphasizing is that when I am on radio, I must remember that I am primarily a voice. People are stimulated by the usage of words, the cadence, the rhythm, and what I say—what my mind is putting out there—that they are connecting with. It’s about the ideas I’m conveying, and that, I believe, is one of the most important things to remember for radio professionals and opportunities.
Whether you aspire to transition into the digital space, pursue entrepreneurship within it, venture into podcasting or acting, or serve large industries with sound, such as dubbing, you have as much opportunity as the next person who is an artist.
Radio professionals have been artists for years, weaving stories and stimulating minds solely through voice and delivery. The level of artistry involved in truly embracing this craft is profound, and one can imagine the depth of skill and creativity it requires when one is deeply engaged in their profession.
In light of your experience, any message or advice for aspiring radio professionals looking to enter the space?
You enter, imagining a world of possibilities because that is what radio offers you; don’t worry about what the world says. Whenever I step out of the house and get on a stage, wherever I am in the world, and this medium was supposed to be a voice medium, even before the digital age hit, people would recognize me by my laughter, people would recognize me by my cough, people would recognize me by my voice.
There is so much power in the voice; I want you to remember that and cultivate your personality accordingly. Cultivate who you want to be in the world, cultivate what you want to put out there.
Because radio is the kind of medium where you may not be able to see physically the impact that you’re having on the world, because you’re sitting in a room and you may or may not have other people around you. I very often prefer not to have other people around me when I’m trying to gather my thoughts, or otherwise, I have a crowd of people because I want their thoughts.
But you will not realize the impact you have on people until somebody comes and tells you, and a lot of radio people have been told various things, like, “I did not jump off a building because of you, I decided to live longer because of you, I decided to get out of a bad marriage, I decided to stay in a good marriage, I decided to become a professional,” etc.
I have innumerable stories of lives we’ve changed by just saying the right thing at the right time. And you never know who you’re impacting. So for me, it is to cultivate yourself, develop yourself, have a worldview that, which you know, if it will impact a generation of people that are listening, you’re able to back and that you’re able to do good in the world.
And that is the message I would like to give aspiring radio professionals, to please work on yourself, work on the way you think, work on the way you question, and work on the way you listen.