Making your day

If you wake up to three energetic young voices, complemented by some very tasteful music, interspersed with one particularly weird sound that is a mix between a bird and something out of Muppet babies, you've tuned into the Big Show for sure! TNL Radio's morning show – a relatively new show on air, has become quite a hit among listeners.

Adding to its general success, the Big Show recently claimed the number one spot among morning shows in the Greater Colombo area, in the poll conducted by LMRD, being the authority in this area. Though the radio station has claimed the number one spot for other shows, this is especially important to the station, considering the young team handling the show.

Last week, I got the chance to meet up with the three voices behind the scene. Oozing with loads of energy, I got good vibes all the way from these three individuals, proving that they were, in fact, perfect for the job. Here's introducing Gnei Fuzana Iqbal (20) better known as Fuz, Mitheshe Vidanagamage (19) and Jeff Rajasinghe (19), who simply go as Mitheshe and Jeff – the three hosts of the Big Show.

These guys are responsible for waking you up, keeping you awake and setting your general mood for the day, and the job is obviously no easy task. And going from my experience, the majority of people are not exactly "morning people" (including myself) – hence making the job even harder.

Leading the show – which is on air from 6-10am everyday – is Fuz, who has been in the radio scene for some time, having hosted Evening Drive, prior to getting on this show. "Basically with the Big Show, we try our best to localise everything, so that the listener would feel like we're all in the same area code. It's generally a chilled out show, and our theme is sort of that the world is a messed up place and we're laughing at it – ourselves included. It's also a very interactive show, where we get the listeners involved."

According to her, they have a meeting the day before, to discuss what they're going to talk about on the show. "We also have loads of pre-produced stuff like comedy cuts specially done by Jeff and Mitheshe. We've talked about very Sri Lankan topics like the three-wheel culture, the different sorts of harassment girls have to go through on the roads and even the umbrella situation in Galle Face!"

So how do you keep the show going for four whole hours without running out of things to say? "Well we target the four hours accordingly. The first part, from about 6-7.30am, we make it more suitable for school kids, and then from about 7.30-8.30, it's more general, working-people oriented stuff that we discuss. The last phase, from about 8.30-10am, people are already at work, so it's more music oriented and chilled out."

Fuz who is following a Marketing and Management Degree, never thought of getting into radio to this extent. "I think being on air is way easier than maybe being on TV, and the important thing is to be yourself. It's all in the way you say things." She is also contemplating getting involved in the music industry eventually.

And what about chemistry among the three of them? "We've got along well from the start. The two guys are really great and very easy to work with. What the listeners hear is basically what we are – no pretensions! The Big Show is just us having a good time."

According to her, the three of them have one thing in common, which is the fact that they've all been living abroad for a considerable amount of time, and have returned to Sri Lanka recently. "I have lived all over actually, but mainly the Middle East and Jeff has lived in New Jersey and Mitheshe, in California.”

According to the guys, Mitheshe is the laid-back one, while Jeff is the crazy one, with Fuz being the one bringing in the sanity. My immediate question to them – "So who makes the weird noises?" Mitheshe points to Jeff, who raises his hand and owns up, smiling. "That's just to bring a bit of radio craziness to the show. Basically I want to annoy people enough to wake them up!" he explains.

"We both love music, and we were looking for a job until we leave for College next year, and didn't want a desk job, so this was just perfect.

Once we were told there was an opening on the morning show, we gave in our demo's and they liked it, so here we are!" said Mitheshe, explaining how they got on the show.

They generally divide the show into "Weird News Wednesday," where they talk about interesting snippets from around the world, "Roasting Friday," where they pick a celebrity and humour him or her. Nature Boy is yet another feature on the show, which has become quite popular among listeners, with the hilarious role incidentally being played by Jeff. "We don't really focus on very heavy topics, because this is, after all, a morning show, and you don't really want to take in anything very heavy at that time," said Jeff.

The show normally hands out an interesting mix of music, focussing on "feel good" music.

"The feedback we get from our listeners has been really helpful to improve the show, and with us being on air for just three months, the response we're getting is amazing, especially with the rating. We even had two off Jeff's fans coming from very far-off to see him and talk to him! So having that kind of support is really encouraging," added Mitheshe. The three of them would like to thank the Big Show crew, Yazmine Yoosuf, their CEO Niraj Wickremasinghe, Anil Balasuriya, the entire TNL crew, their friends, families and of course their listeners, for all the support given in making the show a success. So if you haven't already heard them, tune into the Big Show tomorrow morning, and allow Fuz, Mitheshe and Jeff make your day...