938LIVE radio deejay Bharati Jagdish was victorious at the MediaCorp Radio Awards as she walked away with the award for the Most Popular Radio Personality (938LIVE). She told Popspoken just after her win that she was not expecting to nab the award and thought she would lose out in a popularity contest.
“I always think that people may not like me because I’m so serious on the air. It’s usually the fun, more jovial and congenial people who win. But I feel that, by thinking that, I’m not giving my audience enough credit,” said Bharati.
Her role in the daily discussion on Singapore’s hot-button sociopolitical topics has been monumental. Besides chairing the Talkback daily morning show on 938LIVE with co-host Andre Ahchak, she graced both seasons of Singapore Talking, a talkshow on English free-to-air Channel 5 that discussed key political topics and views from Singaporeans.
Oftentimes, her run-ins with Singaporeans have not been the best of times. From grouses on the ground to complaints about anything and everything, Bharati has heard them all. She denied having pains on the job and relished her role as fact-checker and educator on the airwaves.
“It is real: this is what people are thinking. Everyone has opinions and sometimes, they make it based on perhaps not enough information. What happens is we’ll have callers coming in to surface their complaints that may not be true.”
“They may have perceptions about certain government policies that may not be entirely true and I’m always happy to provide them with facts that might help them see it from a different perspective, even if it doesn’t help them change their minds,” she added.
Even as Bharati steps in to educate Singaporeans on some of the policies that the local government has implemented, she acknowledged that it goes both ways and oftentimes hear more views than what she normally encounters with friends.
“Often, I find that my listeners and callers teach me a lot because I may not be able to see it from their point on view. I have my group of friends; I may not be exposed to every different type of Singaporean in Singapore. But through my show, I’ve become exposed to what people in various situations, demographic and psychographic profiles might be thinking. It helps me understand the issues better,” she said.
“That kind of show educates me, just as how much it might educate a listener.”
Photo: MediaCorp
