RJ Siddharth, who started his career as an engineer, and then switched to advertising, is now a popular name on Indian radio. Currently hosting Big FM’s ‘The Breakfast Show’, the RJ will soon take things to an international platform when he represents India at the International Radio Forum in Zurich, Switzerland. Within six months of it starting, 'The Breakfast Show’ with RJ Siddharth climbed to the top of the RAM ratings in 2014. The show garnered the highest market share with 20 per cent, and had the highest Time Spent Listening (TSL).

In an interview with Radioandmusic.com, RJ Siddhath talks about his childhood, love of cinema and more.

Childhood

Both my parents are into academics, so people expected me to take after them. But my parents never forced me to get into academics, and were very open-minded about the course I take up in college. I think it was due to peer pressure that I became an engineer by qualification. I was a good student, and had decent grades. I remember in the evenings, my father along with other colleagues, would often sit around discussing art, films and other things. I was often fascinated with these topics, and loved listening to them.

Love for cinema

Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip sahib and Dev Anand were many cinema topics that my father and his colleagues would discuss. Since I found these conversations gratifying, I became interested in cinema, and I started loving this form of art. I love to watch movie credits, something that most people generally hate. Till date I enjoy watching all kinds of cinema regardless of the language. Around the same time, I developed a penchant for theatre.

Getting into media studies

After my engineering course, I worked in a well paying job. But boredom seeped in after a while, and I thought I should do something different with my life. This is when I started looking for courses into media. I applied for a lot of institutes, but then I zeroed down to MICA, Ahmedabad. The film-making course attracted me the most. Another reason I joined MICA was its theatre group ‘Sankalp’. I could easily pursue my passion for theatre in the institute.

Being an RJ

I never really planned on being an RJ. After I finished my course at MICA, I started working for an advertising firm and was doing really well over. Then I got a call from Big FM saying that they wanted me on board. After a while, I became a producer and then my bosses pushed me to into RJing. I thought I should give it a shot, and this is how I became an RJ and started hosting ‘The Breakfast Show’ from Monday to Saturday.

About my show

My show, ‘The Breakfast Show’ is all about stories of the people. I believe a city and dreams are interrelated. I talk about artists like Panchamda and their journey to fame. Between 9 and 10 am we do a lot of human interest stories. We recently did a story on a man who gave up his job as an engineer to become a taxi driver, because when his wife was ill, there were no taxis available. Also we did a story on a woman called Ms. Zeenat, who conducts cricket tournaments, in which team members from various religions come together, to play against an opponent. The teams include a few police officers of that locality as well. So I bring out stories of these kinds of people, who are unsung heroes in our society, and it is fun meeting these people.

Research

As an RJ, I have found research is very important. It may take an extensive amount of time, but if you do it, just because you have to do a show, it can become monotonous and you might get bored. If you treat your job like your passion, then things take a different shape altogether as you start enjoying you work. For me, even theater helps me extensively in interacting with different people, and at times this serves as my research.

Advice to upcoming RJs

One of my biggest learnings was, be honest to yourself and the audiences. If something has to be conveyed to the people, be brutally honest if required, and take a stand. Do not think about the reactions of the listeners. If you cannot take a stand, better keep quiet and not say anything at all. Do not join the radio industry for the sole intention of becoming popular and because it pays well. Fame and money will come once you deliver good content.