Malawi Andy

Friday, October 07, 2005

What's on the Radio?

Malawi radio offers a wider selection of programming than television.  I don't know for sure how many stations there are but they are scatter pretty evenly across the dial.  The music stations play a variety of music throughout the day.  So much variety that it is nearly impossible to predict what is going to come on next.  The majority of songs are either Malawian, Hip Hop, or Rap, but that doesn't stop them from playing just about anything.  One day I was listening and the station went from a Malawian band (reggaeish) to 50 Cent to an old time country song to Skid Row.  We were in a Restaurant in Blantyre waiting for Sr. Evelyn to pick us up and the whole time was like listening to American pop radio in the early 90's.  There are also the news and talk stations.  The BBC World broadcasts 24 hours a day on the radio so we can always get updates on international news.  I think one that is the most interesting is the station that chants passages from the Koran.  It's the Muslim station and they don't chant all the time, but I'll occasionally catch someone chanting/singing from the Koran in Arabic.