the end of a chapter

i heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who helped us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return, well i don't know if i believe that's true, but i am who i am today because i knew you

every great story has an ending... it's like graduation, it's not because you stop loving it, it's because it's time to move on. i know that my life as an announcer will end sooner or later. just never figured out it would be this soon.

i started wanting to become an announcer back in high school. i was in awe with drew f'n hanson (i think i told this story so many times) the man is great, but i just think he has a shitty luck. but back in the 90s i can say, hands down, he was the greatest announcer i have ever listened to (you can follow him in @thedrewhanson he's more sarcastic these days, but he's still my idol). i was in awe whenever i hear him on the air, and the way that man thinks and ideas in his head, i wish i have that ability. so, ever since i was an avid listener of sunday night 90's in 97.9 wnci, i wanted to be an announcer.

that desire was solidified by carson daly's article in teen people circa '97/'98 (i know deep right?!) well anyway, in that article carson said that he initially wanted to a preacher, because he wanted to touch people's life. and he ended up becoming an announcer which later became mtv vj, and now the tv personnel that you know (or don't :) i don't blame you, but if you are 90's kids and you watched TRL religiously, you KNOW carson daly). well anyway, he said, looking back, he said he didn't regret that he became a tv personnel instead of a preacher. because he said if he became a preacher, he might touched the lives of 200 people in his congregation, but by becoming a tv personnel he touched the lives of millions, and theory proven, he touched my life.

so carson put a meaning in my dream to become an announcer, to touch people lives. i know i sound like pageant girls when i say this. but i truly do want to make a difference. maybe i didn't get as big as carson daly or drew hanson, but at least i got a taste of that. and i know someone was listening, and i hope i contributed something in their lives.

well, aside from that, i have this enormous love for music, but i can't carry a tune even if my life depended on it (don't believe me, ask my sister, and my friends who had endured my karaoke performances), and i don't play any instrument. but i really want to be involved in music somehow. and the only way i know how is to become an air talent, or an announcer :)

plus my long life dream is to become a reporter. well that one didn't work out, but hey i turn out okay i guess :) so radio DJ is a reasonable option for me.

my first radio gig is back in 2001. my mom told me that RRI Pro2 FM was hiring. and lemme tell you something. every time i applied for an announcer job, i have never listened to the radio before :p (that includes this last one, yes ver, i have never listened to indika before i stepped in the 9th floor of mitra building :p) so i went there for an interview, i wore long skirt and shirt (yeah fashionable right?? i wish i took my picture so i can show it to you). so i sit there and lo and behold, i found out that the radio was a 'groovy' radio station that mainly played 'jazz'. uh huh, tell that to a kid to listen to blink 182 religiously that she was going to play jazz in her show. but i don't know what it was that made them to hire me, because i fucked up the voice test like you wouldn't believe. but Denny (gosh for the life of me i don't remember his last name) took a chance on me and call me back to re-do the audition.

needless to say, by some divine intervention and pure dumb luck i got the gig. omigod, i thank god that RRI doesn't have an air check of my early days. i do have them, but i'm keeping it to myself, there is no way i'm letting that goes online :p i was BORING as hell :) but in Pro2 i learned the basic to be an announcer. i learned that being an announcer would not make you rich, but i will give you a platform to be famous and (hopefully) rich. i learned to operate the mixer (gosh i will miss the mixer) and yes we used tape back then (rewind and fast-forward anyone???) and eventually (and honest to god i say this eventually) we got cd players!!! but that's like after i been there a while. so the first 6 months i was there, i got to know the tape player so well. and back then, we can't just come in and sit and announce, we literally have to be there an hour before the show, prepare the materials (remember kids, this was pre-internet era, there was internet, but not as cheap and readily available like these days), setting the tape (that means rewinding/fast-forwarding the tape to the certain song that you want to play...remember tape?? :p), and just pretty much getting your shit ready. so in Pro2 i didn't only learn things about radio, i learned a lot about life :) (which some lessons seems to evaporate when i got into my government job :p)

after Pro2, i was on hiatus for a while, and then i took a gig at Plus FM Bogor. If you're looking for Plus FM right now, don't bother, it's no longer existed. it went bankrupt. but the thing was Plus FM is the radio where i was able to express my creativity freely. my most controversial show was 'your request, my request' where i told the listeners i could not take any more of their 'mainstream' picks and give them another option instead. well, as you know people hated to be told they suck... i got sms like crazy telling me to go to hell. then i picked up this 'whatever' personality that sticks with me until this day.

after Plus FM, i graduated from college, and glad finally i got to choose my own path (or i thought i could at that time) anyway, a friend of mine in college, nugie, told me this 'indika' radio is opening for an announcer. so i sent them my cv and they called me for an interview and a voice test. lemme tell you, i'm the greatest faker in the world. why the hell did you think i passed all those written test?? because i'm fucking awesome that's why!!! :p

needless to say, after a grueling process, i got the gig. and finally!!! Indika FM was like the first REAL radio that i worked in. they actually have producers, an MD that picked the songs for you, and operator who was there 24-7.

i LOVE my job in Indika. i was announcer first, others second. seriously, if it was my choice, i'll still in the business doing stuff. but that's not the way my road went.

but let me tell you, these years i spent in Indika was one of the greatest years in my life. like i say, i got a lot of milestone in my adult life in indika. I went through all my 4 boyfriends in indika :p so yes, the operator saw me pathetically crying because the guys dumped me (yep, i've been dumped in 3 out of 4) i was proposed to in the lounge by my ex-boyfriend (i said no of course, had i said yes, i probably pregnant with my 2nd child right now).

and most importantly in Indika, i got to know wonderful wonderful people who put colors in my life. words couldn't describe how much they mean to me. because in Indika, i rediscover myself, and became who i am right now.

like i say, every beginning must have an ending, that's the way the universe works. and lemme tell you, this is the best ending i could envision for this. i'm giving up this dream for another dream. it hurts of course, like hell, because being an announcer was my life. i defined myself as such, and i guess i have to redefined it, but i believe, once an announcer, always an announcer. i'm not saying that indika will be my last gig ever, but it's my last gig for a while. and who knows, i might pull a michael jordan on you guys :) but i got to do this. and i am excited for what might come next in my life

tonight, i am closing a chapter in my life. but it's not a definite ending. i'd like to think i'm giving it a cliffhanger :p because once an announcer will always be an announcer, or what i used to say, once you got a hold of a mic, you could never let it go (just ask pak agus...okay sorry that was an inside joke :p)

i would like to thank everyone who has made this chapter one of the most wonderful chapter in my book of life. i hope we can keep in touch, i know i suck at keeping in touch, but i'll try my best :)

last but not least, ver, if the backstreet boys had an interview in indika, can i crash in??? :p

anyway, thanks a lot Indika, Plus FM, and Pro2, and now off to new chapter in my life, wish me luck, and i wish everyone the best and i hope in the future we can work together again :)

who can say if i've been changed for the better, i do believe that i've been changed for the better, because i knew you, i have been changed for good...