Perhaps most of our readers don'tt know much about KGI
radio programs and stations and the fact that the KGI
radio program has actually always been the main program
of KGI before the magazine, website, teaching material
and workshops. We are lucky that many radio stations
in Indonesia are happy to broadcast KGI program and
over many, many years. We sincerely thank them for their
cooperation.
Over the years theKGI team has been trying to visit
as many radio stations as possible. With 165 radio stations
across the country, it’s difficult to visit every
single radio station. Following the responses of the
KGI Radio Survey we decided to visit some of those radio
stations as an appreciation of their cooperation over
the years and to hear directly from our listeners what
they think of KGI radio program.
The visits started in Dec 2009. We have always known
that Radio Persada FM in Blitar
is one of the most popular radio stations in town. Many
of their listeners regularly write to KGI. They have
great presenters - Mr Alan and Dion, and with help from
students of local schools. Persada FM is backed by good
management and with great support from Pemda Blitar.
So on 9th December, Alwi and I were in Malang (to participate
in the TEFLIN Conference) we set up appointment to visit
Persada FM in the evening.
As we entered the station and we saw excited listenerspatiently
waiting for us. They were such keen listeners and readers
of KGI. We did a Questions and Answer session, then
a game on scanning and skimming of the latest KGI Dec
magazine. They were amongst the first people who received
the KGI Dec magazine fresh from the printer! Mr Alan
asked us to join the interactive show on the radio.
We received a few phone calls from listeners who said
hello to KGI team and told us how they liked the KGI
magazine and the radio. And then we had a quiz session.
Listeners could answer directly by sending SMSs to the
radio station's mobile no. Within seconds entries came
in including from listeners at the studio. The winner
was presented with a special KGI 20th Anniversary t-shirt!
Another surprise was when Mr Huda made a call from Jakarta
to say hello and to thank KGI team for coming to Blitar.
Mr Huda was the former presenter who set up/established
the English interactive show in cooperation withthe
KGI program. Thanks to you too Mr. Huda. We left the
station around 9pm with a wonderful and positive feeling.
What a great evening that was!
Two days earlier, on our way to Batu, we dropped in
at Radio Kosayu FM. This
is school radio based at SMAK Santo Yusuf. KGI team
met with students who looked after the radio and its
program. They were Tata (the coordinator), Celine, Aldo,
Yansen and Deyan. They were very keen to keep the radio
going on but occasionally they were having technical
problem. And because its a school radio, they cannot
broadcast the program regularly because it depends on
students’ availability. We wish them all the best.
The second leg of the trip begun in late January and
this time KGI took KGI Champions along.
21 Jan’10 - Gresik
I went with Suryadi to Gresik. After asking several
people for the location I arrived at 10am at SMPN 4
Sidayu Gresik. And the radio station was a tiny space
located inside one of the science labs. Pak Muhib is
the only English teacher at the school and he’s
the one who looks after KGI program. Some students help
him usually during recess or break time. And do the
students like KGI program? They said they do but most
of them also said that the English used in the KGI program
is difficult for them to understand because their level
of English is low. And all of them said they liked the
music from Kang Guru.
From Sidayu we went straight to Pamekasan which is
about 4 hours drive away on the island of Madura. It
was the first time for me to visit Madura and I think
I like it. It’s better than I expected and KGI
Champion Suryadi came along so I didn’t need to
worry about places and direction. He is from Madura!
At 4.30pm we arrived at Mansa
FM, Pamekasan. Pak Ahmad Fauzi and his students
who were also presenters at Mansa FM welcomed us. There
were about 20 listeners from many different schools
(some SMP, SMA, MA and Uni students). Even Reem, the
runner up winner of KGI annual writing competition in
2008 was there too. This shows that Radio Mansa FM is
quite popular and have wide coverage area across Pamekasan.
We did a Questions and Answer session and of course
they enjoyed listening to Kang Guru because the program
is quite good but they suggested to add more quizzes
with prizes. Then we did games and it was really fun.
I wished we had more time but it’s almost Maghrib
and so we ended the visit. Keep the good work guys!
22 Jan’10
The next day we went to Sumenep to visit RRI Sumenep.
Both RRI Sumenep and KGI have been in good contact over
the years and so it’s good to be able to visit
it once again and met our friends such Pak Darsono and
Pak Hj. Sugandar. They had prepared a reception in a
room and there were about 12 high school students and
uni students. We had good discussion about many things
such as native speaker volunteer, scholarship, how to
visit KGI office in Bali and RRI requested KGI to send
the program on CD instead of cassettes which we are
very happy to do. They asked if KGI radio program can
be made like basic English lessons, like they receive
from ABC radio. And as far as the listeners, their favourite
are DPDF, idioms Inggris and found that information
about Indonesia Australian is interesting especially
scholarship. Some suggested to make the English slower
because it’s difficult to understand all the stories,
perhaps some help with vocabulary. Then we did vocabulary
game and everyone was happy.
Next appointment was to visit Rasda
FM which is Suryadi’s almamater. It was
Friday and most Madurese were going to the mosque. Suryadi
suggested that I visited the Keraton or the Madura Palace
while Suryadi attended his prayer in the nearby mosque.
Good suggestion! Then we continued to Rasda FM and arrived
there at about 13.30. It was good to finally visit Pondok
Pesantren Al Amien and met our old friends. We have
had good relations with the Pondok largely because of
their active English Club where Suryadi and his seniors
made connections with KGI years ago. Pak Kyai and Ibu
Nyai were in residence and so I paid a visit to them
to thank them for their support to KGI. And Pak Kyai
mentioned that the radio studio was having technical
problem and hoped to fix it soon.
Afterwards I met the students who patiently waited
for me. As I talked to them and asked what they thought
about KGI radio program. The response were positive
and their English was very good. They all like KGI and
guess what their favourite segments are? They like the
entertainment segments a lot and the music they say
is very up to day. Their favourite artists include Britney
Spears, Linkin Park, Green Day …Wow … I didn't
expect those artists to be known by pesantren students.
Though Radio Rasda was having technical difficulties
at the time of my visit they have ‘Ragil –
Radio Panggil’ and they play the program through
‘Ragil’ which is announced through loudspeakers
to classrooms. Excellent idea and I was impressed with
the school facility as well! It was certainly one of
the best visit to Radio stations. Big thanks to you
all guys!
After Al-Amien we headed back to Surabaya but I wanted
to buy some Madura batik and so Suryadi suggested to
stop at Sentra Batik in Pamekasan. When I was looking
for the batik then suddenly Suryadi said, “And
that’s Ogi from Kang Guru”. I turned around
and met a few fans of KGI in the shop. It was a nice
surprise for us all (but I’m sorry I don’t
remember her name or her brother’s name).
Another surprise came later that evening. As I checked
in at Plaza Surabaya and was told that I won a lottery
and that my room was upgraded to Presidential Suite!
Imagine that, a Presidential Suite for me. Wow! It’s
the biggest and the finest hotel room I’ve ever
experienced. I could even do jogging exercise around
the huge room. Wonderful!
A week later, I started the third leg of my radio cisits
with KGI Champions Keyko and Ririn. The itinerary was
to visit Radio Bercahaya FM in
Cilacap, four hours drive from Jogja, back to
Jogja then on to Jakarta and Bandung to visit Radio
Caraka Buana Sukabumi and Radio
Sandy Putra FM in Bandung.
28 Jan’10
At Radio Bercahaya FM in Cilacap, at about 08.30 wib.
the head of the station and staff members welcomed me
and Keyko. Students from SMAN 1, SMP 5 and uni students
of Alcatel soon arrived and we had great time chatting
with them. We presented some games and then I did an
interview with some students about what they thought
about Kang Guru radio program. They all agreed that
a 30 minute program would be better and should be filled
with more about Australian culture and anecdotes. The
station appreciated the gifts from Kang Guru and before
we left, one of the reporters interviewed me for their
news program. I told Pak Danang, the driver that I must
catch the 16.00 o’clock flight to Jakarta. So
we rushed back to Jogjakarta which took about 4 hours
at high speed. Luckily I arrived in time before the
check-in desk closed.
30 Jan’10
With Ririn, our KGI Champion in Jakarta, we went to
Sukabumi in the early morning. We expected that by 9am
we should have arrived at Radio
Caraka Buana Sukabumi (CBS) FM. What a journey
to find that station! The traffic in Jawa Barat was
really terrible! I can’t believe it that it took
3.5 hours instead of 2 hours (as we were informed),
after asking many people for directions.
Pak Camino, the presenter was there to meet us, but
sadly no listeners were there. Pak Camino told me that
actually the coverage area of the station is quite large
but the response from the listenes is very passive.
So it was a very short visit and we had to rush back
to keep appointment with Radio Sandy Putra FM which
took us another 3.5 hours. I had to keep contacted Sandy
Putra school that we’re sorry because we would
be late. We were scheduled to be at Sandhy Putra FM around 12 but we got there at about 14.30. Ibu Mulyati
and Pak Agus Rohana (station manager) with other teachers
with around 40 students patiently waited for us. The
students were quiet and shy but some of the students
are happily helping Ibu Mulyati to run the show. It’s
good to know that the school foundation is committed
to keep the school radio going. Many thanks to Pak Agus
Rohana and Ibu Mulyati to make the visit possible and
being in regular contact with KGI.
The next part was to visit radio stations in Kalimantan
and Sumatra
10 February
I left Denpasar very early to catch the 10 o’clock
flight to Pontianak. Another good surprise happened
to me again. Without realizing it my seat was upgraded
into Business Class. What a good way to start a trip!
So I wasn’t really worried when the flight to
Pontianak was delayed for an hour. I forgot that I had
made appointment with some principals of AIBEP schools
in Pontianak. I wanted to visit an AIBEP school in Pontianak
but it would have taken at least 7 hours (return trip)
to visit the nearest school including crossing the river.
Fortunately KGI CHampion Asep was with them and patiently
waited for me. But once I met them it was a good meeting.
Then I had to rush to Radio Volare
FM. Mbak Temi, the station manager, with her
students and other listeners were there already. Only
some of them listen to KGI regularly. The others only
knew about KGI a week before that meeting. The response
was positive. Here what they said: theme songs are great,
background music should be off or make it very low when
people talking, help of vocabulary is needed to help
listeners catch the story, and 30 minutes show is better.
after two hours our visit finished but we managed to
do two games and took pictures together. From there
I had to get ready for the bus trip to Sintang. Luckily
Ibu Rahayu from RRI Sintang
helped us with the transport arrangement. She came back
to Pontianak to accompany us to Sintang. The bus trip
took 10 hours (an hour late from its regular time) and
we arrived in Sintang at 6am.
11 Feb
I had an hour to sleep in my hotel room before start
the activity of the day. RRI Sintang
agreed to lend the car to take us to the nearest AIBEP
school in Kelam Permai. It is about 46km from Sintang
town and because we didn’t know the school location
it took 2 hours to get there and another 2 hours to
get back. Again we had to ask several people for directions
and one time had to turn around because of a wrong direction.
We met the principal and some teachers but the English
teacher was not there at the time. There were 37 students
in each classroom which is quite big. The Principal
said that they’re getting more funding to build
more classrooms to accommodate more students.
Then just before 1pm we were back at RRI Sintang for
the listener meeting. About 20 students, mostly from
SMK 1 were there already. Funnily enough most of them
don’t listen to Kang Guru and so I made the meeting
into KGI promotion. We had a Questions and Answers session
off air and also on air and the station also opened
an SMS no for listeners at home to participate. We received
about 10 SMS, 2 phone calls and some questions from
people in the studio. The head of the station and staff
were very keen and supportive to have KGI team visiting
the station and it is clear that RRI Sintang is the
leading radio station in the area because of their wide
coverage area and also they often do on air and off
air activities. We spent 3 hours at the station and
so it was a worthwhile visit, not much English but very
fun and with KGI Champion Asep were busy taking pictures.
Later that evening at 7pm we took the same bus to take
us back to Pontianak. It was a very short trip to Sintang
yet a long journey, but it was worth it.
13 Feb
I went to Palangkaraya on Saturday, 13 Feb and Ririn,
our KGI Champion in Jakarta, accompanied me on this
trip. Two weeks before I requested a visit to KFCP (Kalimantan
Forest and Climate Partnership), an AusAID project,
to get information and interview people about the project
for the March magazine. We arrived at BAPPEDA office
where the project office is located without any difficulty.
Pak Eko Pranandhita supplied the initial information
and suggested that I should also interview Pak Alue
Dohong for more information and technical terms. And
luckily Pak Alue agreed to be interviewed later that
evening. And the information was indeed useful.
We then visited RRI Palangkaraya. And it was great to
meet Iga Puspitasari, a student of Bina Cita Utama school.
Capt KGI conducted workshop at the school a year ago.
It’s a boarding school and she goes home on weekends
and because she listens to KGI and that her place is
not far from RRI Palangkaraya so she came to the station
to meet KGI team. And thanks to Septina Trisnawati,
an English teacher who is a KGI regular listeners along
with others who came to know about Kang Guru. RRI Palangkaraya
told KGI that they often always promote their radio
program by making radio spot and asked KGI to provide
the spot for KGI program. We’ll do that of course
so that people stay tuned to KGI at RRI Palangkaraya.
Our impression about Palangkaraya? It’s nice
city and the traffic is very quiet but it’s very
hot! Something funny and rather annoying happened at
our hotel room. We stayed at Aquarius Boutique Hotel,
the best hotel in the city. There was heavy rain at
night and at about 1am Ririn woke me up telling that
our room was flooded with water ….and it’s
true! But I was too sleepy and left Ririn to deal with
the hotel staff to vaccum and clean the room. It was
very noisy of course but I was too tired to change room.
What an experience!
From Palangkaraya I went back to Jakarta to continue
my trip to West Sumatra. And this time it was not just
Wibowo (KGI Champion) who accompanied me but Mila Nurichlas
from AusAID Jakarta came along as well. She wanted to
visit KGI radio station and met KGI listeners.
15 Feb
Wibowo has arrived in Padang a day earlier because of
flight schedule. Mila and I had to catch the 6’0clock
flight to Padang so we had to get up very early. Mila
told me that she got up at 2am because she lives in
Bogor. And so Wibowo met us at the airport with the
car that we hired and then we went straight to Solok.
Ibu Erna of SMPN 2 Gunung Talang have asked us to visit
her school and met her students. We’re happy to
do that. Ibu Erna’s cross culture experience was
printed in the Dec’09 edition of KGI magazine.
It turned out that her school is an RSBI school (promoted
to be international standard school) and of course the
students speak English really well. Excellent! And it
was great fun meeting the students with warm welcome
from school Principal and other teaching staff.
At about 2pm we went to Radio
Gapilar Solok. Mbak Sisi, the music director
along with other crew of Radio Gapilar had set up the
studio for listeners meeting both off air and on air.
There were about 15 students from nearby schools and
some English teachers as well. Do they listen to KGI
regularly? Most of them said sometimes when they’re
not busy or don’t have homework. Come on guys,
make it into a habit! And listening regularly will certainly
improve your English. There were many questions asked
about KGI and its program and about AusAID. So it’s
good to have Mila with us with some explanation about
KGI project and AusAID. And Wibowo shared his experiences
being an English teachers to teachers who asked how
to make their students motivated and wanting to learn
English. It was a good meeting. Thanks to you all.
The next day, on 16 February we continued our trip
to Bukittinggi. After several phone calls to RRI Bukittinggi
we finally managed to get to the station only half an
hour late. We were welcomed at
RRI Bukittinggi newly renovated hall (it was
severely damaged by the earthquake) with a full reception
from Head of Station and his staff members.
It was then that we know RRI Bukittinggi has been broadcasting
KGI since 1990. It’s 20 years! Fantastic! A big
thank you from KGI. We should do more promotion activities
in the future.
After Bukittinggi we had to rush back to Padang airport
and on the way I got phone call from Mandala Air that
Wibowo’s flight to Medan was cancelled and would
be reschedule for tomorrow. Well, it’s disturbing
but the good side was we had little time to enjoy nasi
padang in Bukittinggi and bought some oleh-oleh before
we went back to Padang. Wibowo even spotted a sign ‘Champions
Burger’ - very funny! We then put Wibowo at Hotel
Pangeran for the night and we headed back to airport
to go back to Jakarta (for Mila) and then on to Denpasar
(for me). I arrived in Denpasar just after midnight.
Very long trip but a good one!
13 March
Actually I had to cancel the trip because I thought
I didn’t get any response from the radio station.
But then in late February I got SMS from Pak Vecky asking
confirmation of KGI visit and it was only a day before
due date. And so we had to reschedule and made it to
Tomohon on 13 March. Darmika accompanied me in this
trip. Learnt from experience that finding location can
be a real problem, I asked Pak Vecky to pick us up from
Manado airport. Apparently Tomohon is located up on
the valley with nice sceneries and cool weather.
Unfortunately when we arrived at the station, many of
the students had already left because they had extra
activities at schools. And so we met three students
and some parents who live nearby and wanted to know
about Kang Guru. Although they don’t speak much
English they’re interested with KGI and to know
that Mars FM is popular
in Tomohon. They plan to have English competition in
the future which KGI is happy to support. This was our
final radio visit trip for KGI and we learnt a lot.
Thanks everyone!
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