These days, we have quite a few programmes offered by our radio stations where you have listeners phoning live to expose their personal problems and difficulties (Explik ou cas) or to give their views on a particular topic (Le club du dimanche).

However, certain basic rules need to be observed by those listeners who wish to go on the air.

They should:

• Go straight to what they want to say.

• Have all their documents and other data ready.

• Get their facts right.

• Be polite.

• Be considerate.

• Be confident.

• Avoid getting worked up.

• Avoid getting emotional.

• Avoid raising their voice.

• Avoid having, nearby, a radio set switched on when phoning.

• Avoid naming people.

• Decide once and for all what language to use, either Creole or French.

• Avoid having people around (often you can hear giggles from children or babies crying and what not).

• Avoid having dogs around (during the programme entitled Conseil légal broadcast recently, we could hear the insistent barking of a dog when someone was calling).

Moreover, the person who is phoning needs to be clear. Sometimes we do have examples of people who are not entirely sure of what they really want to say. They tend to lose themselves in wordiness. You can very well sense their confusion or their discomfort. This can be irritating.

Sometimes, the caller keeps repeating the same thing. It is as if he or she is suddenly unwilling to waste a heaven-sent opportunity to make himself or herself heard on the radio. The important thing is to be brief, to be to the point.

One last thing : at times you have the person on the phone as well as the presenter of the programme or the person who has been invited in the studio talking simultaneously.

The result is that you simply cannot make out who is saying what, as each person is literally covering the words of the other. It is an incredible cacophony and this is one example of communication breaking down.

The rule is to allow one person to talk at a time. If such a simple code could be observed, phone-in programmes would be much better in quality.

Suresh Ramphul