Seasoned broadcaster Joy Nathu has denied allegations that he is biased and unprofessional when hosting his Made-on Monday programme on taxpayer-funded Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Radio 2 FM.
Social media has been awash with stories that the award-winning radio disc jockey (DJ) demands money from artists and plays music from friends and relatives in a programme which premières urban music every Monday evening.
In a statement made available to The Nation, the Blantyre-based presenter said his noble duty in the show is to identify great talent and believes the programme has sharpened careers of many artists in the country.
“This is my second year running while doing the show and have never at any point demanded anything from artists. Throughout the years, the show has unearthed raw talent,” reads the statement in part.
In an interview, Nathu described the speculations as a shame and blamed it on artists he says failed to make it to the programme with their music, saying they are trying to tarnish his image and that of the programme.
“These are serious allegations. The show has a team of renowned producers who listen to every song before it comes on air and they make their own assessments for such songs to be premiered,” he said.
“This is our policy when doing business. We do not consider whether the artist is new or established. What we want is to promote urban music,” he said.
Nathu said the station looks at content, theme, execution, production and delivery of the song as some of the criteria used to select songs for the programme.
“We need songs that are well mixed and balanced and must be impressive in terms of style, voice and creativity,” said Nathu, who is this year’s Nyasa Music Awards winner in the Best DJ category.
He, however, admitted that some artists have tempted him with money to catapult them to fame, but he states that he has always remained professional.
“Talent speaks for itself, with or without money. I urge local artists to put much effort in their production; otherwise, there will be no room for mediocrity on the show, even if the artist has money,” he said.
Urban artists we interviewed said the presenter demands money ranging from K20 000 to K30 000 for their songs to be premiered on the show.
“I am frustrated because of his conduct. This is not promoting local music. Where can we source that amount? I don’t see music progressing in the country with such behaviour,” one of the artists said.
The highly rated radio programme, which started in 2016, has a huge following among the youth. n
