An avid radio listener shares experience on World Radio Day

Discover the incredible lifelong passion of C.K. Alexander Chengamanatt, an award-winning radio listener who considers radio his better half.

For an avid radio listener for six decades, the medium is more than the sum of all radio programmes. Retired teacher and award-winning radio listener C. K. Alexander Chengamanatt from near Kothamangalam says it is one half of his life or it is his better half.

He says that radio, the voice of a bygone era, has been instrumental in revolutionising his life. The radio brings home sweetest of memories and is no longer a medium but a living reality, he adds.

At 81, he is healthy and works in his fields, but not without the radio by his side, says Able C. Alex, his son, who says that the radio is a constant presence for his father. He wakes up about 4.30 a. m. begins the routine of listening by about 5.30 a. m. with the programme ‘Subhashitham’.

No wonder, C. K. Alexander is a familiar name to all regular listeners of Akasha Vani. His radio is on from the time programmes begin on Akash Vani until it end in the night. In the process, he won the best Radio Listener prize in 1980 from then Union minister Vasanth Sathe, who presented him with a radio. He has continued to win several recognitions for his passion since then.

His most memorable programmes are series like Jeevadhara, Amulya Nethrangal, Matsya Keralam, Nammude Aharam (Our Food), Sugandha Keralam. He was also awarded with opportunities for free travel around the country on two occasions.

Mr. Alexander has also given away about 20 radios that he has received over the years as prizes. He has also encouraged his friends and relatives to listen to the radio. He says that the radio was instrumental in him winning the State and National awards for the best teacher in 1995-96. He went on to win the Sravansree Award for the best radio listener in 2019.

His wife Mary passed away about 11 years ago. He retired from Kothamangalam Mar Basil Higher Secondary school in 1998 and recalls that the radio regaled the audience at a period in the past through film songs, screenplays, plays and Kathaprasangam. He lives with his son Able C. Alex, who is a library assistant at Kothamangalam Mar Athanasius College.