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Radio Dhool, a Tamil radio app, is a renewed novelty

Radio Dhool, a Tamil Radio Station, is a renewed novelty of listening to the Radio once again. It takes you back to the time before the Internet occupied your On-Demand music relish. RJ Dhivyaa, the founder of Radio Dhool Station, operates it from United States of America from her home. She has put together a brilliant team of Radio Jockeys in this pandemic situation. The beauty of this Radio Station is that the RJ’s don’t have to set the foot out of their home. RJ Dhivyaa has facilitated a challenging environment with such mirth.

Radio Dhool begins to emerge as the place where you not only find the best music through their meticulous effort, it is where they close the gap which caused by a lack of human interaction, listening to current affairs, when most of us have already got used to such an isolated condition.
There are shows like “Iyal Isai Iravu” which offers songs from 80s and 90s, that take their listeners on a trip down to memory lane by RJ MG Adhavan. A show like “Kollywood Appatakkar”, an interesting show to listen to know all about Tamil Cinema, by RJ Aarathi who gives credit to her husband for his support in her pursuit. A show like “Middle Bench” by RJ Srikanth who gives credit to his wife in his pursuit. RJ Mirdhu, who says “Humour makes life easy”, shines with her funny show “Why Blood? Same Blood”
They offer show called “Oru Naal RJ” (One Day RJ) among their various, innovative shows, which lets anyone to give a try in RJ-ing, whoever listens to their radio and discover and showcase their talent. Here is an exclusive, the first-ever interview with Radio Dhool Team since they have happened. Lets peek into the interesting journey and the sweet experiences of the RJs here:

RJ – DHIVYAA

1. Your RJs have never set foot in your Radio Dhool office. They make sure they do their shows remotely from wherever they are. How did you overcome that difficulty as running a radio station remotely has really not set an infamous precedent before?
When I started the station, distance and not being able to meet physically did not even occur to me as a hurdle. I was only focusing on bringing an amazing team together, which I did. Everyone in my team is so enthusiastic and dedicated beyond imagination. With a team like this I definitely shouldn’t be worrying about distance. “Manam irundhal Maargabandhu, sorry maargamunndu

2. Tell us about the challenges. Radio Dhool brings out the nostalgia of listening to the FM radio before internet was holding the upper hand. I too have requested, at my convenience, one of my favorite songs to play on Radio Dhool. We have got apps today to listen to our favorite songs that we like but we certainly lacks the human interaction. And most people got used to such set up too. And you are making measures to close the lacking feeling gap and find the roots of Radio once again. Tell us about the challenges and the welcome you have got so far.
      It is true that we have gotten used to On Demand music. But Radio Dhool does not just fill in for the lack of human interaction, but also negate the need for On Demand music. People seek On Demand music apps because they want to listen to good music, the music they like, the songs that they want to listen and that is where Radio Dhool offers that to them in a golden platter. At any given time, when you tune in to Radio Dhool you will listen only to the best music. We have meticulously made efforts to make sure to provide only the best music and to add to that we have amazing shows to fill the gaps between India and US from really talented RJs, to present to you the complete package that has been missing all while long. We have received so many many complements on the music we play and the quality of shows we are providing. It makes me extremely happy that people are having a good time with Radio Dhool.
3. Oru Naal RJ idea seems so fascinating. It’s exhilarating and refreshing to find new talents daily. It infects others with enthusiasm and works as a gateway for some more self-discovery too. Tell us about the new talents you see in the show and if there is anyone you so badly wanted to keep them in your team.
I want to try out this RJ thing and see what it feels like, but I don’t have the opportunity or time to put into it” is a very common thing I have heard from a lot of people. So, Oru Naal RJ was conceptualized for everyone to have a go at RJing and discover if they have it in them. It can also be for some who want to experience the joy of being an RJ just for once. I have had so many that I have wanted to keep and definitely have them in mind for any future opportunities.

RJ Macrin
She calls herself the lovely neighbor you would stumble upon and end up having a great chat with.
1.What are the meticulous preparation you take for your show “Hashtag Fake ID”?
I prepare by searching for interesting content and package it in a way that will grab the listener’s attention when they tune in to my show. I also have to very careful not to take any sides and to remain unbiased when I have to convey the facts which I am still struggling with. I am still experimenting and exploring and haven’t arrived at one concrete place yet.
2.What do you tell yourself to kick start your great day?
It’s easier to just wake up and go on about your day  than having my face smashed by the rear ends of my kids, so come on Mac, hop outta bed “ has been my mantra since I had my kids and it has worked great so far.

3.Tell us about the interesting experiences you have come across in this journey.
I haven’t had any happy or interesting incidences yet as Radio dhool is still new and I am still trying to find my way here, but one very interesting aspect is how I found my friends in our RJs in spite of not having seen them in person at all. They have been very encouraging and motivating.

RJ – MG ADHAVAN

Your love for traveling and your passion at things you do, it makes sound like nothing could possibly stop you from keep moving on in life. Where do you extract such an infectious energy?

Wow, is it?.. Thank you so much…
Actually, an inborn trait, that is constant in me, is passion and wholeheartedness towards anything I do. Since its innate, I couldn’t explain much on how I make it seem that way. Generally, when I cruise straight to my destination with such speed, the obstacles and failures that I face.. I gracefully embrace them as a lesson and recently learnt how to move on with my next plans. That’s what we are supposed to do, isn’t it? No choice hahaha.. But truly saying, few factors which fuel me with such vibes and energy are my parents (My biggest pillar of my strength) & motivational films like The Pursuit of happYness, Southpaw, Soorma, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, 3 Idiots & Irudhi Suttru. You just can’t bring me back to real world if I’m engrossed in movies
“Iyal Isai Iravu”, your show on Radio Dhool, brings the nostalgic songs that stay timeless to your audiences. Tell us about the preparation you do for your show.
I framed my show in such a way that my listeners, on hearing it, will definitely take a trip down memory lane into early 80s, 90s & 2000!!
I personally felt, that the poets were at their peaks at their wordplay. While watching the songs along with the movie, we generally carried away with director’s visualisations, automatically tending to ignore the depth of the lyrics. It is human nature, so I do a lot of ground work in analysing the lyrics to understand what the poet had penned. Hence, when I listen to the songs alone this process helps to understand the song better.


Surprisingly, some music fanatics have created blogs and websites which present insights or trivia about how, where or by whom the master piece was originated, which I, Intern present to my listeners interestingly.
In addition, I also describe to my audience with my idea of how brilliantly song has been placed in the movie.
As you mentioned in your Radio Dhool’s introduction video, your life has been a beautiful journey, where is it taking you to?
I’ve always been grateful that my life has been exciting with an array of varying emotional experiences happening one after one, which has made me a strong individual that I’m being now. Though my life has seen crests and troughs, I admit that I’ve been quite hard on myself at recent times, making me have increased self-expectations… Trust me, a transition phase is crucial yet testing… But, if you ask me where I’m taking my life to… haha.. I’m seriously not sure..
If I had known the destination already, my life wouldn’t have been this beautiful. I feel that a nomadic soul is being trapped inside me and it’s just making this journey way more exciting, making me cherish each & every moment.
I do have big goals and dreams in my life, I’m simultaneously working on it. we shall definitely talk about it once I achieve it!!
I’m currently in a stage where I’m enjoying my present moments to the fullest without an expectation, except for one that I’ll continue making my life a beautiful and memorable one..

One of the saying that I highly relate myself to, is
“Efforts – The most underrated word but the most important aspects of life are dependent on your EFFORTS. Relationship sustains on Efforts, and not Promises. Growth depends on Efforts, and not Results. Desires are fulfilled by Efforts, And not Thoughts.
Outcomes aren’t in your control, EFFORTS are! Keep doing them!”

RJ NADHI

1. Allow us to peek into your time managing skills between engineering profession and passion in talking. Tell us about the fulfilling as well as the hard part in your jobs that you would have to balance to find the satisfaction you are looking forThat’s the reason my boss offered weekend show for me :). Whenever I get time during my regular work schedule, I will dive in and start preparing content for my show. It is one show per week hence I am able to manage work easily.  I also love working late night and most of my content preparation work and voice recordings are done at that time with absolute silence and in company of some invisible ghosts. I am constantly encouraged by my hubby. I have my full freedom to pursue what I love. He looks after my kids and take care of the household chores. He shows his support for me to focus on my RJ work.
At the end of the day I am elated about the positive feedbacks I receive which gives me satisfaction for the effort I put.


2. Your show “Uravugal Thodarkadhai” which helps people with relationship troubles to smooth things out. Tell us about any experiences or the impacts or revelations you take home with you.
When I started this show I just want to share about relationships in my life and the joy I experienced to my audience. But never realized it will help rekindle beautiful memories for them. I am overwhelmed to hear from my audience that my show is making them remember the wonderful memories they had with their relations back in India. One day a listener of mine told me that my show made her remember her lost father, It was such an emotional moment for me and it gave me an immense satisfaction with my work.

RJ AARATHI

I have so many questions when I think about how you walked away from a decade long IT career to do something you love. It may SOUND simple but I assume they are not so simple to carry out. Please enlighten us your journey.
Yes, it was not such an easy thing to quit career and jump on to what u love. Passion drives you, even when u had to cross crooky paths.. I had many responsibilties both personally and financially, being a mom of a 3 year old kid, being a daughter of single parent(my mom), being in a middle class family, being a normal being without any big history… Huff a lot more…. It is always said, there is a woman behind a man’s success. In my case its vice versa.. There is a man behind every women’s victory. My love of my life, my darling husband was very very supportive and I was able to quit my career and take care of my kid, family, finance and finally kick start my passion.


Tell us how much cinema is part of your daily life which, I hope, is the seed for the show you host “Kollywood Appatakkar” in Radio Dhool.
“Daddy, shall we go for a movie?” “Mummy, switch on the TV, I wanna see this movie” “Sissy, new movie released, Where is the ticket?” these were some of the phrases I used often in my childhood days. My friends used to say, we can no where see aarathi except in satyam theatre. Yes, That was my favorite spot… To talk about cinema was the one consistent character of min. I do the same here in my show…. Kollywood appatakar is a place where u can hear the real, funny, full fleged, and non-stop ME..

RJ Srikanth

He has a show to talk about people who are often unnoticed  like middle benchers in school. Tell us about your show “Middle Bench

Majority of people grow up to be “middle Benchers” who need not be experts or specialists or famous for any good or bad reason. But then they may still carry opinions on things happening around them and for most part their opinions represent the opinion of the society in general. Imagine a conversation that would happen in any Tea Shop in Chennai. For most part it would be about current happenings, politics, cinema, cricket and stuff. It would be a melting pot of various ideas and expert opinions from people who necessarily are not experts.  This show is an attempt to bring that experience to the radio based on how I feel about topics concerning “America vazhum Tamizh” friends. Being a prod “Middle Bencher” myself I feel my opinions align with what majority of like-minded Tamilians feel living in USA.
What does it mean being a RJ to you?
This opportunity happened in a informal unplanned way. When my wife asked me to give it a shot, I never thought I would be able to consistently deliver show week after week and also didn’t have confidence on myself till my wife, one of my friends and Dhivya encouraged me to take it up. Life here in US is busy and monotonous for most part and we need a way to vent out and express ourselves so as to not get bored. This RJ-ing gig has become my way of creative vent out. It has been a great journey so far.


Are you a Last bench guy or Middle Bench guy?
If someone tells you they have been a first bencher or middle bencher their entire life, I would say they are lying. Throughout our schooling and college there definitely would have been situations where we feel part of first, middle or last bench. But law of averages stereotypes us to belong to a specific category.
So I have been last bencher when I was feeling naughty or first bencher if the teacher was good (in teaching, please don’t get any ideas ) . But majorly I have been lucky enough to be part of the majority group which was middle bench. May the border where Middle bench ends and last bench starts.
Being a Family man how you are managing work & Family & RJ role
This new journey has been very interesting and also very demanding in a way. I am also pursuing my executive MBA with Penn State and this has become more like my 3rd job. I end up sleeping really late on most of the weeknights to keep up with my work, studies or my recording. I try to allocate my weeknights accordingly, but as always family decides something else and I end up burning the midnight oil way too deep into the night. It reminds me of the first few months of sleepless nights I had as a Father when my kids were born and that experience is really coming in handy. Just that I don’t have any diaper duty. 

RJ JEYASHREE

Talking is one of the things you love doing the most. And you say there is nothing you dont want to talk about. I can imagine that it’s not just about giving some part of yourself but also taking something to complete yourself. Tell us about your experiences about having a fun or a deep, philosophical conversation.
Lets be real.. I don’t think anyone will be born as a know-it-all. It’s like what you like, let you learn and like it more, like a pattern training loop. The more you talk the more diverse topic you get in. Let it be a flight travel or a conference amongst a group of new people or a party with few known faces I don’t hesitate to say a ‘Hi’ first.
As I start the conversation, I try to “Connect” and “Relate” to people and context we are talking about. Fun conversations are always fun but there has been times, where I have had conversations that has created a huge impact on me.


One such incident was while I was volunteering in my community library I had met this lady from Afghan and we started having usual “Mom talks” about kids, school, doctor appointments etc and then eventually we were talking about how each of us landed in USA. Thats when I learnt that she was a refugee from Afghanistan and as many others she was forced to flee their homes, leaving family members behind and came in search of better life. This really had a huge influence on me and the “Connect and Relate” I was talking about earlier helped me switch gears and provide her some emotional support and also made me explain to her philosophically on why certain things are happening!
Reflecting others experience on me is also a bonus to me in these conversations to stay motivated and feel blessed always. So, Yes, I am always up for a Fun or a serious or a Philosophical or a religious or a political conversation. Bring it on!!!

RJ Mirdhu

You are a HR by profession. You promise a funny show “Why Blood? Same Blood”.
Tell us how you harness the positivity from your overwhelming time management trait.
Oh yea, I am a HR by profession.. I have a 19months old baby , I still cant believe I am an RJ and apart from this my everyday household chores and many more.. but I still have time to go for a drive in the evening with my hubby man and  I also have a quality me-time.. people wonder how.. said and done I have no idea what I am doing but I guess I love every bit of what I am doing and that keeps it going.. after all its my family, my career, my passion its euphoric I say !! 


You talk and make others feel good about themselves for a living. As I can imagine how fulfilling this job makes you feel, I’m also eager to know how you do bounce back from a not-so-great day to get on with the show.
Lol “idhu kalavara bhoomi” trust me I am a drama queen and my mood swings are quite dicey.. so now you know why I mentioned the above lines of our evergreen Vadivelu. But the minute I sit infront of the mic and wear my headphone it all dissipates in the air. Infact very recently I have made fun of my mood swings in one of the shows and mentioned that “muzhusa chandramukhi eh maaarina moment”.
Humour makes life easy..  I guess one decent quality of me is I have the tendency to turn a not so great day to a funny one with the help of Tamil movie dialogues.


RJ NANDHINI
1. It is least to describe your presence as a firecracker in a room. You infect your audience with your quick wit and draws them close to make them immediately comfortable. You host the first show of the day “kickstarter” and start the day of your audience too. Tell us about one of the most interesting experience you have had in this amazing journey.
Radio happened to me in 2006. I was a Music manager, producer, and an RJ. I have always been passion about talking. Radio was an accident. But I made use of that happy accident and really enjoyed the journey.  Listening to music the whole day since i was a music manager too, talking to thousands of people being an RJ and getting paid for talking.. what more you want? Radio helped me realise how much I enjoyed talking!


2. Brief about your first day Experience with team and RJIng
I was bit nervous because what am doing in Radio dhool is the breakfast show called “Kickstarter”. Have never done a breakfast show before. So covering all current affairs in the US, India and across the world and being responsible all the time was bit new to me. Am just a week old RJ in Radio dhool.  But the team and people around me helped me get through this. The team was very welcoming. They encouraged me, gave me feedbacks. They were ready to help me all the time. I have to thank the founder Dhivya here. She was doing this show before she recruited me as her replacement. And she helped me a lot. She was just there for me all the time. Starting from helping in taking the content to how to deliver and do’s and dont’s on air etc.

RJ DHANYAA

She is a personalised travel Agent who whispers in her audiences’ ears and invokes their yearning to travel, Tell us about the preparations and the outlines you prepare for your show.

First of all, thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity! I am truly honored.
The constant yearning for traveling, seeing places, meeting people and gaining new experiences have always been a part of who I am. So when I got the opportunity to do the “Travel Agent” show with Radio Dhool, I was elated!


As for the preparation for the shows, I think about what I have learned so far with my personal experiences with traveling and what I wish I knew before-hand while traveling to a new place, which can range from little things like tit-bits on what to carry with you in your purse to things like which airlines provide good deals, and so on. I then research and jot down these points on an everyday basis. More importantly, I reach out to my friends who travel all around the world and ask them to share their experiences and what they have learned with me so that there are multiple perspectives to this subject. At the end of the day, I strive to provide the audience a well-researched and informative travel segment, which is also equally entertaining (at least that’s what I try to achieve. I hope the audience feel the same way too 🙂

Share us one of the most interesting incidents you had come across in your experience.
I have had several memorable experiences during my travel, but my most memorable one is my travel to Colorado to  hike and summit a 14er (mountain with the altitude of around 14,000 ft) called Grays Peak with no prior experience on big hikes. I usually do moderate hikes. I consider myself a generally willful and strong person. I had full confidence that I could make it to the summit and back with no problems. But this hike was my point of self-realization. This was the first time I had experienced tremendous pain in my entire body and it’s urge to just give up. I was almost willing to be stuck in the middle of a mountain for the rest of the night when there was a storm brewing up just a few minutes away. My friends (who were already experts at hiking at the time) literally had to pick me up and motivate me to walk back down. I will never forget this experience and what it has taught me. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” – Joker, Dark Knight 🙂

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