FROM READING NEWS TO BEING A VIRGIN RADIO PRESENTER

Priti Malik shares her journey of being a journalist and entertainment presenter.

“nothing will be handed to you just because you have a degree”.

Dubai- Having started working in Radio and TV at the tender age of 17 years, Priti Malik has managed to gain experience in being both a news journalist and an entertainment radio presenter. Her journey first started when she first visited the MTV studios to watch a taping of Total Request live, which later sparked in her a passion for radio. She then pursued a degree in Broadcast journalism and officially became a news reporter at the Arabian Radio Networks studios in 2008.

Despite being popularly known as a radio personality and entertainer, Priti Malik still identifies herself journalist mainly because she has a journalism degree. She states that the tools she learnt as a broadcast journalist, has equipped her to to being the presenter she is today. In her daily work, she practices the fundamental elements of being a journalist such as “going out looking for stories” and “conducts interviews”. Currently, she reports on entertainment news on the gossip segment.

In highlighting the difference between being a presenter and a news journalist, Priti Malik describes it as “night and day”. On being a radio presenter, her day involves doing “Silly challenges such as throwing an office chair down the hallway”, while being a news reporter is complete opposite.

In drawing the balance between entertainment content and news on the radio platform, Priti Malik argues that the Arabian Radio Networks is doing their best to incorporate news on their platforms. The news runs on different times a day between 3- 5 minutes in the various radio stations, although some longer than others.

She emphasizes that the demand of news content isn’t declining in radio as people “Want to hear the sports update, what is going on around the world and if there is a major event, they want to hear what happened to it.” Malik adds, “I don’t think you can categorically say that people switch of when the news is on or that radio needs to push news. I think that radio here in the UAE is where most people hear their news”.

Describing the radio industry and the path to becoming a successful journalist and presenter as “the most difficult” course, Malik advises young aspiring presenters to first “love” what they do before pursing the field. This is because the journey entails long working hours; sometimes working on multiple shifts, as she explains. Another challenge of becoming a radio presenter and journalist is not getting paid or paid very little for a long period of time.

When she first started at the Arabian radio networks, Malik says that she would report in the studios at 3:30 am in the morning and after recording the news bulletins, she would “help out” with the Kris Fade show for free. After the show, she would then proceed to another news shift. She highlights that young journalists should be prepared to work for free and that “nothing will be handed to you just because you have a degree”.