A lifelong love affair with radio

Mar 07, 2010 News

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Noel Adams is a ‘Special Person’

“I gave my life to radio and entertainment, and since retirement, I have still tried to focus on entertainment activities…I would love to see radio inspire and motivate our nation much more than it is doing at present.”

By Rabindra Rooplall

Noel Adams is what I would describe as an iconic figure, who to date, has given 44 years of his life to radio, and has molded and shaped that medium via his dedication. This outstanding 68-year-old son of the soil is arguably one of the most humble giants one will ever meet. In short, you’ll never know if you don’t ask.
This week’s ‘Special Person’ was born in 1942 at Alness, on the Corentyne Coast, Berbice, to William and Iris Adams. He is the eldest of five children, followed by two brothers and two sisters. He has been married for 27 years and is the father of one, Joseph Adams.
From the inception, the challenges Noel faced probably set the tone for a life of superlatives. He was born with cataract and ‘lived in darkness’ until he was nine years old. He then had corrective surgery which helped to some extent with his vision.

By his teens, Noel was capable enough to write for himself, and started to develop a passion for music. At the age of 15 he fell in love with the art form, which helped bridge the gap, since it was recommend by his doctor that after completing his Primary education he should not push into Secondary School since his eyes would be tremendously strained, and if too much reading was done, they would eventually fail him.
Noel attended St. Marks Anglican School at Alness and developed that love for music during his early days in the Ancient County.
However, he later moved to Georgetown since an opportunity was presented to be a part of a programme called “In search of a star” which he gravitated towards in 1964, aged 22, and where he was one of the only persons who wrote and composed his own songs after being motivated by Ray Charles and Steve Wonder who were rising to stardom.
Noel recounted that he had gone to the Guyana Broadcasting Service’s radio station to “try a thing”. He got on the programme and was successful.
“I remained in town because the opportunity allowed me to be part of the radio team. I was extremely happy for the employment.”
Noel disclosed that he originally wanted to be a Priest, and then he thought of being a Lawyer. A radio announcer is what he became; he unwaveringly devoted his life towards the career.
He reflected that he couldn’t have been a priest since he was not fully qualified to enter the university and the same applied to his ambitions to be a lawyer.
Consequently, he continued with studies in music and with correspondence courses in English, Economics and various other subjects.
Noel started his career in radio on November 1, 1966, when the Guyana Broadcasting Service was located on High Street. He started as a library staff and later eventually produced and presented programmes.
From 1966 to 2003, his name was synonymous with soothing entertainment. During that almost four-decade part of his tenure, his duties, beginning in the library, entailed production of musical programmes; formulating concepts for musical programmes and assisting other producers and presenters devise novel ideas for the listeners.

It was also in this period that he performed as a blues vocalist for the renowned ensemble, the Harry Whittaker Jazz Sextet, and was also pianist attached to the Pegasus Hotel. He also entertained many at noteworthy establishments the likes of Del Casa restaurant, Hotel Tower and Belvedere.
Noel recalled during his years in radio many persons had made a tremendous impact on the local scene. He spoke highly of several of his managers, including his first Ulric Gouveia, as well as Rafiq Khan, Terry Holder, James Sydney, Ave Brewster, and Fazil Azeez, who is now a magistrate, and gave kudos to a number of announcers also, naming among them Margaret Lawrence, Matthew Allen, Ron Robinson, Clive Bacchus, Eslin Chapman, Prudence Lewis-Bhola,  Basil Bradshaw, Rosemary Benjamin-Noble and Ayube Hamid. Bertie Chancellor, who also announced for many years, and Jean Singh, were described as library stalwarts.
Reminiscing on his early days in ‘radioland’ he recollected when he was a part of the production team for “In search of a star”, a programme which connected with particularly youth in society, and where he met Ayube Hamid, who he joined in traversing the country, between 1967 and 1979, in search of talented young individuals.
Another production which struck a chord with Noel was ‘Teensville’, a show for talented teens – which was also conducted exclusively in the studio. He provided piano accompaniment for performers in both ‘Teensville’ and ‘In search of a star’.
Noel also remembered ‘Calypso Mix Mash’ which was a programme associated with Mashramani, with a wide variety of local and international flavour. It was aired ever Saturday.

In comparing Mashramani in those days to the present, he lamented that nowadays the event and the music are forgotten just after the day passes, until the next Mashramani, however, long ago, each Saturday, the musical aspect was kept alive all year long.
“Mashramani was supposed to be more spectacular for this the fortieth Republic Anniversary,” he expressed thoughtfully, while adding, “It was supposed to be more professional. “We don’t have music to make a National Orchestra… can you imagine that?”
“I would have liked to have seen a National Orchestra do a big concert at the National Park and bring back some popular international artistes to mix them with some of the best that are in Guyana and really do a show that can give the public the understanding that Guyana was a great country in that regard, in the times past… in fifties and sixties.”
This led him to wistfully reminisce about two other programmes he presented ‘Home grown and good’ which shone the spotlight firmly on Guyanese musical talent, and ‘Caribbean Music Box’ which was put together and played during the pre-lunch period.
Along with being on the radio, Noel also performed in concerts at the National Cultural Centre, St. Sidwell’s Anglican Church, where he attends every Sunday and the world famous St. Georges Cathedral.
Since 1992, he has presented the aforementioned ‘Jazz for the asking’, however, he was involved in its production since the late ’60s.
He added that Keith Michael Austin, who now lives in the United States, managed the programme up until 1992, then he took over presentation before he later retired in 2003, and continued to be involved in part time radio –  producing and presenting ‘Jazz for the asking’ which is aired every Saturday.
Noel recalled that in the past, local artistes were not supported enough, and he emphasized that this was a shame, given that someone of the caliber of the Mighty Sparrow essentially had ‘his beginnings ‘in Guyana, which should have been the perfect environment to launch a career. At that time, he stressed, Guyana was standing strong in arts and culture.
“We lost many of our artistes because we did not encourage them. Some migrated, and the rest did not have the support and motivation. We fell through simply because we did not give our artistes the support they needed at the time when they really needed it.”
“With the introduction of superior technology, artistes today have it much easier. More is available to the consumer. Thousands of songs and records can be downloaded onto a computer… records are being replaced… and with the introduction of television, radio simply was left backstage, because television gives you a picture to go with the words …it is right there in front of you. I still love the radio, though, the radio allows for more focus and use of the imagination.”
“At present, any sound can be considered music, however, in the past, orchestration was an integral part of music, with the studying of harmony and chord systems and the general knowledge of music. There were special chords used for music and special chords for church music. Today you don’t have that, everything is mixed up. Once you could do it and get away with it and to the layman it sounds good, no problem.
“Most of the popular songs in the past… the sheet music… could have been bought, and if you want the whole thing… now you just go to a record bar and buy it and no notes are sold for music.”
Noel’s experience taught him that the older persons had a more stringent upbringing in the art form before they could be placed on radio or in a studio, however in modern time, budding artistes want to get into recording “as soon as they could do a few things”.
He also took a jab at offensive lyrics.
“Any music promoting bad as good should not allowed on air.”
When asked what the recipe is for good radio, he revealed, “Training personnel is the key factor of good radio. Radio is a two-way street. Interaction is priceless. There were programmes in the past such as ‘Countryside gaff’ where some announcer would go around in villages and talk to the village people, children, and even the chairman, to understand and get a study of what life was like and deal with the real issues, that is what people want to hear from radio.”
“We deal with Guyana as if Guyana is Georgetown… what about the man driving the boat in Moruca, the radio today, in my opinion, has not succeeded in covering a wide audience and their interests, compared to the past.
A connection must be made in society where the audience is a part of the life of radio.
Sometime when I look at and listen to news and persons are unable to pronounce the names of some of the villages, it hurts terribly. The care is not there anymore in the Media.”
Noel is adamant that despite the apparent oblivion, there are still a few persons who are genuinely interested in helping the outlying communities.
With respect to cultural and social development, using the media as a platform, he also expressed some concern. “It appears as if everything on the airwaves is now meant for business and those in authority have forgotten to cater for the well being and development of a moral society. I am also perturbed that there are less educational programmes now than there was in the past.”
The veteran radio presenter advises, “Young people must stick to what they enjoy and have a molded personality, so that whenever reflected upon, there will be smiles on their faces. They can safely say that life has been an expressive journey, and when people look at them they not only see a human frame, they see an expansive, creative being.
“I gave my life to radio and entertainment, and since retirement I have still tried to focus on entertainment activities. I spend hours behind my music and keyboard daily and I especially look forward to presenting ‘Jazz for the asking’ every Saturday.”
Asked what he would like from radio he replied, “I would love to see radio inspire and motivate our nation much more than it is doing at present.”

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