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Benschop started the first talk show among Guyanese New Yorkers

Jul 02, 2013 Letters

 

Dear Editor,
This is in reference to a commentary about talk shows and controversial political activist Mark Benschop as appeared in KN (June 26). Benschop had acquired experience in broadcasting before he returned to take up domicile in Guyana in the mid 1990s.  He also penned a few articles for community newspapers – I am familiar with these matters, because I was a regular contributor to several publications and wrote extensively on the Guyanese, Indian and Caribbean diasporas.
Before any others claim credit for initiating talk shows, let me state on the record that Benschop (and Herman Singh) were the first Guyanese to start a community talk show in New York, geared primarily to the Guyanese and (Indo) Caribbean diaspora during the early 1990s.  Claude Taitt, another Guyanese, also hosted a talk show on the Black radio station, WLIB, but it was not geared directly towards Guyanese or Caribbean people. Benschop’s program was aired on another radio station.
At the time Benschop started the talk show, he was also co-hosting with Herman Singh (fellow Berbician) an Indo-Caribbean musical program (Bollywood as well as local Indo-Caribbean) that had many followers every Saturday morning for some four hours.  They were very good hosts and had a very large listening audience (the largest for a Saturday morning for any Guyanese musical program) for several years.
Herman Singh, a real estate and mortgage broker, was the owner and sponsor of both the musical and the talk shows.  The talk show was not well received, prompting school teacher Mahadeo Persaud to once remark that, for some inexplicable reason, Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Caribbeans had developed an aversion to programs that tend to educate.  They seem to have a preference for musical entertainment and were very happy to hear their names announced for birthday, anniversary and marriage wishes. Benschop must be credited for his broadcasting contributions among Guyanese in NY.
Vishnu Bisram

 

 

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