the moment i knew that LingZhi, one of my favourite 933 DJs had left, i was immediately engulfed by a 失落感.
I was flipping the chinese newspaper on monday, when a small column caught my attention. That was when i knew it. And it was already too late. Her last show had ended last Friday morning. It was quite a sudden departure, she would not be continuing her contract with mediacorp.
She entered 933 in year 1999, which was around the time that i started listening to radio programmes. She was the one who kickstarted the highly-rated and one of the longest running 933 programmes, "Music Diary". Aired every weeknight, she would be reading out personal stories of listeners, with her emotion-filled voice. More often than not, her personal touch to these stories made them touching and moving. Slowly and gradually, ratings for this programme went up, and she became well known for her success as the helms of this show, which was listened widely by students and working adults.
The craze of Music Diary continued for many years. I've known people who stayed by the radio at 8pm every night to listen to how LingZhi unfolds each new story. There seems to be no second person who can assume this role other than LingZhi herself. At the end of each story, there's also a segment where she will share a quote that leaves listener with food for thought. Sometimes, she would give her insights about 'love' and all these were helpful to listeners who had troubles in their relationships. Some listeners see her as a 'love expert' in that sense.
But, i admit i wasn't a diehard fan of Music Diary. Cos listening to radio at 8pm wasn't the practice for me, in both sec sch and jc. I know i would have missed out alot. But once in a while, i would make sure that i would tune in to the programme to satisfy the occasional desire.
Music Diary was so successful that LingZhi helped to release "Music Diary CD", which comprised of some of the more meaningful and moving stories sent in by listeners. It was a sold-out effort. "Music Diary CD2" came out 2 or 3 years later, and it too, garnered great support. Music Diary was also awarded the Best Radio Programme in 2005.
For me, I was more drawn to another of her programme a few years back. It was "2300 寂寞有人陪". From 11pm to 2am on weeknights, she would accompany 'night-owl' students like me. It was my all-time favourite late night show. I can't describe to you why, but i juz felt that the silence that comes with the late night has to be complemented with LingZhi's 感性 voice. Late night listening experience hadn't been so enjoyable before. For countless nights, i would listen all the way till 2am. Sometimes i would give myself the excuse that i would be studying, but it soon became less clear, whether it was LingZhi who accompanied me, or was it the other way round.
Then after a year or so, or it could be longer, 933 wanted a major shake-up in the programme line-up. New schedules, new pairing-up of DJs etc. "2300" had to end its run on a fateful Friday Night. I remembered it was a teary night. Lingzhi said that she couldnt bear to leave that programme, and also the late-night listeners. She was scheduled to be a morning DJ. For that night, she played all the trailers that she had made for '2300', and all the memories came flooding back. She welcomed listeners to call in for the last time in her night show, and all of them were so emotional that it was obvious that they were tearing as well. I stayed until my all-time favourite late-night show ended its last minute of air-time, after she gave her touching thank-you speech. She asked us to wait patiently for her return to late-night shows.
DJ Peifen took over the late-night show and right from the first day of the new show, i could sense the vast difference. Albeit peifen was bubbly, and sometimes gentle, it was a far cry from the experience that LingZhi could give. That feeling was gone and i no longer stayed until 2am. In fact, for a period of time, i even switched to ufm1003.
Another 933 major-shake up came after 1 year, but Lingzhi didnt return to late-night shows. i was a little disappointed. And peifen continued to entertain the night owls. After that, the next person to take over late-night was zhiyong, who was really entertaining, in my honest opinion.
Lingzhi continued to be a daytime DJ and also continued to be in the hot seat as host for Music Diary, until not too long ago, Music Diary was split between LingZhi and Peifen. it was quite a disappointing arrangement. Peifen was undoubtedly emotional when reading the stories, but im sure most agree that Lingzhi was stronger.
Then just 2 months ago, came the news that Music Diary's 5 times-a-week programme would be cut to just twice a week, with the other 3 days replaced by Peifen's "大头芬的世界". It was an even bigger disappointment. The latter programme was utterly meaningless, just a blog-ged story about a made-up character. One of 933's longest surviving programmes and one of its popular golden programme has now been plagued with a bleak future. Will Music Diary be axed soon? Can it continue to command interest with the departure of Lingzhi? Nobody knows.
Last friday was the last day of Lingzhi's journey as a DJ. Her decision to leave all of a sudden caught many by surprise, as can be seen by the 200++++ comments left on her co-host zhiyong's blog. So many listeners were 'shocked' and expressed that they couldnt bear her departure, and that she would certainly be missed.
Of course, i will miss her voice on air as well.
Listening may never be the same again.
