Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter

Tony Patel

At 58 years old Tony Naran Patel is a reservoir of information, a newsman who has seen the many sides of media, and possibly one of the most easily recognised faces and voices in Jamaica.

Small framed, greying at the temples and with a ready smile, most will remember him as chief news anchor at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation TV (JBC TV) for 25 years.

In the last ten years, he has juggled the responsibilities of adjudicator for the National Speech finals, senior judge of the Optimist Oratorical Contest, and member of a panel of judges for the Actor Boy Awards.

But, for the man whose roles have spanned both radio and television, including 'all-rounder' stints at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) and the Educational Broadcasting Service (EBS), and later as news reader, producer and specialist presenter at the nation's first state-owned tv station, it's all like a dream come true.

Still, it was not always easy for the young Patel who, though acclaimed as a national elocution champion and JCDC gold medal winner in various categories, struggled for years to find a job.

"I wanted to be an announcer but just couldn't get a job. I wrote letters, I auditioned for years, but was always disappointed, just couldn't get a job," he says.

THE CALL

That would change dramatically.

"On the first of April, 1969, I got a message that Wycliffe Bennett had called and wanted me to come over and see him at JBC. I paid no mind because everybody knew I wanted to be an announcer, everybody knew I was writing letters, so I thought somebody was playing a joke. About an hour later, Mrs. Joyce Lalor called and told me that it was really true, and I should go across and see Mr. Bennett. I (literally) ran over to see him and he told me he wanted me to begin the same day as the Continuity Announcer at JBCTV."

Today, he is chief newscaster at KLAS radio station, public relations consultant and part-time voice and speech and public speaking lecturer, and one of the principals of a new media production service agency, Provid.

The latter is his newest project, pulling on his love of photography, videography skills gleaned over the years, and vast media expertise.

Today, he is still at the top of his game. A motor vehicle collision in which he was involved on Kingston's streets just hours before the interview on Wednesday leaves him unruffled, amused even. He shrugs it off.

"Its just one of those things. I'm just happy to be alive."

Not surprised

His colleagues are not surprised, remembering him as an unflappable character.

"Very affable, very easy-going individual, not easily flustered, that's Tony," says communication and theatre icon Alma Mock Yen. The two were former batchmates of the first group of Mass Communication students at the University of the West Indies in 1974.

"He had a lot of patience, which is a quality I admire in persons, not being so myself." She also remembers his role as chief union delegate at the JBC during some 'uneasy times', an undertaking which would have demanded much of him. The tenure of some 12 years spanned a turbulent political period in Jamaica's history.

But it's his on-air features which many persons will remember - clear, clipped voice, and boyish good looks.

"He is an excellent broadcaster, always well-prepared, always very supportive of his team, a straightforward person," recalls Wycliffe Bennett, former general manager of JBC TV and mentor during his early professional years.

Patel is credited as being the first producer of 'The Public Eye' radio call-in show. It was through his pioneering 'Man in the Sky' morning broadcasts, too, that Jamaicans were introduced to aerial broadcasting. His coverage of the funeral of Jamaica's first Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Alexander Bustamante, may have been the very first done from air.

Following up on a passion for youth and their interests, he developed on an idea discussed among friends Desmond Elliot and Gladstone Wilson, and formed 'The Teens Club', an on-air youth programme which allowed young people to expose their talents and express opinions through creative writing and music, debates, editorials, etc. Entertainer Augustus Pablo and reggae icon Dennis Brown are products of the club. Even today, a concern for youth still haunts him. "We are not tapping into the youngsters at all. A lot of what is being done is superficial - it's not reaching out to them and getting their involvement.

We need to inculcate a better value system and teach our young people self-respect, love and respect for Jamaica, and to understand that there is a God and that there is a future and it's not just what's happening now."

Off air, Tony Patel is a motor racing enthusiast, (trained) single-engine pilot, nature lover, avid 'churchman' and doting husband and father to his wife of 28 years, Joy (UWI administration) son, Javan and daughter Janna-Marie. There is pride in his voice as he notes his parents Monica (NY) and JN, even in their senior years, are still hard-nosed working-class folk. Siblings Teddy, Sudhir and Indira complete the circle.

"We have been tremendously blesssed. My parents are still alive, my mother-in-law is still alive, I've never had any serious illness or affliction, no tragedy. The little things that people take for granted I don't - health, water to bathe, food, a home, that I have a job. I'm thankful for all that - and especially my family. Those are the things that are really important to me."

Father-daughter team

In recent years, his daughter, 25-year-old Janna-Marie, has joined him in broadcasting, creating what could well be history on the Jamaican media scene - a father-daughter team of news presenters on air at the same time each evening - 5:00.

"It was never something I set out to do, it was never like him saying to me - this is what you should do - no. It was just that in the latter years of high school I realised that this was what I wanted to do," she says of her foray into broadcasting.

"The very first day I was reading the news at 5:00 p.m. and Daddy was doing the same, it was very emotional for me. And even now every time I read the news I know he's doing the same, and it's very special." She confesses that she has inherited his jitterbug nature, and love for the arts.

"She's a lady of many parts, very restless, like me," her father confirms.

She has been a disc jockey at local radio station ZIP 103 since 2002, while holding down a part-time job at Air Jamaica, and doing full-time studies at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

"It was hard but I was very driven - I wanted to work and I wanted to go to school. I sacrificed a lot of things, a lot of going out. There were classes during the days, I worked at Air Jamaica in the afternoons, then I'd leave work and head straight to ZIP, change out of my uniform (I'd bring along a change of clothes), and then worked to 2 a.m. There was a lot of back-to-back stuff," she laughs.

First Class Honours Degree

She graduated with a first class honours degree for her double major - mass communications and history.

"I'm now a broadcaster, producer and news presenter, as well as a DJ at ZIP 103," she says. Janna-Marie also has an interest in law. In October she started studies at Norman Manley Law School to formally qualify as an attorney-at-law.

"At present, I have a BA and LLB, then when I'm finished I will have a Certificate of Legal Education."

In all this her father has been model and chief supporter.

"Whether it's ironing my uniforms or packing my lunch, he's always supported me emo- tionally, always encouraged me in my pursuits."

Today she teams up with her father, veteran broadcaster Tony Patel, separate studios but one mission, making and presenting the news.

A motor vehicle collision in which he was involved on Kingston's streets just hours before the interview on Wednesday leaves him unruffled, amused even. 'It's just one of those things. I'm just happy to be alive.'

Janna-Marie Patel, ZIP 103 disc jockey, daughter of broadcaster Tony Patel. Off air, Tony Patel is a motor racing enthusiast, (trained) single-engine pilot, nature lover, avid 'churchman' and doting husband and father.