Connecting With Young Indonesians

Oksana Dragan

The diverse men and women who work as international radio broadcasters at the Voice of America represent a broad range of backgrounds and interests. Today on New American Voices you'll meet a young professional from VOA's Indonesian service who is both a radio personality -- and a cook.
Indonesian Youth Show opening
Like any international radio broadcaster at Voice of America, Ariono Arifin, who came to VOA four years ago, serves as a writer, announcer, reporter, newscaster, producer. But in addition, Ary -- as he is known to his colleagues and his listeners -- has the challenging job of attracting a younger audience to the Indonesian service's radio and television programs.
"There's this term called ABG in Indonesia. Anak Baru Gede. It stands for teens who have just become an adult, you know, your late teens, your early twenties. And those kind of people, although they do like worldly information, what's going on in current events, but they still like to keep up with Hollywood celebrity 1 news, what's out in the movies, what the trends are right now, what they're wearing in Paris, what they're wearing in Milan or Los Angeles -- Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, whichever -- they like to know those kind of things. They eat them up just like ice cream cakes. So that's what we try to provide. Although we try using this as a vehicle to get our mission across, which is, we want to give them more information about America, that they don't normally get."
Ary Arifin knows his audience and its interests first-hand. While studying in Jakarta for a bachelor's degree in culinary arts - yes, culinary arts, majoring in food production -- he started moonlighting as a disc jockey at a local radio station.
"It just so happens that the radio station that I worked for back home in Indonesia, it caters 2 to the younger crowd. So I had no other choice but to get myself involved in a lot of their activities. They have a lot of parties, they host a lot of events, product-launchings from men's cologne to cars to youth magazines and stuff like that. There's always something going on, left and right. I used to host a lot of the events, we'd take turns, my colleagues and I, we'd throw in little jokes. And from there you'd get a lot of side gigs, they'd call you up to emcee a TV show... You just go with the flow, and it was really cool."
While cooking up a storm as a chef, he says, Ary Arifin continued to work as a DJ at the local station in Jakarta after graduating from college. He says he had fallen in love with radio broadcasting.
"Because we can be anything we want to be behind the mike. I used to have a morning show - I don't mean to brag 3, but it was one of the top-rated drive-time shows in Jakarta, "Becky and Ary in the Morning." What was funny is you could sound like you're wearing a tuxedo 4 or a three-piece suit, but actually you just got up, your hair's a mess, you haven't had your morning coffee… You could just walk in -- I was even wearing shorts, and no one knew. The magic of radio."
At about this time, Ary Arifin says a friend introduced him to Voice of America programs.
"I got really interested in its mission, and what the Voice of America stands for. A lot of the programs intrigued 6 me, a lot of my friends' parents claimed they learned to speak English from listening to the Voice of America. Now that's gotta stand for something, and I was like 'Wow!' I'd love to learn more about it."
But, as Ary Arifin says, he got deeply involved in the fast-paced youth culture of Jakarta and almost forgot about the Voice of America. Then an economic crisis in Indonesia caused many people to lose their jobs, and Mr. Arifin decided 7 to leave for the United States, where he had spent his boyhood while his father served on the staff of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington. He enrolled 9 in a Master's program at Morehead State University in Kentucky, and after receiving a degree in broadcast journalism 10, reactivated his interest in the Voice of America.
Now, as a broadcaster for the Indonesian Service, Ary Arifin has even been able to incorporate his passion for cooking into his work.
"I don't only host a youth program, which is called VOA DC or Direct Connection. I also have this cooking show. This show is actually … Let's say I'm talking about Texas chili 11. Behind that recipe of Texas chili we also try to convey the stories and the background of Texas where it's from - you know, maybe President Bush is from there, and what's the surroundings and the environment like in Texas, and stuff like that."
The youth show, the cooking show, occasional stints 13 hosting the Indonesian Service's weekly half-hour television program, keep Ary Arifin busy - too busy, if you ask his family and friends.
"Sometimes it's just that I'm spending too much time at work. If it's time to go home, like, oh, I have to go home because I have a life outside the office, but it's just so… You get sucked into it, you know. And as my friends say, 'Dude, don't you have a life? Come on man, you're hanging out at the office too long.' And I say 'I know, I know, but I just want to get this perfect'."
Like any good journalist, Ary Arifin wants to get information to his listeners not only in an appealing, engaging way, but FIRST, to beat the competition. That's especially important, he says, because his youthful audience in Indonesia is so plugged in to what's going on in the world.
"To be there first with the news, that gives me the ultimate satisfaction, I guess. 'You heard it first on VOA - DC!'"
Ary Arifin -- radio enthusiast 14, program host and culinary expert in VOA's Indonesian Service.

注释：
diverse [dai5vE:s] adj. 不同的
Indonesian [7indEu5ni:FEn] adj. 印度尼西亚的
personality [7pE:sE5nAliti] n. 名人
newscaster [`njU:z9kB:stE(r)] n. 新闻广播员
stand for 代表，象征
celebrity [si5lebriti] n. 名人
mission [5miFEn] n. 任务
bachelor's degree学士学位
culinary arts 厨艺
moonlighting [5mU:n9laItIN] n.（尤指在夜间）从事第二职业
disc jockey 简称DJ，可以理解成DISCO舞厅的司仪或唱片骑士
caters [5keitE] vi. 投合
men's cologne 男士香水
stuff [stQf] n. 素材资料
gig [^i^] n. 爵士乐演奏会
emcee [5em5si:] vt. 担任……主持人
Jakarta [dVE5kB:tE] n. 雅加达（印度尼西亚首都）
mike [maik] n. 麦克风
brag [brA^] v. 吹牛
top-rated 高收听率的
drive-time 持续时间
tuxedo [tQk5si:dEu] n. 男士无尾半正式晚礼服
three-piece suit　三件套
magic [5mAdVik] n. 魔法
intrigue 5 [in5tri:^] vt. 激起……的兴趣
gotta [5^CtE] sl. (=have got to) 必须
Indonesian Embassy 印度尼西亚大使
enroll 8 [In5rEJl] v. 入学
Morehead State University美国莫尔黑德州立大学
Kentucky [ken5tQki] n. 肯塔基州（美国的一个州）
broadcast journalism　传播学
incorporate [in5kC:pEreit] vt. 融合
Texas chili [5teksEs] [5tFili] 德克萨斯红辣椒
stint 12 [stint] n. 定量
suck into 吸引
plug in 了解