Recently I planned to watch the final game of Brunei's DPMM FC but due to rain I abandoned my intention. I could only stay at home and wait to hear it live over the radio, thanks to Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB).
Before that, I watched my only favourite Brunei TV programme, the news. However, due to the rain and a child sleeping nearby, the TV volume had to be reduced to almost zero.
To my disappointment, I could not understand what the news was all about.
I noticed a minister was shown together with government officials but could not figure out what the news was about.
There was no caption or subtitles to describe what was going on. To make matters worse, the bottom part of the screen displayed news in text unrelated to what was shown.
News on other TV stations have taken this into consideration for as long as I can remember by putting summerised captions related to the story.
Why does RTB fail to acknowledge this important requirement for viewers who wish to turn down the volume of their TV? RTB has to look into this.
My night would not be complete if I did not hear the live radiocast for DPMM FC's final match. Again, to my disappointment, the delivery was not to my liking. The commentators failed to acknowledge that the listeners did not have any visual of what was going on in the stadium and relied entirely on what was being said by the experienced commentators.
Honestly, I was having difficulty to visualise the football match, which is very important and should be taken into consideration. There were so many times that I had to figure out what was happening on the pitch just by listening to the spectators' roar and if I was lucky, the commentators would tell what had actually happened a few seconds later after a pause.
A very proud achievement by our beloved football team. Hopefully the management of RTB is inspired by DPMM FC's success to at least improve the subtitling of the news and also in helping the listeners visualise a football match over the radio.
