Divian Nair is back on air

After a three-year break, former 987FM DJ Divian Nair joined ONE FM 91.3 last Monday, helming the evening drive-time show on weekdays from 4pm to 8pm.

Nair partnered flamboyant YouTube personality Dee Kosh for his previous radio stint and also worked with him on the comedy web series The Drive.

Nair, 30, told The New Paper: "This shift is music-heavy, so my role will be to facilitate the comfort of your ride home with smoother and lighter talk breaks instead of the content-heavy sets I used to do."

On his first week at ONE FM, he said: "My first day was quite harrowing. Operating panels on radio is like the media version of flying a helicopter, but I am glad my new colleagues were kind enough to walk me through it again.

"After my first week, I added conviction to the expression 'it's like riding a bicycle'. Having done radio for almost five years, it feels like I have come home."

During his hiatus, Nair explored other ventures, industries and interests.

Last year, he released an eight-minute video, provocatively titled I Will Not Die For Singapore, as part of his We Are Majulah project, which he said aimed to "kick-start a nation-wide conversation" and was designed to "inject the word 'majulah' into popular culture". The video went viral.

He is also the managing and creative director of Storyteller Productions, a local advertising agency and production house.

It is currently running the Rise Against Racism campaign for OnePeople.sg, the ground-up body for inter-racial and inter-religious understanding in Singapore.

The campaign culminates in the Orange Ribbon Walk, happening today at Esplanade Park with over 2,000 participants.

SPORTS TRAVELOGUES

Nair hosted sports travelogues such as Pursuit Of Champions and Boot Camp Champs as well as Channel NewsAsia's Challenge Tomorrow series. He is also a council member of the The Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence.

He said: "My ventures are stabilising and I have found extra pockets of time that I want to maximise."

The self-confessed "audiophile" missed "being surrounded by elements of sound design".

He added: "I get to listen to some of the best songs from the era I grew up in... When ONE FM asked if I was interested, I could not think of a reason not to spend my time on a job that brings me joy."

Nair feels that the local radio scene has not changed too much as it is "mostly the same faces in different places", but the way information is packaged and delivered has.

He said: "I think radio has a different landscape globally, with the advent of new technologies and new media... The market (share) for (listeners) has also been largely segmented with multiple music platforms."

Looking forward, Nair hopes he can contribute to ONE FM by giving it "more of a competitive edge", adding: "I always have more to learn and the veterans at the station are definitely going to be good role models."