SULTAN YAVUZ – Implemented by the Association of Journalists and funded by the European Union (EU) “Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media Programme” hosted the presenters of “Modern Sabahlar” at the Press House, in Ankara.

Moden Sabahlar, which started at Radyo ODTÜ in 1999, is now aired on Show Radyo. Hosts Egen Kayacan and Fahir Öğünç shared stories about their radio show.
Kayacan and Öğünç talked about how they began their careers in radio during the “cool period” of radio broadcasting in the 90s, which was thanks to private radios being established around that time. Öğünç mentioned that while he was a student at the Mathematics department in METU he saw an announcement for students who wanted to work in the radio and thought to himself “I’ll never get a turn”. Saying that he was only able to graduate in nine years, Öğünç mentioned that after his fifth year he promised himself at the beginning of each term that “he would attend lectures this time”. Öğünç, who was very good at taking notes, met a student named Kenan -who turned out to be editor-in-chief of Radio METU and had thought Öğünç was a good student- that’s how began going to the radio. Ögünç was first offered the job of DJ’ing at night but soon decided to leave this “boring position”. His friends thought Öğünç had a good voice so one Sunday morning in 1996 he began presenting by reading out news from the Anatolian Agency at Radio ODTÜ. After graduating, Öğünç decided to become a reporter and later worked for CNNTürk as a crime reporter. Öğünç said, “This was like being a late night DJ on the radio. Then one day they needed a morning show, that year Ege had a show called “Turbo Ege 2000”.
Kayacan, “I saw how things that were polished too much rot on the inside”
Ege Kayacan began attending METU as a student in 1993 and was into music; when he saw a notice for Radyo ODTÜ looking for students he thought to himself “I’m sure they’ve got a big music archive, I’ll be able to make a bunch of mixtapes.” His friends told him “You’re really funny, you should do a show!”, Kayacan then proceeded to establish a show on Radyo ODTÜ focusing on music with some commentary. Kayacan had trouble waking up for class, he thought that if he had a radio show at 10:00 he’d be able to attend classes after it. When he started the program, his friend Fahir would read the news on the hour, Kayacan said “My two-minute show began to expand, then Fahir began to chat with me on air after reading the news. However, they found it inappropriate for Fahir to talk about non-serious things after reading the news; he was replaced by Oktay Demirci from Konya. However, after a while he joined our programme and they got our friend Burcu to do the news. “
After graduating Kayacan went to Istanbul to pursue his dreams of working for professional radio stations but mentioned his disappointment:
“In 1999 I started broadcasting on Number One radio and four days later there was an earthquake. Everything about the radio changed, we started broadcasting content appropriate to the atmosphere. When I came to Ankara in 1993, Melih Gökçek became the mayor, I bring good luck to everywhere I go. But the way people interacted with each other seemed very shallow, it was very different than the atmosphere in METU. So I talked to Fahir and explained the situation. I saw how things that were polished too much rot on the inside, so I returned to METU. There was a cartoon I watched while I was living in Istanbul; Rocko's Modern Life,… It was so cool, so we said let’s call our show “Moden Sabahlar” (Modern Mornings).
Fahir Öğünç mentioned the radio show’s initial name was “Uyku Mahmuru” but when Nescafe sponsored the programme they requested its name to be changed to “Wake up service with Nescafe” but changing the name for every sponsor would be problematic. He added: “Moden Sabahlar was a name we thought was cool, and it didn’t mean much because we’re all modern anyway. We learned a lot from the 16 years of working for Radyo ODTÜ.

Radio Memories…
Ege Kayacan remarked that Radyo ODTÜ gave them the opportunity to try and do everything they wanted to, and how it helped them understand what they audience reacted to. Having almost completed 20 years in broadcasting Kayacan said “If we prepare too well, we don’t get a good show. One of the things that drew me to this profession was the opportunity to have a lot of fun with doing little work. The only problem is starting early; people ask me what I do to prepare for the show I tell them I wake up and wash my face…and sometimes I don’t even do that.”
Kayacan mentioned a funny story about when Fahir was on holiday, he (Kayacan) imitated a scientist and read an article about how a black hole might swallow the universe:
“An hour later, a very upset listener called the program to tell me that it wasn’t something to make fun of, he then scolded me. I said, 'I can't always do this, I’m sorry for not being sensitive about black holes.' That’s the story of the black hole sensitivity incident…”
Kayacan also added they learned a lot while doing a late-night show for TRT Ankara Radio: “We knew the audience of Radyo ODTÜ pretty well, but here we were confronted with very different people. For example, once a shepherd called and told us about how he accidentally shot a sheep thinking it was a wolf. The shepherds were incredibly comfortable and could direct the program. One would call us and say he had 500 sheep, another shepherd would call and say the other one was lying. If we were to do those shows today, people would say, 'They are making fun of shepherds.'
Öğünç “It turned out to be Kandil that day”
“It's not what you say, it's how you say it” said Fahir Öğünç and told us about some of the unforgettable situations they experienced in the program:
“When we started our show at Joy Türk, we didn't change our broadcasting habits of course… When the late Barış Manço was hosting his show “7’den 77’ye” he would give his address as “Barış Manço, Moda”. So one day Ege jokingly said “send the letter to Ege Kayacan, Çankaya and I’ll get the letter”, of course this was followed by some banter “give the postman a fiver and he’ll make it happen”. People of course started calling the station to complain. For example, you are looking for something fun, you look at what day it is. Poverty Alleviation Day, this day that day… Next thing you know we were on World Orgasm Day… We made some jokes without hitting below the belt. After the broadcast, they called from Joy Türk in Istanbul and said that their phones hadn’t stopped ringing. We were acting cool and saying “Yeah, that happens sometimes”. Turns out it was Kandil that day. We talked about World Orgasm Day without celebrating Kandil”
 

Kayacan, “His psychiatrist told him to pet a dead cat”
When accused of not being as brave as they were before Kayacan said “Who’s as brave as they used to be? I think there’s only Trump that can do that…”
One day a listener with a phobia of cats called the show and talked about how his psychiatrist recommended he pet a dead cat to get over his fear, Kayacan smiling said “I think he might have mistaken the patient before him with the doctor… The next caller was also afraid of cats so we jokingly said “Maybe we could strangle one for you”. The head doctor of a hospital sent a long mail accusing us of strangling cats on the radio show.
When Joy Türk asked them to find a topic that appealed to everyone they decided to ask their listeners “Who is your favourite relative?” Kayacan said the first person to call mentioned their “dead uncles”. The following callers all started giving the names of dead relatives and the show turned into people constantly giving each other their condolences.
Kayacan also mentioned the only time they censored their content was about a song they had written for a character they had developed of “a rapper living in Germany”. Underlining the lack of internet in those years, Kayacan said, “We had a small studio and a caravan outside. One day they brought a cable and said, 'We’re going to connect you to the internet'. Pulp Fiction had just come out, I was downloading its poster and playing a few tunes but it took time to download. It took hours to download photos back then. We are trying to include Twitter and Instagram in the program. You cannot use the previous afternoon’s news the next day. It doesn't make sense because every joke you can make about it has already been done. ”

Öğünç, “Everyone can broadcast now“
Fahir Öğünç said “Now everyone can broadcast. Thanks to the Internet, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram or TikTok. But if you produce good content, you can evolve it. It doesn't matter where you are. ” Regarding the development of radio broadcasting, Öğünç said, “Radio broadcasting will continue in a way. It might remain like vinyl records, something nostalgic. Time will tell.”
Ege Kayacan emphasized that “nothing stands a change against technology”  and pointed out that they are among the few people doing the profession and that there isn’t anyone under the age of 40 doing this profession. “The new generation prefer to be YouTubers, it’s easier.” Said Kayacan and added “I would suggest the younger generations to try to figure out how to use different types of media.” Kayacan said, “We use these channels as though they are the telegram, but there are different ways of using them. We need to figure out all the possibilities. We have to learn the ways of reporting and receiving feedback with all the possibilities of technology. ”