Accomplished broadcaster Jeyanathan dies at age 74

KUALA LUMPUR: It was not the Voice of America or BBC, but a glorious voice coming from the major sporting venues broadcast through the network stations of Radio Malaysia (now RTM), first from Federal House and then Angkasapuri.

It was simply the voice of R. Jeyanathan (pic), dubbed the Golden Voice of Sport, on air.

On Tuesday, Jeya succumbed to a heart attack he suffered a week earlier. He was 74.

Only four months ago, the sporting fraternity lost an icon in the legendary Datuk Punch Gunalan. Both Jeya and Punch were the greatest of buddies right from the mid-60s when Punch emerged on the scene as a classic badminton player.

Jeya was also a good writer. He joined Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) as a media representative in 1998 and help developed their first magazine Perspective. In 2006, he joined Badminton World Federation (BWF) as the person in charge of the archives department.

During his days in radio, Jeya was an accomplished broadcaster – both in sports and general news.

His tremendous PR skills with sports personalities and officials made him the envy of print media journalists and fellow broadcasters.

Just a month ago, Jeya managed to bring together all the radio broadcasters from different eras at a reunion at a leading hotel here.

Jeya began his career as a teacher before joining RTM in the early 1960s and rose from the rank of Broadcasting Assistant 4 to head the Sports Unit of the English network.

Health problems resulted in him retiring prematurely at 51 in a senior position of the English service.