Dr. Iain Corness This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Chiangmai Mail - Vol. V No. 25 - Saturday June 17, - June 23, 2006    Weekly Local Biography

   www.chiangmai-mail.com/191/suc - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/2/2007   Last Visited: 11/9/2007

   by Dr. Iain Corness
   ...
   Grit Sripaurya is a man with TITS, but he is definitely no katoey. He is the owner and producer of the Chiang Mai Tourist Information and Travel Service community radio, giving it that wonderfully controversial acronym TITS. However, these days Grit also says that it can stand for This Is Thai Style! He also has a more than passing resemblance to Thailand's tennis star Paradorn, but although his radio station is next to a tennis court, that is as close as Grit gets to that racket! Grit is a real Chiang Mai citizen, having been born here and educated for much of his young life at the Prince Royal's College. His father, who came from Southern Thailand, was a contractor who worked in Saudi Arabia when Grit was a very young boy, whilst his mother comes from a well established northern family. He showed independent thoughts quite early in his life and harboured the dream of joining the military, even going so far as to complete the aptitude testing for entry. However, both his parents vetoed that idea, as they wanted their younger son to be a businessman, and follow his heritage. Perhaps to ensure that Grit did not continue to pursue this dream, he was packed off to New Zealand to continue his schooling and finish his education. This was a unilateral decision, with Grit saying, "This is very typical of Thai parents, who do not discuss these decisions with the children." However, it was not a decision that Grit would disagree with today, even if he would have liked some input at the time. From NZ, he moved across the Tasman Sea to Perth in Western Australia to study Commercial Law. This career path was one he chose for himself, but it was not to hold his interest too long, and he dropped out. "I wanted to study something I could use, but maybe I'll go back to do the last year," he mused. However, looking at the way Grit is carving a niche for himself in the Chiang Mai media, I doubt if that will ever happen. He returned to Thailand and set his mind on something he could use, and that was farm management. "Thailand is a farming country," he said, and with the family owning some agricultural land, it looked like a practical decision. He went to Israel to study farm management and returned after the year's course to work with his father in managing their orchards and vineyards. Unfortunately, this did not work out, as many young men have found over the centuries. "I'm just too much like my father for us to be able to work together," he said simply. Now was the time he had to strike out on his own. He had a passion for music, and jazz in particular. He had been playing the saxophone since his student days in NZ, and was in a small band here in Chiang Mai, when a chance meeting with a radio station owner saw him being offered the job of hosting a jazz show. He thought would be a good idea, both for himself and for jazz in the North, so he began as a DJ. After one month he received a very rude shock, when he was presented with bills for renting air-time! This was not how he imagined the 'job' offer had been made, so his fledgling DJ career ceased at that point. However, he did enjoy the experience, and had observed how the station was run, "So I decided to set up my own radio station.

2. 2. Chiangmai Mail - Vol. IV No. 45 - Saturday November 5 - November 11, 2005    News

   www.chiangmai-mail.com/159/new - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/22/2006   Last Visited: 11/9/2007

   Dr. Iain Corness, Executive Editor