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SPURT IN INDIGENOUS CONTENT IN KEY PUNJABI TV CHANNELS IN THE UNITED STATES
Harjap
Singh Aujla A decade ago no one could imagine
that Punjabi TV programs will ever be produced in a viable way within the
United States. At one time Zee-Alpha-Punjabi was the only Punjabi TV
channel available in America. But in 2007, a brave enterprising lady
Penny Kaur Sandhu picked up the courage to launch an indigenous Punjabi
channel on her own. Soon, a well connected socially and religiously
committed soul Sardar Rabinder Singh Bhamra came as a God sent benefactor
on the scene to get Penny the much needed logistic, community and
financial support. Thus “Jus Punjabi” television channel saw the
light of the day in New York area. Initially it was at best a rag tag TV
channel. But the unflinching determination of its founder and a
persistent visionary Penny Sandhu paid huge dividends and several local
programs were conceived and produced in its own studios located in Long
Island area of Queens Boro of New York city. Today this channel is a
leader in the field of indigenous Punjabi TV production and transmission
in North America.
Penny Sandhu, with whom Sumandeep
Kaur had worked earlier in “Jus Punjabi”, prior to her joining the
PTC affiliate in New York, all along knew her merit and worth. In January
of 2012, Sumandeep Kaur jumped on the bandwagon of “Jus Punjabi”,
where she is the programming manager now and is serving the channel to
the best of her acumen and capabilities. The stamp of professional and
innovative genius of Penny Sandhu and Sumandeep Kaur can be easily seen
in some of the shows of “Jus Punjabi”. Some of the commercials with
Penny Sandhu’s vision and Sumandeep Kaur’s input are already creating
a pleasant impact.
“Jus Punjabi” was the first
Punjabi channel in America to undertake live video production and
transmission of important events of the community in America. The annual
landmark event “Sikh Day Parade in New York” has been covered live by
the “Jus Punjabi” team almost every year for the past four years.
“PTC Punjabi”, a new entrant into the field, undertook its own
parallel live broadcast in April of 2011. Both channels put their best
foot forward. “Jus Punjabi” had a large contingent of broadcasters
led by Gurcharanjit Singh Lamba and Penny Sandhu was directing her team
from the outdoor broadcasting van hired especially for the live telecast.
Rabinder Singh Bhamra very ably assisted Lamba as the alternate anchor.
“PTC Punjabi” team was led by Sumandeep Kaur. Gurcharanjit Singh
Lamba was armed with a vast knowledge of Sikh history and Gurbani and he
displayed mastery over Standard Punjabi. PTC’s lead anchor Sumandeep
Kaur’s assets included her charisma, energy, poise and elocution. In
the end both channels ended up with honors even. The viewers in India,
the Middle East and Australia saw it live on PTC Punjabi. In PTC
Punjabi’s repeat broadcast, the New Delhi head office of PTC also
chipped in to enhance the impact of the marathon event with the state of
the art technical gadgetry and manpower at its disposal. A third channel
“Day and Night News” of Chandigarh also recorded a two hour capsule
for a time delayed use. Thus the “Sikh Day Parade 2011” has become
the most recorded and covered live event in the USA. After this mega event, PTC Punjabi
successfully undertook two more live and time delayed Sikh Nagar Kirtan
and Gurdwara religious celebration events during the same year. “Jus
Punjabi” ventured away from New York also and admirably covered one
Sikh Parade from Yuba City California three years ago. People in
California and elsewhere still remember this landmark event. Jus Punjabi has several live
programs daily, which include “Jus Galbaat”, “Khidi Dupehar” and
“Mudda”. Out of these “Jus Galbaat” is the most intellectual in
nature. PTC Punjabi has also started approximately half an hour per day
of indigenous production in its studios in New York City and Toronto
(Ontario). A few years ago even Alpha-etc-Punjabi was toying with the
idea of producing a few Punjabi programs in America too. What happened to
its plans is anybody’s guess? PTC has been looking for new full time
anchors and their efforts are paying off. The Sikh Day Parade of 2012 was
also covered by several internet and Dish Network channels. Both leading
Dish Network channels, the PTC Punjabi and Jus Punjabi made live relays.
This time Jus Punjabi opted primarily for a single anchor system. But PTC
repeated last year’s format with a female lead anchor in Gurmeet Sodhi
and three side anchors to assist her. But in Irvinder Singh Ahluwalia (Walia)
PTC imported a new commentator anchor from India and that made all the
difference. His excellent knowledge of history and complete mastery over
oratory was unmatched. Two more Chandigarh based
channels, the Sada Channel led by Gurmel Singh Sidhu (Sidhu Damdami) and
“Day and Night News” led by Kanwar Sandhu, have expressed their
intention to be re-launched in North America. Both channels were
available in America in 2011. Sada Channel went off the air in February
of 2011 and “Day and Night News” went off the air in October 2011.
When will they be back in America is still a question mark?
The numbers of Punjabis is
increasing in North America and so is the prosperity of those who came in
this part of the world years ago. This emerging scenario is the harbinger
of great things to happen in the field of Punjabi art and culture in
America and Canada.
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In
2009, when PTC Punjabi was launched in America on DirecTV platform, it
expressed its determination of producing some of its programs locally
too. But it took more than a year to assemble just a solitary talk show
studio in Manhattan Borough of New York city. After initial hiccups, from
January 2011, its outdoor production, a news magazine show “NRI
WORLD” started becoming a runaway hit in India, Canada and the United
States. Demands came from all over India to repeatedly air about less
than a dozen of such programs hosted by Sumandeep Kaur. But in June of
2011, all of a sudden, Sumandeep Kaur parted ways with the New York
affiliate of PTC Punjabi and started looking for better opportunities
elsewhere in the television industry.
Since
April 9th 2012, Penny came up with a brand new program called
“The Morning Hour” on the pattern of some American early hour shows.
Hosted jointly by Sumandeep Kaur and another brilliant broadcaster Madhvi
Gupta at 9:00am Eastern Time, this show has started making waves from its
very first episode. It has several attractive segments including news,
views, health, fitness, make-up, entertainment and fashion segments. It
is a high speed magazine show. In spite of its odd time, those who watch
it are getting hooked to it. Madhvi Gupta used to work in marketing, but
her partial switch to actual broadcasting has met with great success. Her
exclusive program “Restaurant Review” is one of the eagerly watched
shows.