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STORY
OF THE EVOLUTION OF FIRST TV STATION IN EAST PUNJAB, IN AMRITSAR Harjap Singh Aujla
There are always certain milestones
of historic dimensions, which go unrecorded and buried under heaps of sand
over a period of time. Many times such milestones remain buried forever.
One such milestone concerns the evolution of East Punjab’s first
television station, which opened in East Punjab’s largest city and the
financial and industrial capital of those days. And that
is the television centre of the city of Amritsar.
If we talk about the evolution of
television services in undivided Punjab, then we automatically start
thinking of Lahore Television Centre, which opened in 1965. When Lahore
Television centre launched its broadcasts, the wealthy businessmen and
industrialists of Amritsar started buying television receivers. A few
imported their television receivers through their relatives living abroad.
Some bought their television sets in Delhi and installed those in Amritsar. The height of the television tower
in Lahore and the power of its transmitter was sufficient to reach every
part of Amritsar district and half of Gurdaspur district. Soon directional
VHF receiving antennae started mushrooming on the roof tops over the
houses in the wealthy localities of Amritsar including Lawrence Road, Mall
Road, Kennedy Avenue, Court Road, Maqbool Road etc. Within 1966 thousands
of TV receiver sets could be seen in Amritsar. The programmes of Delhi Television
Station were very much primitive and lackluster, compared to those coming
out of Lahore. The finest male singers of Pakistan, including Mehdi Hassan,
Ghulam Ali, Amanat Ali Khan, Tufail Niazi, Sain Akhtar Hussain to name a
few took pride in appearing over Pakistan Television. Similarly the first
grade female singers including, Malika Pukhraj, Tahira Sayyed, Iqbal Bano,
Farida Khanum, Naheed Akhtar and others found it prestigious to sing over
the airwaves of Pakistan’s television stations. On the other hand, the
biggies of Bollywood were clearly disinclined to appear on Delhi
Television Centre. In addition the dramas and serials of Pakistan
Television became very popular in India. Then came the 1971 Indo-Pak War.
The signal of Delhi Television could not reach Punjab and the signal of
Lahore Television was just like local in Amritsar. All the television set
owners in Amritsar and its vicinity got their news and information from
Pakistan Television Lahore. Soon after the end of the war in 1972, the
Government of India decided to open new television stations in Bombay and
Amritsar. The construction of the television tower in Amritsar started in
1972 itself, but it took more than one year for completion of the entire
work. For training and other purposes,
the entire production staff of Amritsar Television Station was kept in New
Delhi. When the time for inauguration of the station came, nobody knew as
to where the three day inaugural carnival should be held. Three places
were shortlisted to be the expected venues of the opening gala. These were
the one hundred and seventy year old Ram Bagh Gardens (also known as the
Company Bagh), built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the modern concrete campus
of the Guru Nanak Dev University and the magnificent historic building
complex of Khalsa College Amritsar. Finally the decision went in favour of
the lush green front lawns of the Khalsa College Amritsar with the
backdrop of the heritage architectural masterpiece educational
institution. The choice of becoming the master of ceremonies was between
Delhi Television’ senior-most news anchor Pratima Puri, a Punjabi lady
by origin, or Minu Talwar, the youngest and the most glamorous announcer
cum news anchor of Delhi Television. Minu Talwar also belongs to a Punjabi
Khatri family and she speaks the language fluently. She can effortlessly
shift from English to Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. The main reason for
according so much importance to glamour was that all the female announcers
and news anchors of Lahore Television Centre were extremely glamorous and
India had to match them. Minu Talwar could match the charm and charisma of
any Pakistani TV anchor. During the opening gala, Minu Talwar stayed in
Amritsar on all three days. According to reports received from across the
border, Minu Talwar impressed every viewer in Pakistan too. Legendry Ustad Bismillah Khan
played Shehnai on the very first evening. Other great artists like
Surinder Kaur and Parkash Kaur also performed. The finest Gidha dancers
collected from all over Punjab and the most talented burly Bhangra dancers
of the state performed during the opening ceremonies. Giani Zail, the then
Chief Minister of Punjab, gave the inaugural speech. The three day opening
ceremony was watched by everyone, who had a television set in Amritsar and
its vicinity. Reports from across the border indicated that there was a
huge response to this opening ceremony in the city of Lahore and its
vicinity also. During the teething days in the
initial stages, the programmes were all canned in New Delhi and dispatched
daily by air to Amritsar. Sardar Albail Singh Grewal, a senior bureaucrat
of All India Radio based in New Delhi became the designated Station
Director of All India Radio Television Station Amritsar. Under his
guidance more than eighty percent of the programmes of Amritsar Television
Station were produced in Punjabi. In comparison, the Lahore Television
Centre, although located in the heart of Standard Punjabi speaking area of
Pakistan has not been according any importance to Punjabi. More than
eighty percent of the programs of this station are made in Urdu and
English and hardly ten to twenty percent programmmes are in Punjabi. All India Radio television station
in Amritsar has always led from the front as far as the Punjabi content in
its programming is concerned. This station has been producing the finest
programs of poetry, drama, talks, discussions, news, views and music.
Later on when the mother station or the capital station was moved to
Jalandhar, the Punjabi content was never compromised. At present
christened under the new name Doordarshan Jalandhar, as many as seven
daily news bulletins in Punjabi are broadcast. The standard of Punjabi
drama has always seen an ascendency. Amritsar’s famous Wadali Brothers,
Puran Chand and Piare Lal have always been significant figures at this
television station. The other stalvarts include Sardul Sikandar, Hans Raj
Hans, Sabarkoti, Master Saleem and Kanth Kaler.
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