From a boarding pass note at Bangalore Airport to 1300 uninterrupted weeks on Radio Kashmir – the story of India’s first 15-minute weekly bank diary
ADVERTISEMENT
Rafeeq Masoodi
On Sunday, 26th August 2001, at around 8.30 am, when the signature tune of “Radio Kashmir pesh hai – JK Bank Diary” went on air for the first time, no one imagined that this 15-minute programme would still be on air, without a single break, 25 years later.
This Sunday, JK Bank Diary completes its Silver Jubilee. 25 years. 1300+ episodes. 325+ hours of broadcast. Networked on 8 stations of Radio Kashmir – Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Kargil, Poonch, Rajouri, Bhaderwah and Kathua.
In the history of All India Radio, no commercial sponsored programme of 15 minutes weekly has ever had such an uninterrupted, revenue-generating run. It is, perhaps, a national broadcasting record.
And it all began mid-air.
LOVE AT FIRST HEAR: BANGALORE TO SRINAGAR, 23rd JUNE 2000
The story is now folklore in broadcasting circles.
On 23rd June 2000, this writer was waiting for a flight from Bangalore to Srinagar. In the lounge, I spotted a tall, graceful personality – Mr. M.Y. Khan, Chairman, J&K Bank.
We boarded together and destiny gave us seats together. For three hours, I poured my heart out.
“Khan Sahab, Radio Kashmir talks about Chinar, Kehwa, Saffron, Pashmina – everything beautiful. But we never talk about the empty pocket of our farmer. We never tell our artisan that his shawl has a price in Paris. Our own bank – J&K Bank – is our pride, but for a common man in Kupwara, it still looks like a locked government office. Why doesn’t J&K Bank itself tell its people – what is the Bank and what does the Bank have for them?”
Mr. Khan did not just listen. He heard it.
For the entire flight, we discussed only this. It was, as I later called it, LOVE AT FIRST HEAR.
As we landed at Srinagar, he held my hand and said: “Rafeeq, come to ZamZam, my office. The idea born in the air must get wings on the ground.”
A week later, in his chamber at ZamZam House, Corporate Headquarters, the idea got wings. And in that same chamber, another history was born – the immortal tagline that became the voice of Kashmir:
“JAMMU & KASHMIR BANK – BADHIYA, BE-NAZEER BANK”
It was not written by an ad agency. It was an emotion born in that room. Then it is history.
BIRTH AT TAGORE HALL: 24th AUGUST 2001
For one full year, the format was worked out with Zahur zahid ,who single handedly scripted the program & later Air Voice Advertising agency was roped in to do contractual formalities..The brief was clear: No jargon. No preaching. Just 15 minutes of soulful conversation in Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri and Gojri.
Mr. M.Y. Khan showed rare vision. He approved it not as advertisement expense, but as Zimmedari – Corporate Social Responsibility, long before the term became fashionable.
The programme was formally launched on 24th August 2001 at Tagore Hall, Srinagar. The evening was doubly special – it also had a Talha-Majboor comedy show. The Chief Guest was then Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who blessed it saying, “This is the best use of Radio.”
Next day, 26th August 2001, Sunday, the first episode went on air,for which i had to convince our HQ at Delhi ,which was a hercules task indeed…
I was sitting near my old Philips radio set at home, holding my breath. When I heard the words, my eyes were moist. A new chapter in Indian com
A TEAM THAT NEVER LET IT DIE
A programme does not run for 25 years on one man’s idea. It runs on a team’s ishq.
At Radio Kashmir, the early pillars were G.N. Rattanpuri, Late Bashir Shah, Late Ashraf Bhat, and Anjali Sharma at Jammu. In marketing and production – Zahoor Zahid, (the main resource person as he has a complete grip on production & marketing).Back home in the office i hod a tremendous back up support from Shakil Bakshi, Meraj Din Ahmad, G.R. Akhoon, Wajih Siraj, Bashir Buch, and Late Mansur Mustafa Ansari.
Engineers – Late Jamil Baksh, M.Y. Shah, A.K. Handoo, Irshad, Mushtaq – supervised by Ayaz Malik, produced it free of cost in our studios. Initially, the Bank hired our studio.
When I suggested to Khan Sahab that the Bank should have its own media team, he did it. He created it. And Sajad Bazaz, a brilliant Mass Communication pass-out, carried it brilliantly for years.
The first trusted voices were Zahoor Zahid ,he would script & produce it for the Bank,and Ms. Roohi Sultana. Later, fresh voices gave it new colour. Today, 25 years ago the Bank was banking upon us for recording and editing, now it is fully self-sufficient with its own infrastructure. That journey itself is commendable.
Through floods of 2014, earthquake of 2005, curfews, snowstorms, and COVID-19 – when everything stopped, Radio did not stop. Tapes were recorded in makeshift rooms, but “tape ready hai, Sir” – that call never missed.
WHAT DID 15 MINUTES DO?
The format was simple but powerful:
Aghaaz – an opening note, Bank Aapke Ghar Par – scheme explained in mother tongue, Sawal-Jawab – listeners’ letters, and Kamyabi Ki Kahani – the soul, a real success story.
We never sold loans. We removed fear. We told people – Bank se daro mat, bank tumhara hai.
Long before Delhi invented the slogan of Financial Inclusion, J&K Bank and Radio Kashmir were practicing it.
The impact? Go to Shopian – a farmer knows pledge finance. Go to Zaina Kadal – a weaver knows export credit. Go to Rajouri – a woman knows how to form a Self Help Group. That awareness was created in those 15 minutes.
So much so, that for three consecutive years, JK Bank Diary figured in the Balance Sheet and Annual Report presented to the Board and published in The Quest – the Bank’s journal – with a noting: “Because of this programme, our credits have increased manifold and advances have touched skies.”
Khan Sahab, I only conceived it, you delivered it on the ground.
WHOSE JUBILEE IS IT?
If someone asks me today what is my biggest contribution in 40 years of broadcasting, I will say – 15 minutes every week for 25 years.
But this Silver Jubilee is not mine.
It belongs to the listeners of Radio Kashmir – that farmer from Anantnag who wrote, “Loan ko Kashmiri mein samjhao,” that mother from Bhaderwah who asked, “Meri beti doctor banna chahti hai?”
It belongs to the clients of J&K Bank – that boy from Baramulla who took Rs. 50,000 and became an exporter, that widow from Kishtwar who now employs 10 women, that student from Kupwara who is now a doctor in Delhi.
And it belongs to the J&K Bank family – from M.Y. Khan Sahab, my co-passenger who gave it wings mid-air, to every CMD thereafter, every Executive President, every Branch Manager and clerk who said, “This programme must go on.”
Today, as a professional listener, I can say with pride – JK Bank Diary perhaps still holds priority among listeners for knowledge, information and entertainment. It is still a high-ranking programme of Radio Kashmir.
AN ARCHIVE REQUEST
My only request on this Silver Jubilee is – let these 1300 scripts be archived. They are not just scripts. They are the economic history of 25 years of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, told by its own people, in their own voice.
And perhaps, the officers of All India Radio, the Bank and record keepers should note – JK Bank Diary is perhaps the only programme in Indian broadcasting which holds a record as a commercial and revenue-generating creative for 25 years uninterrupted. If otherwise, please correct me.
It started on 26.08.2001. It is still on.
It is not a programme. It is a Rishta. A 25-year-old relationship between a Bank and its people, tuned in every week on radio waves.
Shukriya, listeners. Shukriya, J&K Bank family. Shukriya, M.Y. Khan Sahab.Shukriyya Dr.Drabu sahab
Dr. Rafiq Masoodi, the author and former Secretary, Poet, Broadcaster & Literary Scholar
