THE GROWTH OF CHANNELS ON THE AIR

Continued from vol 02, issue 02

Hasan Imam

Teamwork is the secret to the success of any television program. The way that outsiders had involved themselves with television, television employees also utilized all their time and effort into improving the quality of television. During the Pakistani reign, there were a lot of changes made to television, which became evident to viewers as soon as Pakistani television service 1st aired. Now, the audience tunes in with the words of country and soil – Bangladesh Television. After our liberation, on December 21st 1971, people saw the words “Bangladesh Television Corporation” when they tuned in.

The audience will always hope to see the programs they want to see in television. They want to see their favorite stars in their favorite shows. In 1974, a talk show was recorded featuring Dr. Hasan Imam and Dr. Mahiuddin Alamgir to honor the first 5 year plan, but then, after the show's airing, there was an unwritten order to stop further airing of the program. Due to the cancelation, the planning committee and a famous economics professor Mosharof Hossain wrote to the information minister stating that whoever has issues with the truth will not be able to have a future relationship with the government who is trying to control over the media. It was hoped that the letter of Mosharof Hossain would grant permission to air the program again, but the reality was the reverse. Not only was the program cancelled, but Mosharof Hossain was not allowed to participate in any other programs at all.

Bangladesh Television finally started broadcasting from the Rampura Studio which we are all familiar with now, on 6th March 1975, after moving from D.I.T's small building from which they started their journey back in December 25th 1964. The Rampura office was much bigger and offered more features and benefits. The viewership of Bangladesh Television is high. Now there are a lot of other channels in the country. Even so, as a terrestrial channel, Bangladesh television is still very high in demand.

We discussed a lot about the history of programs in television, but the biggest truth is that the audience, especially our country's audience will always tune in to their beloved channel. All members of the family will enjoy this channel for all their lives. There was a time when there would be a drama airing every week, a musical show every day as well as a weekly drama, and the audience would always wait for their programs. However, the scenario isn't the same nowadays as there are innumerable channels on air locally and from satellite TV, and almost a dozen of those are Bengali channels. Instead of weekly dramas, there are now daily serials. Works of one's favorite actors are on multiple channels which creates the dilemma of which to ignore and which to watch. Bangladesh Television, despite the added competition, has still managed to stay in the game without sacrificing any of its beliefs or status. The reason for this is the deep rooted love that Bengalis have for their very own Bangladesh Television.

To be continued…
The writer is Managing Director, Channel i
Translated by S.M. Intisab Shahriyar