By Binay Anand
In the 60s and 70s when Indians in Houston were mostly students, it was the India Students Association at the University of Houston which represented Indians. Now there are more than 50 different India related organizations here and is growing at its pace. As the Indian population started to grow in Houston, a need for an Indian Media felt and that prompted Meena Dutt and her husband to go on air with the help of a public radio. More Desi radio and TV stations opened up in the consecutive years. At present there are more than a dozen Indian or Desi radio stations serving this city which has more than 60,000 people of Indian origin and every year hundreds of new students and immigrants are coming over from India to Houston. These Radio Stations help in organizing Gujurathi garbas, Tamil dramas, Tagore's poetry, Marathi plays, Kannada Rajyothsvas, Big musical concerts involving Bolywood stars, etc. The topmost Indian or Desi radio stations here in Houston are Music of India and Ghungroo of Meena Dutt as per the listeners. Sangeet Radio of Saeed Gaddi is very famous on the weekdays after 5 PM. The other radio stations where Indians or desi find pure entertainment in this city are Music masala, Pehli Dhadkan, Open Forum, Punjab Rang, Kehkashan, Saaz aur Aawaj, Sabrang, Zhankar, Apna Punjab and Radio South Asia. In these, Sunil T. from Music Masala and Akbar Yusuf of Pehli Dhadkan are very good with their jobs on radio. Especially Sunil T. bring fun for the American Born Desis with his mimicary and humor. These Radios have various segments devoted to all type of listeners which makes it interactive, where you can call from home and go on air. They give out information about charity organizations, free help, free medical, student scholarships etc in the city. They invite people from these organizations and ask listeners to call them directly on or off the air. These radio also guides the listeners on car purchase, Insurance, Home and other stuffs. You can win lots of prize and gifts if you answer their quizzes and they invite you sometime in their studio. Quizzes related to Films are very famous with the housewives and they listen the radio whole day in anticipation of winning some valuable prizes. "I can win almost all the quizzes myself as questions are damn easy but it is just a pure luck that you have to match the answers on their list and also you have to be 3rd or a particular caller number " Preeti, a housewife says. She likes most of the programs of Music of India, Ghungroo and Music Masala but she immediately turn off the radio when people start talking about the politics on it. Jolly, a friend of Preeti, complains that after announcing her name on the radio sometimes they take long time to send in the prizes. She also likes Music of India and Music Masala. Although, working people get less time to listen to these radios, they just manage to gather information about community and community events. Jayesh , a software developer, listens to Pehli Dhakan and Sangeet Radio while driving back to home and rates them informative. Whereas Brajesh, an Oracle DBA, doesn’t have time to listen these radio at all. "Its really fun listening to radio shows" says Heena, who likes Meena Dutt because she doesn’t hesitate to accept her fault and beg apology on the air if sometimes something goes wrong. She loves to talk and talk about Music of India and Ghungroo but refuse to comment on other radios and keep it to her. Meena Dutt says that it's her passion with this town and community which drives her on the radio shows and points out that money was never a factor in her shows. She is proud that she never requested a penny back from the community for the 1sr 15 years of her shows. But on very first fundraiser for the public radio, she raised around $40 thousands in two, 4 hrs, show. Now also she just pulls only the necessary resources to run the show. These radio stations are really helpful when you feel homesick and need desi news and entertainment. Especially they love these radios while driving cars, on the weekend and sometimes even in their offices. Business wise too these radios are doing well and have many sponsors and patrons. These Radios also help other Desi Entertainment companies like B4U, Eros Entertainment, and Star Entertainment of Houston to organize big world class Events. You can hear the name of Rajinder of Star Entertainment everyday from these radios, who is good at organizing events and is a showman here in Houston. Although, they have strong competition, they never fight for survival. These radio stations also execute high tech methods and are no less than any big radio stations of the world except for the frequency and bandwidth are limited to the city and the surrounding areas. With Increasing Technology you never know one-day people in India can listen and take interactive participation in these radios here in Houston and we from Houston can take part in Indian Radio.