Someone or the other in life definitely motivates us to inculcate a habit. Over the years, I have developed such a habit that I take some time out of the day to read all the letters that come in the mail and reply to them, even if it is two lines, I take praise and criticism equally and try to be myself as much as possible. I try to refine If I have learned the attitude of replying to all the readers and have improved my work on the basis of feedback, then all the credit goes to India's biggest radio personality Amin Sayani. You must be thinking how? I tell
Amin Sayani's famous program Binaka Geetmala, which would have completed 70 years on December 3, 2022, was actually behind the then Information Broadcasting Minister Bibi Keskar, this program started in 1952. The interesting thing was that the film songs were appealing to the youth of that era, the minister was unhappy with that and banned the songs from All India Radio stations saying that they were destroying the culture. In those days the world was away from war and the popularity of songs was increasing while living life. Then radio advertisements started and Siva Gegi company toothpaste among the youth.
Wanted to inculcate the culture of brushing because at that time we all used to brush our teeth with tooth powder and neem. The banning of songs to Radio Ceylon saw an opportunity in commercials. He had many powerful transmitters to reach every house in India. This facility was built during the British occupation to keep an eye on the entire Asia-Africa and was used extensively in the wars of the 20th century. Siwa Gegi was looking for someone to write the script, narrate and announce the selected songs. 25 to Amin Sayani for this. Selected per program. The success of the program was judged by the number of letters received after the programme. Amin was praying that at least 100 letters should come. But after the first programme, 7,000 letters were received, which increased to 65,000 in a week. The biggest challenge for him was to read the letter. Although the team was helping, but inspired by this habit of Amin Sayani, he used to read most of the letters himself, I developed the habit of replying to everyone.
Dainik Bhaskar as a brand has also adopted the same habit. In 2003, Bhaskar sought some suggestions from readers through letters. On the first day the postman brought 11 sacks full of letters. At the end of the week, more than 2,10,000 letters were received in the Jaipur office, along with four other team members, I read those letters for 20 hours a day for six consecutive weeks.
Interestingly, when I met Amin Sayani in my later years as a journalist, I was surprised to learn that our inspiration was the same person. We both followed the program of Casey Amin, an American disc jockey, actor and radio personality who produced and hosted several radio shows, most notably 'American Top 40'. No wonder Amin Sayani's program used to have top 16 songs of the week. KC Amin once said keep your feet on the ground and keep trying to reach for the stars.
The funda is that no matter how high you fly in your career. If feet are on the ground, then catching the pulse of the customers will help in tailoring the products according to their needs and thereby prolonging the life of your product and brand.
