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Radio station in U.S. strives to reunite Indians, Pakistanis

HOUSTON: Thousands of miles away from the Indian subcontinent, a radio station in the United States is striving to be a bridge between Pakistanis and Indians kept apart by old animosities.

Breakthroughs weren’t on the mind of Jaipal Reddy, a 39-year-old immigrant from Hyderabad, when he set up “Salam Namaste” station as a way to market a South Asian-themed mall he planned to build in the Dallas area.

But over the last two years, “the blend of Muslim and Hindu worlds with U.S. pop culture” has become critical to the radio station’s success, says Mansoor Shah, a Pakistani who is a partner in the radio and retail businesses. “The country got divided for whatever reason, but the people never did,” he says. The station says its goal is to bring the highest quality of Indian and Pakistani and other sub-continental music to immigrants who miss home.

Both Indian and Pakistani jockeys work at the station that caters to the South Asian community in North Texas.

“Once we enter this radio station, our nationalities are left behind,” says Mirza Ubaid Baig, a Pakistan-born Muslim who trained to be a medical doctor, but whose passion is radio.

Mr. Baig is now pushing for more banter in English so that KZMP-FM (104.9) can grab audiences from other demographic groups.

“We’ve already broken the barrier between two enemy countries,” he says.

“The U.S. gives us a chance,” Mr. Baig, who hosts the morning-drive show, told the Dallas Morning News. Mr. Baig views the station as a bridge between immigrants from Pakistan and India. For Monicca Sharma, a former accountant, being a RJ at “Salaam Namaste,” means more than playing tunes. “What America has given to me, I would not have had back in India,” she says.

Programmes range from Bollywood tunes, Punjabi rap and classic Hindi ballads to talk shows on small business and women’s rights, and prayers from the mosque and the temple.

“Through the radio station, we try to bring what we all miss from back home,” says Mr. Jaipal Reddy.

Mr. Reddy is confident that the station will survive the economic downturn.

There are more than 80,000 people of Asian Indian descent residing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to U.S. Census figures. The population has annual household incomes averaging nearly $80,000. And the radio hopes to continue doing what it knows best — as its slogan says — “Inka salaam, Oonka Namaste or hum sub ka... Radio Salam Namaste.” — PTI

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