Sitting in a soundproofed studio at CKCU, Baljit Nagpal compares how he hosts his radio program, Aap Ki Farmaish, to being a chef in an Indian restaurant.
“Everybody cooks butter chicken, okay?” Nagpal said smiling.
But, he continued, if you like a particular place’s butter chicken recipe, you will go back to that location every time. In this regard, Nagpal said he’s a chef — but, for music programming.
Aap Ki Farmaish is structured around weekly themes that Nagpal’s community has come to expect. Often, Nagpal tries to blend new and old music to keep his listeners both happy and open to contemporary tracks.
This year, Aap Ki Farmaish — which translates to ‘your request’ — made its way into the top five most donated to funding drive shows at CKCU.
Nagpal said he begins raising money a month before the official funding drive start date by shooting off a hundred emails. In the emails, Nagpal said he includes personalized messages to the recipient — a gesture he said has given him credibility among his community.
For the past 10 to 15 years, Nagpal said this technique has worked best and lets him stay ahead of the frantic two week funding drive hustle. These pre-pledges give CKCU thousands of dollars before the phone rooms even open and other programs start to advertise the drive.
As the drive launches, these pre-pledges ease the burden and amount of work Nagpal has to do over the air waves.
Recently however, Nagpal said it has become harder to secure a stable listenership due to the rise in on-demand programs and streaming services. He noted that people nowadays don’t have the time to listen live since they have other, more “important activities” to attend to.
Despite this, Nagpal boasts happily that he has listeners from all over the world which grow his already strong following.
Aap Ki Farmaish airs weekly on Tuesday’s from 7 to 9 p.m. and consists of Baljit Nagpal, Anupama Potdar, and Prashant Maharishi.
By Simon McKeown