MUMBAI: Sahara Samay-Mumbai, Sahara Group’s western India-specific news channel, may formally launch in two weeks time, informs channel head Rajiv K Bajaj.
The channel began its test run on 26 September and has been tweaking itself ever since.
“Precisely,” Bajaj says, “we have to settle some distribution problems and technical glitches. Once that is done, we will go on air officially.”
Meanwhile, as a part of its programming initiative, Sahara Samay-Mumbai last week launched the RKB Show – Bajaj’s trademark programme – which takes the viewers live to various parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa and tackles on-going social issues.
The three-hour-long RKB Show, which according to a company release is considered the channel driver – is telecast at 7.30 pm everyday.
Besides live coverage, the programme, anchored by Bajaj, brings together celebrities and the common man in Western India and hosts interviews at its studios.
Bajaj says, “We usually take up a raging issue, invite about five to six guest to our studio, hold discussions and try to arrive to a practical conclusion. The latest issue we dealt with was the stamp scam case – we even spoke to deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal on the issue.”
RKB Show has already featured people like Shekhar Suman, Mallika Sarabhai, Suresh Dada Jain, Kripa Shankar Singh, Ranjit Deshmukh, Dewang Patel, Dr Ronu Mazumdar, Amitabh Dayal, Divya Datta and Pinky Advani among other celebrities.
Bajaj says, he began is ‘RKB journey’ with his column, RKB’s the Good, the Bad, the Ugly in the Daily newspaper. “Then when I joined the channel In Mumbai, I started with the RKB Show and brought it with me to Sahara also.”
Other shows in the channel include back-to-back news bulletins beginning with the main Mumbai News Bulletin and special reportage from other centres including Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad.
As for the shows Bajaj says, “We are only following the direction of our chairman to provide solutions instead of just focusing on problems.”