 |
|||||
|
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Media The New Media Barons
It's all in the family… scions of the large media houses are now heading family-run media conglomerates. Sohema Rehan talks to the new media barons on their vision for the future… By Sohema Rehan
|
|
||
|
Pakistan's electronic media scene is booming like never before. FM stations and television channels are mushrooming, while media barons who, until a decade ago, ruled the print world, are now reigning over the air waves. Scions of the large media houses are now heading family-run media conglomerates. The daily Jang, one of the largest newspaper groups in the country, was spearheaded by Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman and was the taken over by his son, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman. Now, the group is running the populist television channel Geo, which has practically achieved cult status in the country. Handling Geo is young Mir Ibrahim, Shakil's eldest son. Geo was the trail-blazer for over 25 other private channels. The ARY Digital Network, Eye Television Network of which HUM TV is the first channel to go on air, Aaj TV, TV 1 and the Indus Television Network are some of the front-runners in this media frenzy. Firmly steering these successful ventures into the twenty-first century are the young twenty and thirty something progeny of veteran parents in the field. Salman Iqbal of ARY is the only exception as far as inheriting a media empire is concerned, but big bucks in real estate and a thriving gold business make up for the lack of a professional media background. Duraid and Momina of HUM TV are veteran television producer Sultana Siddiqui's youngest son and his wife. They envision their channel to become the "biggest for South Asian audiences in the years to come." Sara Taher Khan is handling Radio 91 for her parents, Seema and Taher A. Khan - Pakistan's top advertising gurus. Sara feels that "the next generation will all be about radio," while Ahmed Zuberi is seasoned journalist MA Zuberi's first grandchild in the family business. The Zuberis run Aaj TV - "Pakistan's premier channel" - which is an off shoot of Business Recorder, Pakistan's oldest financial newspaper. Ghazanfar Ali's son, Ahsan Ali, manages the Indus Television Network, the first private company to independently launch a television channel in the country. And Shaan Taseer, son of Salman Taseer, owner of Daily Times and WorldCall, runs the Business Plus channel. While handling an empire is no mean feat, shaping its destiny is an even bigger challenge. Taking over from their experienced elders, these youngsters show the same grit and determination that was the hallmark of their parents' success stories. However, their claim to fame goes beyond their ancestry. Newsline profiles some of the young movers and shakers of the Pakistani electronic media, all of whom have their fingers on the pulse of this nation. "Gradually, radio is becoming a habit" - Sara Taher Khan, CEO Radio 91 Totally contrary to the image of a youngster involved with a radio station based primarily on music, Sara Taher Khan is very low key. She describes herself as "sort of a CEO for Radio 91," because "my dad says I am CEO, so I guess I am!" However, she strongly rejects the silver spoon syndrome. "I have a set of very ambitious and creative parents who worked very hard to achieve what they envisioned." So is she in awe of them? "Naturally, they are extremely talented so it is difficult not being in awe of them. It will take me a while to measure up to them and what they have done. My dad was 24 when he opened up his first company and I am 26 now!" Sara studied at the California Institute of the Arts, as well as the Rhode Island School of Design. Internships at a production and advertising company in New York followed, where she says she didn't "earn anything but learnt a lot." Now her job involves taking "tall creative decisions and even though it has been impossibly difficult, because I am not a management person," she feels she is learning on the job. Sara was initially involved with Interflow, the advertising company that was the basis of her parents' media empire, but says she was a "little bored there, in spite of a film and art back- ground." She felt she wasn't getting what she wanted. So was it her parents' decision that she join the family business? "A bit of both. As a little kid, I wanted to do what my dad did. I have grown up with cameras and shoots in my house. As a kid I hated it. I would come home from school and there would be a shoot going on and I would get upset. But now when I have to do my own shoots in the house, I understand why it is this way." She says her parents would never twist her arm and make her do something she didn't want to do. "When I left Interflow and joined radio, my mother wasn't very excited at the prospect." She opted for radio when her father asked her to make it her pet project and then there was no looking back. The most difficult thing was creating a distinct perception and image. Listeners associate FM radio with 100 or 101 but for Sara, the goal was not to be like 86, 89, 100 or 101 but distinctly individual. "We are trying to be in the middle somewhere. We play all the hot English hits, but we also play the hot hits in Urdu. We try to maintain a balance between the two. We want to be accessible to everybody and not be in a niche - not run of the line." Radio 91 wants to be mainstream and their simple philosophy is, "more music, less talk." Sara says she wants her station to be "funky, desi, and proud to be Pakistani. 91 is going to create its own place. It is going to play current music and hot hits from all over the world, but in the end we are proud to play local music. We have had major film stars on radio and want to talk about films, television, and fashion. We don't want to be anything we are not. We just want to be exactly who we are - which means broadcasting a distinct urban Pakistani lifestyle. Part of that culture is not denying our own culture." Talking highly of competition, Sara says that locally, FM radio is booming. "107 is very innovative, 89 has broken all norms of radio in Pakistan, 96 is doing that too and 91 is taking baby steps because we are still new." Refreshingly, Sara doesn't put down her competition because she respects other people's work. In her opinion, they all do very good work with the issues they tackle, the target market they have grabbed and, significantly, their ratings speak for themselves. "Gradually, radio is becoming a habit and the next generation will all be about the radio. A lot of people tell me they don't need CDs anymore because whatever music they want to listen to is eventually going to be played on one of the radio stations. Youngsters are definitely increasingly tuning into their favorite stations." At
a time when television seems to be the centre of attention, opting
for a career in radio seems a little off-key, but Sara says that
the reason why she is concentrating on radio is because "everybody
else's attention is on TV." She feels there is no competition
between the two mediums and both have their own distinct positions.
Because she has a film degree and her dad owns a television station,
Sara feels that eventually she will gravitate towards television,
but right now she is taking things one step at a time! |
|||
|
E-mail: newsline@cyber.net.pk
| |||
