 the transformation that electronic media has undergone over the past few decades has been nothing short of revolutionary. This transformation can be attributed to advances in technology, changes in consumer behavior and shifts in the media landscape. To better understand this changing landscape, we have with us a media person who has seen electronic media evolve through her eventful journey of more than 25 years. Please welcome Anju Juneja, creator of many past breaking TV shows and consulting editor with ABP network. Thanks for inviting me. Welcome Anju and I thought that there was no better person to you know throw some light on this evolution of you know electronic media of the past few decades. So let us start by you know asking you how have you seen this changing landscape of media in terms of technology as well as in terms of programming or content over the past few decades. I think that's a very interesting topic and people now who are getting into media should at least know about this how we started our journey that was in our eyes it was very difficult. The things have become very easier now because with this changing technology things are a little easier to work, easy to make shows. When we I'll talk about 90 or 90s when it started we started with the analog analog is everything is you have to do it by hand like you have to machine operated the cameras were high band cameras they were very heavy cameras and the tapes were very big all manual all manual and editing things were like you need a one separate sound machine separate effect machine and if you're editing that show you had to first transcribe that show first write it down because you can't do it again and again. So only you have a limited time and you want to edit that show you have to write it down and decide what you want to edit from where to where and which shots you have. So all the tapes you have to collect from the library you have to if you wanted three that one of the show we want three shots you need a tape which has a footage of three or if you want shot of Nehru or Gandhiji you have to put that from a separate tape so first you have to log all the tapes and keep it in this thing this tape has this tape has this thing and in case anything goes wrong you have to re-edit that whole show. So it was this was very difficult and but interesting interesting in the sense we were more organized I think at that time and shooting the technology at when I started it was low high band but before that it was low band which was a big tape and which had I think you might be remembering that we used to rewind it it used to make a unique sound yeah and it used to take so much time in revinding that edit station was you know a lookalike of a space station or something like that you felt like working in this room yeah and when we used to go for shoot so there were three four people with us one person used to carry that recording machine and one person was supposed to do sound so camera person it was heavy machines now it's all digital so the cameras are very smaller and you don't need tapes also you need just chips so people like us who have started with big tapes chips is very different for us and coming to from that era to this era was also difficult for us because with technology you have to learn everything so learning and unlearning is a big process so you sometimes I think oh that was better we used to work very hard we were more organized now the things are when you're editing on digital machines you feel we can do it again because you just need to insert that video so you have all the videos in your machine and you can pick up one video from here and put it here you if you feel that this video this clip I wanted in the beginning of my show instead of ending so I can just pick it up and put it here but in earlier days we couldn't do this we had to re-edit the whole show if just to change one little shot for two days and it was done again so but you know very interesting despite this process getting easier and you know faster you said that you know you found those early days much more interesting much more manual and which were like very labor intensive very labor intensive but we were more I felt we were more organized because I used to find all my I used to sit in the library take out all the shots and write it down okay this tape has this shot this tape has this shot so when we were editing I knew what all I have now when I go to the edit table I know the things but I okay if I do something wrong I can flip it I can change it it becomes more casual and everybody's it's not me I think everybody around has become a little more but now the quality is better when we see all the old TV serial humlogue and bonyad when the quality you see in them and now you see technically they were not as superior as today's ones so yeah the quality was now more they're more sharper you shoot one thing which is more sharper if you compare it with something which we did 20 years back you can correct the colors also you can do whatever you want in post-production we didn't have these kind of facilities in post-production at that time tape rewinding used to take so much time once we were editing at night in one of the private channels I used to work for so we were editing we just me and my editor we rewind it we put the tape on rewind and we felt a little sleepy so I'm so glad because your tape takes so much time after one hour I got up and I said tape rewind oh yeah see it was a huge 90 minute tape which used to take like seven eight ten minutes to rewind so now you don't have all that stuff and you don't have to manage tape library if I want to take out some some shots I don't need to go to library and ask the librarian okay eval a shot hi kya yeh visual milega kya now I can sit on my this desk I can go to that software and I can put what I want if I am looking for muddle commission footage I'll just put muddle commission or whatever footage some 26 January five years back what happened I'll put that and I'll get all it is all digitized exact thing and I'll find the description also short wise so I just need to take that I can watch that preview that on my desk only so it has made the technology has made our life faster easier yeah but in terms of content has it also helped there also of course it has helped now I see early when we used to make shows if supposing we were making a news show now we were dependent on people I wanted something from Kashmir or something from Jaipur I was dependent on the reporter to record that and send it to me by tape the tape used to come by courier which was taking like one day some government facilities in Udarshan and all they had facilities of life but other private channels never had these facilities so now I have all the links people can uplink and I can take it from London New York I can make a show where I have five reporters where one is standing in New York one is standing in London one is in Jaipur one is in Kashmir all five are connected to me it is very easier yeah that interactivity part you know that also I want to touch upon a look how the technology has you know helped us create a look or change the look or make a look the programs look better in terms of visual appeal plus the interactivity part earlier like even in a news broadcast there are pre-recorded stories which would play alongside the anchor whenever the anchor introduces a story but right now there is interactivity so that you know at a given time you can talk to like 20 people across the world so I mean how does that change our scenario in terms of putting quality into the content if you remember there was the Udarshan news when anchor used to sit and just speak there were no visuals then gained the time there were visuals then they started then again the reporters input now I can plan my shows accordingly I have this show I am doing this show I want to shoot it like this I have I can make it reporter interactive if technology wise I can shoot it if I want to take a aerial shot I don't need a helicopter for that which is more expensive and not possible now I can just there's a drone so I can use drone if I my reporter is on a bike he can he has a camera on his helmet or a cap or something it is you can use GoPro we could never think of that okay making the program is one part that let us touch upon you know broadcasting the program like you know taking the program to the viewers that has changed a lot like the way things would you know be broadcasted earlier and now so what do you have to say about that see when I'll talk about the private when the private channels came and we were making news we just started the first news bullet in the private channel there were no teleprompters we didn't have teleprompters government come channels had teleprompters but private channels and we used to write down on white paper the script and hold it in front of the anchor and keep dropping the pages Arj Pradhan Mantri Lal Kale Pace drop one line another line so anchor used to read it like that they were not and the tape we used to record it on a tape and tape was being sent to the broadcasting the there was a vsnl vsn from vsnl we used to uplink it to the satellite which we had hired for our channel so tape build if the channel news has to air at 9 p.m most of the time tape was being sent by at 8 50 because you used to get delayed and there were two riders on the standby on bikes who used to run there was a car following them in case something happens to one rider the second can take something happens to both the riders there's a car so we were gms spawned out so half of the time show and the one segment is on air second is still being edited which has been which we have to send it to vsnl do wedding uplink we used to hire hire the satellites when i started working for some other channel in programming with these serials always started kyunki saas bhi kabi bahu thi and kahani ghar ghar ki so we had to hire vsnl time slot in advance that i want to uplink my show at 4 30 p.m i used to reach there 4 30 p.m live i used to coordinate with vsnl and the hong kong office where the satellite is being managed and we used to uplink it from delhi to hong kong which will be aired at night but i have half an hour to uplink it in case something goes wrong i have to take the slot again book it again now it is not there now you have everything on your channel i am now sending my airing my shows from the laptop from the computer so this is a drastic change i think i can change my rundown if i have to make a news which has one city news in the beginning and some animal news second whatever and i want to change that i want to start with the news comes in or some important news comes in so i can flip the whole thing which is very easier that was not possible earlier that what i have you will report it later i will report it later that has gone on air only that will work now it can not be again now if it happens it will stop at that time breaking what now you see breaking is every moment so things have changed in airing making broadcasting airing everything and now you have everything on youtube on wow you have everything on mobile you don't need television also you don't need big television set and that also made the consumption behavior change in the consumption behavior as well earlier there was television only for 6 o'clock till 9 o'clock now you have 24 hours so you can watch anytime anything anywhere earlier as you mentioned the footage being you know transported via internet by sharing the links and all okay that is one part of you know internet being helpful in production of programs but internet internet is playing some other part also which is much more effective for example OTT platforms have come up which are kind of internet based applications which you know are there to help you propagate a program or air your program so how has this part you know impacted the television industry things have changed drastically for television from people writing to postcards and waiting if you remember we were when in Rudash Neera's we used to wait when we were kids we used to wait for the shows i had a timetable like 8 p.m is sitra time 9 p.m is news time and we used to study accordingly kya 8 p.m to chitraha dekhenge sunday's movie time and this cartoon comes at 6 o'clock now OTT platforms give you this opportunity to watch the show whenever you want to watch yeah i think one of the days when anchor used to say good morning or good night because he doesn't know when are you going to watch this maybe somebody is watching it in the afternoon and we can't even say okay this monday we'll be bringing this to you because you might be watching on thursday so yeah of course that part is there i mean you can make a program in such a way that you can be watched by anyone anytime anytime so now when i think now when the producers are making shows they think they know that my consumer can watch it anytime and he doesn't have to switch on television for that the screen has shrunk to mobile so it is he's watching it on the go he's watching it in the car in train wherever he is so he can watch it whenever he wants to watch and show has to become an issue has to be interesting so that you are glued to that and these web series and everything which now we but we don't have to go to cinema halls to wait for to watch the movies you have web series you don't have to wait for wait for the serials to uh for yeah i'm ugly mangalwara things changed see things change graduate the way earlier they used to be if you remember hamlo used to come on once a week and punyad used to come once a week on a particular day on a particular day then they started daily serials like office art because we go there when the private channels came now you have eight episodes series web series 10 episodes there you can watch it in one day if you want or you can watch watching is very popular and especially the young with the youngsters it is very popular but everybody's i mean we're also watching it so things yeah things have changed majorly for that otte is still experimenting where people are still getting to know about it there are still people who are watching television they are we have audience for everything i think another change which has been brought about by once again i would say is internet or you know this new generation technologies is the social media space although it began with things like you know facebook which are supposed to be interactive for the society for the friends or for the you know people but then somehow it has taken the space of the television also since the integration of social media handles happened with the television channels or television program producers so even social media channels or social media platforms have invaded into this area so how has that impacted integration has helped a lot because you are getting real-time feedback of your shows if my show is on air i made one show pradhan one day it was on air in between the show i got a feedback oh in 1947 there was no telephone like this the you're showing in your show so you know what wrong is going or this actor is very good or this information is right or wrong or real-time was where i was getting this show is a hit this episode is a hit or this was wrong with this episode so real-time information you're getting people have people have a space to raise the voice or give their feedback they become part of the part of them they are enjoying it more because then they feel they are part of the program in secondly there are with the youtube and all now everybody has a platform now you can have your own channel i can have my own i don't have to wait for some big channel to invite me to give my views i have my own channel i can give so there are a lot of bloggers and youtubers you see who are doing very good job who are giving from politics to lifestyle to everything now i don't have to if i want to cook something at home i don't have to wait for khanakadana or sure sanjeev kapoor to come and say that this is going to be like this so i can go and just write the malu when i get it i'll get 10 recipes of the malu or i want to see what modiji said in g20 meeting i haven't seen it in the morning life so i can watch it i can go back and watch it in the afternoon youtube everything is available so this democratization of television if i may say so hasn't it you know kind of produced a challenge for the people like you who are content producer from a particular space which is like you know television channel or a television program production bodies yes it has it's kind of a competition it has competition i think it is a good competition it has given us a we were getting more comfortable in our homes in our offices okay we are making very good shows but now i know show i am making and show one single youtuber is making is of similar quality that i need to just give them something more why will somebody come to me i have to give them more information or technically it has to look very good so that thing i have to keep in mind that it has to be better than the single youtuber or a smaller channel on youtube this social media thing of course as you rightly said earlier that it has you know kind of put you in a position where you are more conscious about what you're producing but at the same time there's a lot of you know unwarranted stuff happening on social media space so i mean do you think that as a detrimental to the progress of television content creation or is there any anything which is impacted negatively producers are also getting affected with this if you see films with the same depth like it films are making scenes cut never never we have to edit that because one group doesn't like that one group has an objection and they raise voice through social media and spreads like fire okay this film has similarly with television also this is happening people have a problem with one show they will say oh this information is wrong this is so producers the channel they are also real scared so it should not affect my channel's reputation it should not affect my product so the show i was me i am making with big fan fellow i have worked so many for so many months for that i might have to shut down my show within weeks because they're the wrong information or the voices people have raised have reached my channel or my channel owners or my producers they'll say oh no don't do this this is this is all this can create some wrong message to people this has affected a lot so we don't wait for trps no normally people used to wait for trps you don't even wait for enough wait for a week let's see but within two days you decide this is not a good show this is not happening because people are not liking it we can safely say that at one end technology has made our life better but at the other end it has made our life difficult also very difficult i will say very difficult because i am so now i i'm also very conscious the moment my show is on air i am reading all the comments on youtube what everybody is saying oh yeah anchor is bad and how the anchor is dressed up how our hair is looking of the way she's speaking so and anchors are also very conscious with their image because the image they are portraying an image on the youtube or facebook or twitter or other whatever social site what people write becomes their image so we have seen this change happening in terms of technology in terms of program creation in terms of consumer behavior and we've come from one end to the other so it has been a very you know drastic change now where do you see this change you know taking you in the future i mean where do you see this change of technology in change of landscape if you talk about five or ten years down the line or maybe 20 years down the line see two years back when internet television came we used to hear these stories okay if tv is going to end then tv is going to close and there is no tv life is not there but tv is still there i feel yeah yeah it has reduced because people have more options now people have more options to watch whatever they want so i think television will also remain there but we will have more options we'll have more kind of channels to watch channels in the sense more kind of uh technologically you have mobile or you have ott platforms more platforms to watch whatever and it will give you everybody a choice to watch whatever they want to watch so you have more you have more things on your menu more options on your menu but me saying that with that i'll say that it gives a more challenging uh which is very challenging for people like us who are making uh programs for television we have to make ourselves much better that people watch our show they come back to us otherwise they won't yes tv will tv will finish television will finish if we don't improve ourselves so we have to improve ourselves and i think everybody there'll be space for television there'll be space for ott there'll be space for single youtubers also if you there'll be space for everybody and the ones who are good and better that will survive i think survival of the fittest the fittest will survive those who don't don't keep it up with the times and they will extinct so mobile television and ott platforms and all these will work out together and they will they should also they have given a lot of employment also i would say this industry has grown so much so this is going to make things better for us so all in all this change has been for good over the past few decades or years and as per your expectation the further whatever change comes up will also be you know the betterment on top of that yes perfect so okay so that was your thought and i'm very thankful that you came today and shared your thought on this evolution that's happening in the television industry and thank you so much for joining us we'll sure be benefited by your insights thank you so much thank you for inviting me