From multilingual stations to a Punjabi programme

SBS’s February 2025 World Radio Day account places its beginnings in two stations, 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne, established in 1975 to explain the new Medibank health scheme to non-English-speaking audiences. In the same account, Punjabi executive producer Sumeet Kaur dates Punjabi broadcasting on 2EA to 1976. Melbourne initially grouped seven Indian languages together; those languages received separate programmes in 1984. That distinction makes language-specific broadcasting an institutional development rather than something present in every station from its first day.[1]

Kaur describes listeners using Punjabi programmes to maintain language across generations, and schools drawing on podcasts as teaching resources. These are the producer’s reported observations, not independently measured listening figures. They nevertheless connect broadcasting with education and family listening as well as news.[1]

Moving beyond the household receiver

At a Toronto licensing hearing on 17 September 2002, Ravinder Singh Pannu explained a practical difference between Sur Sagar’s existing subscription radio system and the proposed Canadian Multicultural Radio service. He said the former was heard in households, while the proposed FM service could also reach people in cars. News gathered by Sur Sagar and SSTV would be supplied to CMR, including local angles and news from Punjab. His testimony concerned planned cooperation, rather than a log proving what subsequently aired.[2]

Approval within a wider multilingual service

On 17 April 2003, the CRTC approved CMR’s application for an ethnic FM station at 101.3 MHz in Toronto. The decision required provision for at least sixteen cultural groups and twenty-two languages. It also recorded Pannu’s existing Punjabi- and Hindi-serving Sur Sagar operation and a separately approved digital proposal including Urdu. Punjabi radio thus appears within a multilingual licensing environment, with different technologies and services. A licence approval establishes regulatory permission and conditions; it does not itself establish later audience size or every commitment’s fulfilment.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. SBS; interview with Punjabi Executive Producer Sumeet Kaur. 2025 World Radio Day – 13 February ↗primary broadcaster history and written interview · Source date: 2025-02-13 · Locator: Opening institutional history and Sumeet Kaur interview, questions on expansion of language services and audience feedback, web lines 42–45, 73–85. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete relevant body inspected. Producer feedback is attributed, not a representative audience survey. Almost 240000 and growth/rank claims omitted. Fresh original 2025 interview; not the earlier 2019 Sandhu interview used elsewhere. No broadcast audio claimed heard.Return to From multilingual stations to a Punjabi programme, paragraph 1 ↑Return to From multilingual stations to a Punjabi programme, paragraph 2 ↑
  2. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission; testimony of Ravinder Singh Pannu. Toronto public hearing transcript, 17 September 2002 ↗primary historical licensing testimony · Source date: 2002-09-17 · Locator: Transcript paragraphs 807–815 and 819, especially 809–811 on household/car reception and local/Punjab news. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual relevant transcript body inspected through web retrieval after direct 403. Statements remain applicant testimony about a proposal.Return to Moving beyond the household receiver, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2003-115: Ethnic FM radio station in Toronto ↗primary historical licensing decision · Source date: 2003-04-17 · Locator: Decision dated 17 April 2003, opening approval summary and paragraphs 4–7 on ownership, Sur Sagar and the separate digital undertaking. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual relevant decision body inspected. Approval, existing service and separate proposed digital service are distinguished; no claim about present ownership, service status or audience ethnicity. This source shares the conservative 200-word CMR proceeding pool with the 2002 transcript.Return to Approval within a wider multilingual service, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-DIA-0075 · English edition · human review not performed