News Broadcasting
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa announces ‘L’il Champs’
Mumbai, July 3, 2006: After the mega success of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 & Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, Zee TV announces a completely new series – “L’il Champs” with twenty-two new young contestants. L’il Champs will provide a platform for the first time to young participants, all in the age group of 7 to 14 years. This series will have the little talents singing to a live band on the show. L’il Champs also marks the return of the extremely popular anchor Shaan, to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa after a brief hiatus.
Speaking on the launch, Gajendra Singh, Creative Director, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa said, “Following Challenge 2005 & Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, we thought of L’il Champs, a completely different series from the earlier ones. Music is an integral part of Indian culture and talent should be nurtured from an early age, therefore, L’il Champs will identify young talent. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa has always been a platform for the best talent in the country, L’il Champs will bring out the best in young talent from across the country.”
Adding further, Ashvini Yardi, Head, Programming, Zee TV said, “L’il Champs will be an absolutely new experience for all of us, as we will be dealing with little children as participants. We look forward to providing our viewers a refreshingly new show with L’il Champs, some talented singing with loads of fun. We also have new judges – Alka Yagnik, Bappi Lahiri & Abhijeet. All of them established professionals from the music industry, who will guide & judge our little contestants.”
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs will be on Zee TV, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 to 11 p.m.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
