EXCERPTS
RK: JK Bank Diary has completed 25 years and more than 1,300 episodes. What, in your view, explains its unusual longevity when most institutional radio programmes do not survive this long?
Abid: I believe its longevity lies primarily in its ability to remain connected with the people while serving the communication needs of the Bank. Institutional programmes often become repetitive because they treat communication as publicity. JK Bank Diary, at its best, treated it as a conversation with the society.
Another important factor has been consistency. Twenty-five years and more than 1,300 episodes represent an enormous institutional memory. Generations of listeners have grown up with the programme, and many have developed a sense of familiarity and trust with its voice.
Its survival also owes much to the fact that it has adapted to changing times. The programme has never been entirely static. Its subjects, presentation, language, treatment and formats have evolved with the Bank, the economy and the media environment.
RK: When the programme was launched in 2001, what gap in the Bank’s communication with people was it meant to fill?
Abid: In 2001, radio was perhaps the most effective medium for reaching people across Jammu & Kashmir, particularly those who were outside the reach of newspapers, television or emerging digital media.
The programme was conceived to take the Bank closer to ordinary people—to explain its products and services, communicate important information and create a direct communication channel between the institution and its customers.
But I think its larger significance was that it humanised an institution. A bank can otherwise appear to people as counters, forms, procedures and officials. A radio programme could give the institution a voice, personality and sense of accessibility.
RK: Over these 25 years, Kashmir’s economy, banking habits and media landscape have changed dramatically. How has JK Bank Diary changed with them?
Abid: The change has been enormous. Banking itself has moved from traditional branch-based transactions towards ATMs, digital banking, mobile applications, online payments and increasingly cashless transactions.
The communication style therefore had to change as well. The programme could no longer simply announce products or read out institutional information. It needed to explain things in simpler language, use more engaging formats and address issues that mattered to contemporary customers.
I also believe the programme gradually moved from being predominantly product-oriented towards being more customer-oriented. That shift is important because today’s banking customer wants to know not only what the Bank offers, but also how it affects him or her.
RK: The programme has continued through the 2005 earthquake, the 2014 floods and the Covid pandemic. Was there ever a crisis when you genuinely feared it might not continue?
Abid: There have certainly been periods when the continuation of any regular production activity could have been questioned because of circumstances beyond our control. The Covid pandemic was perhaps the clearest example, when normal production, movement and interaction became extremely difficult.
But the remarkable thing about a long-running programme is that it develops institutional resilience. When circumstances change, the format and method of production can change, but the communication objective remains.
In that sense, I never regarded a disruption as necessarily the end of the programme. I regarded it as a test of our ability to adapt. I was Incharge of the Programme those days and would ensure to present myself in the office on Thursday and Friday to make the programme. We were not allowed to record the programme in Radio Kashmir Srinagar (Now All India Radio Srinagar) because of Covid-19 but then necessity became the mother invention and we recorded in the programme either in Conference Hall or in the Auditorium of the Bank. My editing skills came into effect and nobody ever noticed those glitches in the rough recordings.
RK: The programme has often been described as more than a publicity exercise. What tangible difference has it made to financial literacy or banking access in J&K? Can you give a concrete example?
Abid: Its most important contribution, in my view, has been in making banking information understandable to ordinary people. Financial literacy is not always about complicated financial concepts. Sometimes it is simply explaining a product, a facility, a digital service, a procedure or a customer’s rights in language that a person can understand.
A good radio programme can reach a listener in a remote area who may never attend a formal financial-literacy workshop. When such a listener learns through the programme how to use a banking facility or understands a new service, the programme has performed a meaningful public-service function.
The real measure of such communication is therefore not applause or ratings alone, but whether the information helps somebody make better use of the banking system.
RK: You have headed the programme at a crucial stage of its evolution. What is one significant change you personally introduced that you believe made JK Bank Diary better or more relevant?
Abid: One of the most important things I tried to do was to make the programme less like a conventional institutional broadcast and more like a professionally produced radio programme.
I introduced and encouraged formats that gave the programme greater variety and a human dimension. Among these was Dil Se, a segment built around conversations and experiences involving customers of the Bank. Introduced our own capable staff instead of paid outside artists. Because from the day-one I believe the Bank has very talented staff and they can prove their mettle whenever given a chance.
I also worked on the scripting and presentation and introduced small skits around banking products and services, because I believe people remember a situation or a story much better than a dry description of a product. I also assured that every programme goes on our official website and Banks Intranet site. And from that period, I think every episode is now available on digital platforms of the Bank.
Another change I am particularly fond of was refreshing the signature tune with new music and lyrics. Talha Jehangir wrote those beautiful lyrics which Raja Bilal and Shahi Mumtaz sung with thrilling music. The opening credit was also pre-recorded in the remarkable voice of Bashir Arif, the former Deputy Director General of All India Radio. These may appear small changes, but collectively they gave the programme a more contemporary identity.
RK: When you had a long standing in writing and broadcasting, why you were not the part of the programme prior to 2018?
Abid: That is an interesting question. My association with broadcasting and writing actually predates my involvement with JK Bank Diary. I had been associated with radio and television as a broadcaster, writer, poet and scriptwriter on a casual basis before I joined the Bank. However, when I joined the concerned Press Relations Cell (Now Corporate Communication Deptt), the JK Bank Diary programme had just started and unfortunately the higher Bank management didn’t gave me any chance in the programme despite that I was an approved casual Announcer of Radio Kashmir Srinagar those days doing live programmes like Aap Ki Farmayish, Aaj Ki Surkhiyan, Payame subh, Sports programmes etc.
There was, therefore, a gap between my professional background and my opportunity to contribute to the programme. Interestingly, during that period I continued to write and translate for the Bank through outside assignments. In fact, there was an irony in the situation: work involving my writing and translation skills was sometimes being commissioned from me externally, even though those skills were not being utilised within the Bank’s own communication setup.
Yes, my real opportunity came in 2018, when a restructuring brought me back to what had by then become the Corporate Communications Department. I saw it as a first and foremost opportunity to do what I had wanted to do for years. I was able to bring my broadcasting experience, writing skills and creative ideas into the programme. So, I would say I was not absent from the world of broadcasting during those years; I was simply not given the opportunity to bring that experience to JK Bank Diary until much later.
RK: What did you find was not working when you took charge, and what was the first thing you changed?
Abid: I felt that some aspects of the programme had become unnecessarily conventional and predictable. For example, long film songs were being used during the programme. In a programme for which the Bank was purchasing valuable broadcast time, I felt that four or five minutes of an unrelated film song was not the best use of that time. I replaced this with the relevant crux or stanza of a song wherever music was required.
I also felt that excessive personalisation of the programme—repeatedly identifying the names of narrators and ending with elaborate credits such as “Scripted, Presented and Directed by…”—could sometimes shift attention from the JK Bank to the individuals producing it.My philosophy was simple: the programme should promote the Bank and serve its listeners, not promote the people making the programme.
RK: Can you recall one decision or experiment you took a risk on that initially faced resistance but eventually worked?
Abid: The introduction of small dramatic skits around banking products and services was one such experiment.
Institutional communication naturally tends to favour straightforward narration because it appears safe and controlled. I believed, however, that a short, well-written situation could communicate a banking concept more effectively than several paragraphs of narration.
Similarly, introducing customer voices recorded via Call recording through the segment Dil Se brought an element of authenticity that conventional institutional presentation sometimes lacks. These ideas required a change in mindset: from simply telling people about the Bank to showing them how banking relates to their lives.
RK: How much editorial freedom does JK Bank Diary actually have? Can the programme raise uncomfortable questions or discuss customer grievances even when they involve the Bank itself?
Abid: Yes, it always had. Thanks to the top management of the Bank, who trust its employees. There is necessarily a balance between editorial responsibility and the programme’s institutional character. It is, after all, a programme of the Bank and cannot operate as an entirely independent investigative platform. However, that does not mean communication should be one-sided. Customer concerns, difficulties and grievances are important because they provide the institution with a picture of how its policies and services are experienced on the ground. I believe the right approach is constructive independence within an institutional framework—raising genuine issues responsibly, seeking clarification and giving customers a voice without turning the programme into an adversarial platform.
The credibility of an institutional programme ultimately depends on how honestly it treats its audience.
RK: Has the programme ever influenced a decision, policy or practice within J&K Bank because of feedback from listeners?
Abid: Not influenced any decision, but yes questions, responses and difficulties communicated through the programme provide an informal but important feedback mechanism.
For me, one of the most satisfying aspects of such feedback is when a listener’s question exposes a communication gap. Sometimes the problem is not that a facility does not exist, but that people do not know about it or do not understand how to access it. That itself is something the programme can help correct.
RK: In 2001, radio was a mass medium. Today people consume information through YouTube, Instagram, podcasts and short videos. Why does JK Bank Diary still need radio in 2026?
Abid: Because radio still has something that digital media often struggles to replicate: intimacy and accessibility. A person can listen to radio while travelling, working, driving or carrying out daily activities. It does not require the same level of visual attention as a video platform. More importantly, radio continues to have tremendous relevance in a geographically and socially diverse region like Jammu & Kashmir.
That said, I would not argue that the programme should remain confined to radio. In 2026, the wiser approach is to make radio the original communication platform and extend its content through digital platforms—short videos, podcasts, social media clips and other formats. The future is not radio versus digital. It is radio plus digital.
RK: Do you think the programme has sometimes become too institutional or promotional? What is the biggest criticism you would accept about it?
Abid: Yes, that is a criticism I would accept. Any programme owned and sponsored by an institution carries the inherent danger of becoming overly promotional. There is always a temptation to talk about the institution rather than talk to the people.
The biggest criticism I would accept is that, at times, the programme could have been more conversational, more questioning and more focused on the listener’s perspective.
But that is also precisely why I tried, during my tenure, to introduce more human voices, creative scripting, customer interactions and dramatized formats.
An institutional programme earns credibility when the audience feels that it is being spoken with, rather than spoken at.
RK: If someone wanted to understand Kashmir’s economic and banking journey over the last 25 years, how much of that story is preserved in the programme’s recordings, scripts and listener interactions?
Abid: A considerable amount. The programme has effectively been an audio chronicle of the region’s changing relationship with banking. Across more than 1,300 episodes, one can trace the movement from traditional banking towards ATMs, electronic banking, digital transactions, financial inclusion and modern banking services.
The value is not confined to the scripted content. Listener interactions, questions and reactions also reflect what ordinary people were concerned about at different points in time.
I believe the archive of JK Bank Diary therefore has potential historical value. Properly catalogued and preserved, it could become an interesting oral and institutional record of J&K’s economic and banking transformation over the last quarter century.
RK: After 1,300-plus episodes, what do you think JK Bank Diary has failed to do and what would you change if you were launching it today?
Abid: If I were launching it today, I would design it as a multi-platform communication property from day one, rather than primarily as a radio programme.
The core radio programme would remain, but every episode would be conceived with multiple outputs: a podcast version, short social-media clips, customer stories, explainers, visual snippets and perhaps interactive digital segments.
I would also give greater space to ordinary customers, entrepreneurs, young people, farmers, students and small businesses. Their experiences can tell the story of banking much more powerfully than institutional narration alone.
And I would place even greater emphasis on financial literacy, digital safety, responsible borrowing and understanding modern financial services.
The programme’s next 25 years should be less about simply producing more episodes and more about creating more meaningful conversations.
RK: If you had to identify one moment, one episode or one intervention from your own tenure that best represents what JK Bank Diary has achieved, what would it be and why?
Abid: I would find it difficult to identify a single episode because what I value most was the transformation in the way the programme was conceived and presented.
If I had to choose one intervention, however, I would choose the introduction of Dil Se—the idea of bringing the customer’s voice into the programme. Those dramatic skits of our services and Products and of course my own couplets mostly loved by the listeners.
For me, that represented the philosophy I wanted to bring to JK Bank Diary: The Bank should not always be the only voice speaking. Its customers should also be heard.
Alongside that, the refreshed signature tune, the new opening credit, the sharper scripting, the use of short skits and the removal of unnecessary programme filler were all part of the same effort—to make the programme sound fresher, more professional and more relevant.
Perhaps the most satisfying part of the journey was that a programme which had started as an institutional communication initiative could also become a creative platform—one that combined banking information with storytelling, music, customer experiences and the human voice.
That, to me, is the real achievement of JK Bank Diary: 25 years later, it is not merely a record of what the Bank wanted to say; it is also a record of how the Bank and the people of J&K communicated with each other through changing times.
RK: Thank you for having us
Abid: Thank You
