Starting a random series of all things from a 90s childhood, just so I have a record of these memories for posterity.
Do you remember a channel called iTV?
The 1999 Cricket World Cup was when our extremely middle-class, government quarters colony rose to the challenge of cable tv. Till then, we were happily adjusting our antennas and watching wholesome family entertainment on the two channels of DD1 and DD2. Then came the cable wale bhaiya, with his fancy earring, a few TV guides stacked under his arms along with long ropes of cable, promising unlimited entertainment for the entire colony. And just like that, we all got lured.
Cable TV bought with it a lot of changes, many of which I assume will get covered in this series. But, today's post is about 1 particular memory which every 90s kid can relate to.
A huge letter I revolving on the TV in anticipation of a new song being chosen.
Yep. The iTV generation. Not MTv. It was all about iTV.
I still don't know what that channel was, who owned it, who paid for it, how they made money, or if it was even legal. All I know is, there was a channel, which ran 24 hours a day, playing songs. A phone number would be displayed on the screen. You could call that number. On screen, you will see categories of songs. You pick a category, scroll through it, while you are on the call and select a song and the song gets played. Simple. Spotify of the 90s.
In the spirit of being honest, I never called that number. It was a bad thing to do and besides, before you could even pick up the phone, someone would call and your song would get picked. But, the sheer anticipation of waiting for a song was worth every penny we paid the cable guy.
That channel single-handedly introduced an entire generation of Indian middle class kids to Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Bryan Adams and Britney Spears. With a background noise of worried parents ordering for the channel to be changed, kids watched and hummed along.
Not just Western Pop though.
This was also the channel that played full length versions of the Indian Pop songs, which was quite the rage those days. There was a good 2 year period, where the only songs that released were remixes of old songs and how they were lapped up. Request after request on iTV were for these songs.
The funny part is, we registered some of these songs in our memories as songs we saw on iTV. Not about the artist, not about the lyrics - just songs we saw on iTV. I have a whole list of such songs. Here are a few to jog your memory:
- Aryan - Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra
- Band of Boys - Meri Neend Udd Gayi Hai
- Bally Sagoo - Gud Nal Ishq Mita
- DJ Aqueel - Keh Doon Tumhe
- Phalguni Pathak - Maine Payal Hai Chankayi
I often find myself in conversations where someone quips, remember that song, it used to come on iTV. Turns out its a whole generational thing.
Did you get this channel? Does it still air?
Also, in case I forget the other songs:
ReplyDeleteTu tu hai wahi
Tanha Dil
Yaaron dosti
Chadti jawani remix
DeleteCan anyone tell me the names of the music that used to play along while selecting songs
Delete101 dialmation
DeleteHahaha! I managed to once dial for Tanha Dil, which I think is a lie and it just happened that I was trying to connect and it played. Also, Oh God, you just reminded me of the days I thought Westlife was the coolest *cringe*
ReplyDeleteWell, they were cool. Weren't they? Remember the golden tips they had on their hair! :D
ReplyDeleteThis blog seems to be the only mention of ITV I can find on the internet at a cursory glance. Were you able to find anything tangible about the channel?
ReplyDeleteYeah... I used also call and some times wasn't able to get through that number but some times was.. It was a great memory....
ReplyDeleteYes i remember this channel. sometime only one song use to continue whole day. But it was different for that time.
ReplyDeleteOMG!! This is such a great blog Preeti. I was yearning for someone who could resonate with what I felt. Thank you so much penning it down so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteHi Preeti, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing about Itv. It is a channel close to my heart. It was not just a music channel indeed, it's an emotion!! It's just because of Itv I was introduced to western music and more importantly Westlife which changed my life forever. I first listened to Westlife on Itv only and instantly fell in love with the music. Since that day and today around 20 years I'm following Westlife and also was fortunate enough to meet them in person during their three magnificent shows here in India in November 2023.
ReplyDeleteI came across your blog while searching for Itv as I can't seem to find anything related to it on internet, your blog is definitely a gem for me. Thank you so much for refreshing the memories.
Take care!!