About Sabrang Radio

Sabrang Radio

Overview

Sabrang Radio is a South Asian radio and television service based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Broadcasting in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu, it serves one of the largest South Asian communities in western Canada with a mix of talk programming, news, music and community coverage. Sabrang's radio programming is heard on 94.7 FM in Calgary, the frequency of CHKF-FM, the city's Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) licensed ethnic station operated by the Fairchild Group, on which Sabrang produces the South Asian programming. The service also produces television programming carried on Shaw's multicultural channel in Calgary. Sabrang describes itself as having brought South Asian media to Calgarians since 1998, which makes it one of the longest-running South Asian broadcast services in Alberta. Its name, "Sabrang", evokes the many colours of South Asian culture, a theme the service also uses for its multicultural festival work in the city. Alongside its broadcasts, Sabrang is active in Calgary's cultural calendar as the organiser of large public events, most prominently the annual Vaisakhi Mela festival.

History

Sabrang dates its own history to 1998, the year Calgary's ethnic FM station CHKF 94.7 signed on the air in November of that year. The Fairchild Group's station was licensed to serve Calgary's multicultural communities in many languages, and Sabrang became the producer of its South Asian service, giving Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu listeners a dedicated daily presence on the FM dial at a time when most ethnic programming in Canada was confined to weekend blocks or AM frequencies. Over the following years the service expanded from radio into television, producing programming for Shaw's multicultural channel in Calgary, and into live events. In its own company presentation, Sabrang lists a long run of community productions through the 2010s, including repeated editions of the Vaisakhi Mela from 2011 onwards, the multicultural Culturefest festival (also promoted as Colour of Cultures), a series of Bollywood Nights concerts that reached twelve editions by 2017, an indoor cricket tournament and a Canadian International Immigration Expo in 2017. The Vaisakhi Mela has continued as Sabrang's flagship event: the festival's own website dates the modern Mela series to 2014, and the 2026 edition was scheduled for 24 April 2026 at the Genesis Centre in northeast Calgary. More than twenty-five years after its launch, the service remains on air and online, with its website carrying current 2026 programming.

Programming and Content

Sabrang's schedule combines talk, news and entertainment aimed at South Asian listeners in the Calgary area. According to the service, its talk programming covers politics and social issues alongside celebrity interviews, while music programming draws on Bollywood and Punjabi repertoire. A current example is the Bollywood Biography Show, hosted by Sabrang's president Rajesh Angral, which profiles figures from Indian cinema. The service's website supplements the broadcasts with video features, including weekly Punjabi and Bollywood song selections, podcast material and top news stories from across Canada, so that the radio content also lives as on-demand digital media. Community information is a consistent thread: event coverage, festival promotion and programming around Sikh and Punjabi religious and cultural observances, above all Vaisakhi, sit alongside the entertainment output. Through its television production for Shaw's multicultural channel, Sabrang has also presented its community programming to cable audiences in Calgary. The overall format is that of a full-service ethnic broadcaster: part newsroom, part music service and part community noticeboard for Calgary's Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu speaking population.

Audience and Reach

Sabrang's audience is Calgary's South Asian community, concentrated in the city's northeast districts such as Falconridge, Martindale, Taradale and Skyview Ranch, where the service also maintains its office. The 94.7 FM signal covers the Calgary metropolitan area, and Sabrang's own sales material claims a potential listening area of up to 250 kilometres in diameter around the city, a figure the service presents itself rather than one drawn from independent ratings measurement; as an ethnic specialty service, Sabrang is not individually reported in Canada's mainstream radio ratings. Its event work indicates the scale of its community reach: the Vaisakhi Mela draws large crowds to the Genesis Centre each spring, with live music, dance performances, food and business stalls. Sabrang's leadership is also visible in civic life beyond broadcasting — its president and host Rajesh Angral serves as president of the Punjabi Council of Commerce in Calgary, and in December 2022 he won the Alberta New Democratic Party nomination for the Calgary-North provincial riding, a candidacy reported by Alberta political media. That public profile reinforces the station's position as a recognised voice within, and for, Calgary's South Asian population.

Digital Presence

Sabrang's digital home is its website at sabrang.ca, which carries streaming and on-demand video, podcast content, news headlines and programme features, including current 2026 material such as its Punjabi and Bollywood video song selections. The site also offers an AI assistant, branded "Sabrang Sathi", through which listeners and advertisers can ask about interviews, video production and advertising on the service. Business listings for Sabrang Radio in Calgary show the operation as active, with weekday office hours. Through the Fairchild Radio network, the 94.7 FM service is also available to listeners beyond the transmitter's range via online listening, extending Sabrang's programming to the wider South Asian diaspora. The service's events maintain their own web presence — the Vaisakhi Mela has a dedicated site, vaisakhimela.ca — and its television and event productions circulate as video through its site and social channels. Together these outlets give a legacy broadcast service a multi-platform footprint well beyond its original FM schedule.

Ownership and Organisation

Sabrang Radio and Television is an independent Calgary production and broadcasting company. Its central figure is Rajesh Angral, who is identified in independent reporting as the service's president, chief executive officer, producer and host; he fronts programmes including the Bollywood Biography Show and leads the organisation of its major events. Sabrang produces the South Asian programming carried on CHKF-FM 94.7; the FM licence itself is held by the station's owner, the Fairchild Group, one of Canada's principal ethnic broadcasters, so Sabrang operates as the programming service on a licensed ethnic frequency rather than as the licence holder. The company's own description of its work spans radio shows, television shows, stage shows and commercials, reflecting an organisation that combines broadcasting with event production and advertising services for businesses wanting to reach Calgary's South Asian consumers. Its community roles extend the organisation's remit: under Angral, Sabrang organises the Vaisakhi Mela, Culturefest and sporting events, and Angral also heads the Punjabi Council of Commerce in Calgary, linking the broadcaster to the community's business leadership.

Contact and Availability

Sabrang Radio is based in Calgary, Alberta, with business listings placing its office at Unit 104, 4656 Westwinds Drive NE, in the heart of the city's northeast South Asian commercial district; the listed telephone number is (403) 400-0203, and listings show weekday office hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its programming is heard on 94.7 FM in Calgary and streamed online, and its television programming appears on Shaw's multicultural channel in the city. The service's website, sabrang.ca, is the main point of contact for listeners, event information and advertising enquiries, including its "Sabrang Sathi" assistant. The annual Vaisakhi Mela, its largest public event, is held each spring at the Genesis Centre in northeast Calgary, with the 2026 edition scheduled for 24 April 2026.