Lady B is an evolving visionary who has carved her own path in the competitive industry of radio and entertainment.
Bali K. Deol, affectionately known as Lady B, has carved a niche for herself in the heart of British Columbia's Punjabi community. Swaraj Radio is the first Punjabi show on FM radio, making it the longest running in Canada.
Despite the emergence of 24-hour South Asian stations providing stiff competition, her show continues to thrive, boasting a dedicated listenership and robust business support that keeps its advertising slots in high demand. The show's allure lies not only in Lady B's charisma but also in its carefully curated content, featuring selective interviews and attracting artists eager to be part of its narrative. Lady B's profound love for Punjabi music, literature, and culture reflects in her through her popular show, she strives to instil the same passion for Punjabi culture in second and third-generation Punjabis while serving individuals of all ages and backgrounds. In the past two and half decades Lady B has become a household name, yet her nature remains unassuming and down-to-earth. Full of heart, soul, passion, and the courage to build community in a way that is powerful and transformative; Lady B is an internationally beloved Punjabi media icon.
One of the hottest exports from Britain since tea, Lady B has become a household name over the last two decades. Lady B's foray into the radio world commenced in 1999, leading to the groundbreaking establishment of Swaraj Radio in 2000. This marked a historic moment as she pioneered the first Punjabi-language radio program on a FM station in Canada. Lady B's powerful voice emerged, creating thoughtful content , connecting, celebrating and addressing hybrid identities. Since its inception, Swaraj Radio artfully ties together Punjabi music, people and current events.
One of the hottest exports from Britain since tea, Lady B has become a household name over the last 25 years
As a young woman in the Punjabi radio industry, Lady B navigated the challenges of an often illusionary world of media and entertainment. Her superpowers emerged through her voice and her words, which helped her create thoughtful and artful content for her show everyday. Her content allows her rapidly growing audience to think, connect with one another, celebrate Punjabi culture, and stay engaged with their culture, their hybrid identities, and their world – something that continues to be distinct against a chunk of Punjabi radio programming to this day.
Naturally, then, Lady B’s passions and interests led her to dismantle all obstacles that emerged in her path to her most authentic self. She taught herself how to read, write and fluently speak in Punjabi in her ongoing passionate love affair with her mother tongue, Punjabi. She celebrated the beauty of Punjab and Punjabi folk culture consistently within her show, and honoured her story as a Punjabi immigrant woman from the UK among many journeys with a similar path among her listenership. And yet, despite the excellence she achieved, and the many challenges she navigated as a woman in a patriarchal, largely male-dominated industry, she did so by compartmentalizing and separating all the parts of her that made her who she was.
Two and half decades later, Lady B continues to host Swaraj Radio on Vancouver’s radio airwaves. Her hope is to inspire people to think more deeply, to plant questions, to be a voice that is different, and a voice that represents love, full expression, and non judgement. As a registered therapeutic counsellor, she exemplifies these gifts and principles every day – healing her own ancestral line of Punjabi women who built homes and nurtured dreams for the ancestors who came before her.
Today, as Lady B evolves as a woman, her show incorporates more elements of soulful reflection and self awareness. But, her cult following and priceless contributions to Punjabi culture and Punjabi radio remain. She has rightfully earned the title of the Queen of Bhangra, leading the Punjabi music invasion in Canada. Her contribution to the origins of Punjabi Radio’s history in Canada will have her name written in stone in histories that remain to be written.
The name Swaraj is an old Sanskrit word for ‘self-rule;’ and it also refers to India’s independence movement.
Swaraj Radio airs from 1-3pm weekdays (PST)
