Saturday, January 28, 2012

All India Radio .


History Of Indian Radio, Indian Radio
All India Radio (AIR), officially known since 1956 as Akashvani (Devanagari: आकाशवाणी, ākāshavānī literally Sky's Voice), is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936,[1] it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. Its headquarters is at the Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi. Akashvani Bhavan houses the Drama Section, the FM Section and the National Service. Doordarshan Kendra (Delhi) offices are also located on the sixth floor at Akashvani Bhavan.

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[edit]History

White, multistory building with tall red-and-white tower in front
AIR tower in MangaloreKarnataka
In British India, broadcasting began in June 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of 1926, the private Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Bombay station began on 23 July 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August 1927. On 1 March 1930, however, the company went into liquidation. The government took over the broadcasting facilities, beginning the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) on 1 April 1930 (on an experimental basis for two years, and permanently in May 1932). On 8 June 1936 the ISBS was renamed All India Radio. On 1 October 1939 the External Service began with a broadcast in Pushtu; it was intended to counter radiopropaganda from Germany directed to Afghanistan, Iran and the Arab nations. When India became independent in 1947 the AIR network had only six stations (in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchi); the total number of radio sets at that time was about 275,000. On 3 October 1957 the Vividh Bharati Service was launched, to compete with Radio Ceylon. Television broadcasting began in Delhi in 1959 as part of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as Doordarshan on 1 April 1976.[2] FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Madras, and was expanded during the 1990s.[3]
The word "Akashvani" was coined by M. V. Gopalaswamy after setting up the nation’s first private radio station in his residence, “Vittal Vihar” (about 200 yards from AIR’s current location inMysore) in 1936.[4] Akashvani means "celestial announcement"; the word, of Sanskrit origin, is often found in Hindu mythology. When the gods wished to say something, an akashvani occurred. Literally, akash means "sky" and vanimeans "sound" or "message".[5] Thus, Akashwani seemed to be fit for use by a radio broadcaster and was later adopted by All India Radio after independence.

[edit]Domestic services

AIR has many services in a number of languages, each serving different regions across India.

[edit]Vividh Bharati

Vividh Bharati is one of the best-known services of AIR. Its name roughly translates as "Multi-Indian Service", and it is also known as the Commercial Broadcasting Service (CBS). It is the most commercially-accessible of the AIR networks and is popular in Mumbai and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programmes including news, film music and comedy programs. It operates on differentmediumwave-band frequencies for each city.
Some programs broadcast on Vividh Bharati are:
Other services include:
  • Primary Channel (regional, 116 stations)[6]
  • Local Service (86 stations)
  • National Channel[7] (nighttime; launched 18 May 1988; main frequency 1566 kHz from Nagpur [8]
  • Home News Service (also via newsonair.com)
  • External Services in 27 languages
  • Yuv-vani, the Voice of Youth (launched 21 July 1969 on 1017 kHz)
  • FM Channels (AIR FM Rainbow – 12 stations, AIR FM Gold – 4 stations, FM Classical Music/Amrutha Varshini/ಅಮೃತ ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ – 1 station)

[edit]Regional services

The headquarters of the Regional Deputy Directors General are located at Delhi and Chandigarh (NR), Lucknow and Bhopal (CR), Guwahati (NER), Kolkata (ER), Mumbai and Ahmedabad (WR), Chennai and Bangaluru (SR).[9] All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise noted.
Northern regional service
CityFrequencyCityFrequencyCityFrequency
Agra1530Ajmer603Allahabad1026
Almora999Barmer1458Bikaner1395
Chamo (Gopeshwar)1485Delhi A (Indraprastha) (इंद्रप्रस्थ)819Delhi B (Rajdhani) (राजधानी)666
Delhi C (Vividh Bharti) (विविध भारती)1368Delhi D (Yuv-vani'"0 (युव वाणी)1017Delhi (National Channel)1215
Diskit1602Drass1485Gorakhpur909
Jaipur A1476Jalandhar A837Jalandhar B702
Jammu A990Jodhpur A531Kalpa (Kinnaur)1584
Kargil A684Kargil B1584Khalsi1485
Kota1413Kupwara1350Leh1053
Lucknow A747Lucknow C1278Mathura1584
Najibabad954Naushera1089Nyoma1485
Padam1589Pauri1602Pithoragarh1602
Rampur895Rohtak1143Shimla774
Srinagar A1116Srinagar C1224Suratgarh918
Tiesuru1602Udaipur1125Uttarkashi1602
Varanasi A1242
Northeast regional service
CityFrequencyCityFrequency
Agartala1269Guwahati A729
Shillong864Imphal822
Massive, pinkish-gray building with columns
Kolkata Centre of All India Radio
Eastern regional service
CityFrequencyCityFrequency
Bhagalpur1458, 1206Chinsurah (National Channel, GOS, 1 MW)1134
Cuttack A972Darbhanga1296
Jamshedpur1544Kolkata A657
Kolkata B1008Kolkata C (Vividh Bharati)1323
Patna A621Ranchi A549
Kolkata (FM)107.7Kolkata (FM)100.2
Western regional service
CityFrequencyCityFrequency
Ahmedabad A846Aurangabad1521
Bhopal A1593Chhindwara102.2 MHz
Chhatarpur675Gwalior1386
Indore A648Jalgaon963
Mumbai A1044Mumbai B (Asmita MarathiProgramme)558
Mumbai C (Vividh Bharati)1888Nagpur A585
Nagpur B (National Channel, 1 MW)1566Panaji A1287
Panaji B (Vividh Bharati)828Pune A792
Rajkot A810Ratnagiri1143
Solapur1602Sangli1251
South regional service
CityFrequencyCityFrequency
Adilabad1485Bangalore A612
Chennai A720Chennai C (Vividh Bharati)730
Coimbatore999Gulbarga1107
Hyderabad A738Hyderabad B1377
Kozhikode A684Madurai1269
Nagercoil101 MHzUdhagamandalam1602 (187.2m wavelength)
Port Blair684Thiruvananthapuram A1161
Thiruvananthapuram101.9 MHzThrissur A630
Tiruchirapalli A936Tirunelveli1197
Vijayawada A837Visakhapatnam927
Gautam456Pondicherry1215

[edit]External services

The external services of All India Radio broadcast in 27 languages to countries outside India—primarily via high-power shortwave bandbroadcasts, although medium wave is also used to reach neighbouring countries. In addition to broadcasts targeted at specific countries by language, there is a General Overseas Service broadcasting in English with 8¼ hours of programming each day aimed at a general international audience. The external broadcasts were begun on 1 October 1939 by the British government to counter the propaganda of the Nazis directed at the Afghan people. The first broadcasts were in Pushto, beamed to Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province. Soon broadcasts began in other languages including Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay and French. The external services broadcast in 16 foreign and 11 Indian languages, with a total program output of 70¼ hours per day on medium- and shortwave.
Location# of transmitterskWFrequencyDRM !
External service transmitter sites
Aligarh (HPT)4250
Bengaluru (SPT)6500SW DRM
Chennai (Madras)1100
Gorakhpur150
Guwahati150
Jalandhar (Gohawar)1300702 kHzMW
Khampur-Delhi (HPT)7250
Khampur-Delhi (SPT)2500
Kingsway-Delhi350
Kingsway-Delhi2100
Kolkata-Chinsurah/Mogra (SPT)11000594 kHzMW
Mumbai (Malad)1100
Nagpur (SPT)110001566 kHzMW
Panaji (HPT)2250
Rajkot (SPT)110001071 kHzMW
Tuticorin1200MW
Foreign languages broadcast are Arabic, Baluchi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, English, French, Indonesian, Nepali, Persian (Farsi), Pashto, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Thai and Tibetan. Indian languages broadcast are Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Panjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The longest daily broadcast is the Urdu Service to Pakistan, around the clock on DTH and on short- and mediumwave for 12¼ hrs. The English-language General Overseas Service are broadcast 8¼ hours daily. During Hajj, there are special broadcasts beamed to Saudi Arabia in Urdu. The external services of AIR are also broadcast to Europe in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) on 9950 kHz between 1745-2230 UTC.
The transmissions are broadcast by high-power transmitters located at Aligarh, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Mumbai and Panaji on shortwave and from Jalandhar, Kolkata, Nagpur, Rajkot and Tuticorin on mediumwave. Some of these transmitters are 1000 kW (1 MW) or 500 kW. Programs are beamed to different parts of the world except the Americas and received in very good Reception Quality in the Target areas. In each language service, the program consists of news, commentary, a press review, talks on matters of general or cultural interest, feature programmes, documentaries and music from India and the target region. Most programs originate at New Broadcasting House on Parliament Street in New Delhi, with a few originating at SPT Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Kolkata, HPT Malad Mumbai, Thiruvanthapuram and Tuticorin.
The External Services Division of AIR is a link between India and rest of the world, especially in countries with Indian emigrants and people of Indian origin. It broadcasts the Indian point of view on matters of national and international importance, and demonstrates the Indian way of life through its programs. QSL cards (which are sought-after by international radio hobbyists) are issued to radio hobbyists by AIR in New Delhi for reception reports of their broadcasts.

[edit]Other services

[edit]News-on-phone service

All India Radio launched news-on-phone service on 25 February 1998 in New Delhi; it now has service in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna and Bangalore. The service is accessible through STDISD and local calls. There are plans to establish the service in 11 more cities: Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ranchi, Simla and Thiruvanthapuram. English and Hindi hourly news bulletins may be heard live.[10] News in MP3 format may be directly played from the site, and filenames are time-stamped. AIR news bulletins are available in nine regional languages (Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, North East, Punjabi, Telugu and Urdu).

[edit]Direct-to-home service

Direct-to-home (DTH) service is offered on 21 channels via Insat.

[edit]Documentaries

There is a long tradition of documentary features on AIR. There is great interest in radio documentaries, particularly in Third World countries like India, Iran, South Korea and Malaysia. This format has been revived because of its flexibility, cost-cutting capacity, messaging potential and creative potential with producers such as Chitra Narain, R. G. Narula and Danish Iqbal. Iqbal has brought his experience as a drama producer to the documentary field; his documentary "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai" makes effective use of narrative and ambient sounds. The documentary is a heartfelt account of an unseen bridge between a Kashmiri, Shikarah Wala, and his auto rickshaw-driver friend in Delhi. Although they never met, their unseen bond transcends the barriers of political, religious and regional prejudice. Because Narula, Chitra and Danish had a long tenure at Delhi and creative collaboration with media institutes, their influence is seminal in shaping the thinking of their colleagues. Chitra and Narula were rewarded for their work, and Danish twice received the Public Service Broadcasting Award for his documentaries.

[edit]Central Drama Unit

AIR's Central Drama Unit is responsible for the national broadcast of plays. Playwrights and producers such as Chiranjeet, Satyendra Sharat, Nirmala Agarwal and Danish Iqbal has been associated with the department. Plays produced by the CDU are translated and produced by regional stations. Since its inception in the 1960s the unit has produced more than 1,500 plays, and the CDU is a repository of old scripts and productions. The National Programme of Plays is broadcast by the CDU of AIR the fourth Thursday of each month at 9.30 pm. On the National Programme of Plays, the same play is produced in 22 Indian languages and broadcast at the same time by all regional and national network stations. The CDU also produces Chain Plays, half-hour dramas broadcast in succession by a chain of stations.

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