All India Radio
Encyclopedia
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: आकाशवाणी, ākāshavānī literally Sky's Voice), is the radio broadcaster of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and a division of Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati is India's largest public broadcaster. It is an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises Doordarshan television network and All India Radio which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.Prasar Bharati was...
. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
, 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
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
Kendra (Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
) offices are also located on the sixth floor at Akashvani Bhavan.
History
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, 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
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
; it was intended to counter radio propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
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
Vividh Bharati
The Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1957. Within no time it proved to be a popular channel of every household. Vividh Bharati radio channel was launched on October 3, 1957. The service provides entertainment for nearly 15 to 17 hours a day...
Service was launched, to compete with Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...
. Television broadcasting began in Delhi in 1959 as part of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
on 1 April 1976. FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Madras, and was expanded during the 1990s.
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 in Mysore) in 1936.. Akashvani means "celestial announcement"; the word, of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
origin, is often found in Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
. When the gods wished to say something, an akashvani occurred. Literally, akash means "sky" and vani means "sound" or "message". Thus, Akashwani seemed to be fit for use by a radio broadcaster and was later adopted by All India Radio after independence.
Domestic services
AIR has many services in a number of languages, each serving different regions across India.Vividh Bharati
Vividh BharatiVividh Bharati
The Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1957. Within no time it proved to be a popular channel of every household. Vividh Bharati radio channel was launched on October 3, 1957. The service provides entertainment for nearly 15 to 17 hours a day...
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
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programmes including news, film music and comedy programs. It operates on different mediumwave
Mediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
-band frequencies for each city.
Some programs broadcast on Vividh Bharati are:
- Hawa-mahalHawa Mahal (radio program)Hawa Mahal is a popular nightly radio show in India broadcast on the Vividh Bharati service. It has a skit-format, where stories from various writers were dramatized into plays...
: Radio plays based on novels and plays - Santogen ki mehfil: Comedy
Other services include:
- Primary Channel (regional, 116 stations)
- Local Service (86 stations)
- National Channel (nighttime; launched 18 May 1988; main frequency 1566 kHz from NagpurNagpurNāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
- 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 RainbowAIR FM RainbowAIR FM Rainbow is a group of FM radio channels across India. The group of stations was previously called FM Metro, but the name was changed to FM Rainbow in 2002. The group is run by All India Radio, or AIR, a government owned enterprise. It features Hindi and regional language songs, while also...
– 12 stations, AIR FM GoldAIR FM GoldAIR FM Gold is a FM radio channel in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, India. It is run by the All India Radio, a government owned enterprise, a division of Prasar Bharati . In Mumbai, it features Hindi songs, and occasionally English songs along with hourly news in English and Hindi...
– 4 stations, FM Classical Music/Amrutha Varshini/ಅಮೃತ ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ – 1 station)
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).All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise noted.
| City | Frequency | City | Frequency | City | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agra | 1530 | Ajmer | 603 | Allahabad | 1026 |
| Almora | 999 | Barmer | 1458 | Bikaner | 1395 |
| Chamo (Gopeshwar) | 1485 | Delhi A (Indraprastha) (इंद्रप्रस्थ) | 819 | Delhi B (Rajdhani) (राजधानी) | 666 |
| Delhi C (Vividh Bharti) (विविध भारती) | 1368 | Delhi D (Yuv-vani'"0 (युव वाणी) | 1017 | Delhi (National Channel) | 1215 |
| Diskit | 1602 | Drass | 1485 | Gorakhpur | 909 |
| Jaipur A | 1476 | Jalandhar A | 837 | Jalandhar B | 702 |
| Jammu A | 990 | Jodhpur A | 531 | Kalpa (Kinnaur) | 1584 |
| Kargil A | 684 | Kargil B | 1584 | Khalsi | 1485 |
| Kota | 1413 | Kupwara | 1350 | Leh | 1053 |
| Lucknow A | 747 | Lucknow C | 1278 | Mathura | 1584 |
| Najibabad | 954 | Naushera | 1089 | Nyoma | 1485 |
| Padam | 1589 | Pauri | 1602 | Pithoragarh | 1602 |
| Rampur | 895 | Rohtak | 1143 | Shimla | 774 |
| Srinagar A | 1116 | Srinagar C | 1224 | Suratgarh | 918 |
| Tiesuru | 1602 | Udaipur | 1125 | Uttarkashi | 1602 |
| Varanasi A | 1242 |
| City | Frequency | City | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agartala | 1269 | Guwahati A | 729 |
| Shillong | 864 | Imphal | 822 |
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| City | Frequency | City | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bhagalpur | 1458, 1206 | Chinsurah (National Channel, GOS, 1 MW) | 1134 |
| Cuttack A | 972 | Darbhanga | 1296 |
| Jamshedpur | 1544 | Kolkata A | 657 |
| Kolkata B | 1008 | Kolkata C (Vividh Bharati) | 1323 |
| Patna A | 621 | Ranchi A | 549 |
| Kolkata (FM) | 107.7 | Kolkata (FM) | 100.2 |
| City | Frequency | City | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahmedabad A | 846 | Aurangabad | 1521 |
| Bhopal A | 1593 | Chhindwara | 102.2 MHz |
| Chhatarpur | 675 | Gwalior | 1386 |
| Indore A | 648 | Jalgaon | 963 |
| Mumbai A | 1044 | Mumbai B (Asmita Marathi Programme) | 558 |
| Mumbai C (Vividh Bharati Vividh Bharati The Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1957. Within no time it proved to be a popular channel of every household. Vividh Bharati radio channel was launched on October 3, 1957. The service provides entertainment for nearly 15 to 17 hours a day... ) |
1888 | Nagpur A | 585 |
| Nagpur B (National Channel, 1 MW) | 1566 | Panaji A | 1287 |
| Panaji B (Vividh Bharati) | 828 | Pune A | 792 |
| Rajkot A | 810 | Ratnagiri | 1143 |
| Solapur | 1602 | Sangli | 1251 |
| City | Frequency | City | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adilabad | 1485 | Bangalore A | 612 |
| Chennai A | 720 | Chennai C (Vividh Bharati) | 730 |
| Coimbatore | 999 | Gulbarga | 1107 |
| Hyderabad A | 738 | Hyderabad B | 1377 |
| Kozhikode A | 684 | Madurai | 1269 |
| Nagercoil | 101 MHz | Udhagamandalam | 1602 (187.2m wavelength) |
| Port Blair | 684 | Thiruvananthapuram A | 1161 |
| Thiruvananthapuram | 101.9 MHz | Thrissur A | 630 |
| Tiruchirapalli A | 936 | Tirunelveli | 1197 |
| Vijayawada A | 837 | Visakhapatnam | 927 |
| Gautam | 456 | Pondicherry | 1215 |
External services
The external services of All India Radio broadcast in 27 languages to countries outside India—primarily via high-power shortwave band broadcasts, 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 transmitters | kW | Frequency | DRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aligarh | 4 | 250 | ||
| Bengalure (SPT Bangalore) | 6 | 500 | SW DRM | |
| Chennai (Madras) | 1 | 100 | ||
| Gorakhpur | 1 | 50 | ||
| Guwahati | 1 | 50 | ||
| Jalandhar | 1 | 300 | ||
| HPT Khampur (Delhi) | 7 | 250 | ||
| Kingsway (Delhi) | 3 | 50 | ||
| Kingsway (Delhi) | 2 | 100 | ||
| Mumbai (HPT Malad) | 1 | 100 | ||
| Panji | 2 | 250 | ||
| Tuticon | 1 | 100 | ||
| RAJKOT MW SPT | 1 | 1000 | MW DRM |
Foreign languages broadcast are Arabic, Baluchi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, English, French, Indonesian, Nepali, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Thai and Tibetan. Indian languages broadcast are Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, 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
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, 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
Digital Radio Mondiale
Digital Radio Mondiale is a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies designed to work over the bands currently used for AM broadcasting, particularly shortwave...
).
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 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; however, the United Kingdom broadcast is received well there. 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
Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin
A Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
. 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
QSL
QSL is one of the Q codes used in radiocommunication and radio broadcasting. A Q code message can stand for a statement or a question . In this case, QSL? means "do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" while QSL means "I confirm receipt of your transmission". Some also take it to mean "Query...
cards (which are sought-after by international radio hobbyists) are issued to radio hobbyists by AIR in New Delhi for reception report
Reception report
A reception report is a means by which radio stations receive detailed feedback from their listeners about the quality and content of their broadcasts...
s of their broadcasts.
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 STDSubscriber trunk dialling
Subscriber trunk dialling is a term for a telephone system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator assistance.- Terminology :...
, ISD 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. News in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
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).
Direct-to-home service
Direct-to-home (DTH) service is offered on 21 channels via InsatIndian National Satellite System
INSAT or the Indian National Satellite System is a series of multipurpose Geo-stationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations....
.
Documentaries
There is a long tradition of documentary features on AIR. There is great interest in radio documentaries, particularly in Third WorldThird World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
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
Auto rickshaw
An auto rickshaw or three-wheeler is a usually three-wheeled cabin cycle for private use and as a vehicle for hire. It is a motorized version of the traditional pulled rickshaw or cycle 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.
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.Controversy
During his broadcasts from Azad Hind RadioAzad Hind Radio
Azad Hind Radio was a propaganda radio service that was started in leadership of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Germany in 1942 to encourage Indians to fight for freedom. Though initially based in Germany, its headquarters were shifted to Singapore and later Rangoon following the course of the war...
, Subhas Chandra Bose referred to pre-independence AIR as Anti Indian Radio.
It is believed by some that the theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for All India Radio was composed by violinist V. G. Jog
V. G. Jog
Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog , was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.Jog was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan...
. However, it is also known that the Czechoslovak composer Walter Kaufmann
Walter Kaufmann (composer)
Walter Kaufmann was a composer, conductor, musicologist, and educator. Born in Karlsbad, Bohemia , Kaufmann enjoyed a career that crossed international boundaries, taking him to Berlin, Bombay , London, and Canada, before he settled in Bloomington, Indiana, USA in 1957...
supervised the Western Music Department at AIR during the 1930s. Although he did not compose the signature tune as such, an excerpt from one of his sonatas (played by violinist Mehli Mehta
Mehli Mehta
-Early life:Mehta was born in Bombay, British India to a Parsi family. His involvement in music stemmed from his birth. As a young violinist his main musical influence and inspiration was Jascha Heifetz. A pioneering figure in the Indian musical world, he founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in...
, father of conductor Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
) later became the signature tune for AIR. According to other sources, the tune (played on the violin, viola and tambura
Tambura
The tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
) was composed by John Foulds
John Foulds
John Herbert Foulds was a British composer of classical music. Largely self-taught as a composer, he was one of the most remarkable and unjustly forgotten figures of the "British Musical Renaissance"....
.
See also
- Vividh BharatiVividh BharatiThe Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1957. Within no time it proved to be a popular channel of every household. Vividh Bharati radio channel was launched on October 3, 1957. The service provides entertainment for nearly 15 to 17 hours a day...
AIR Commercial Broadcasting Service - AIR FM RainbowAIR FM RainbowAIR FM Rainbow is a group of FM radio channels across India. The group of stations was previously called FM Metro, but the name was changed to FM Rainbow in 2002. The group is run by All India Radio, or AIR, a government owned enterprise. It features Hindi and regional language songs, while also...
- AIR FM GoldAIR FM GoldAIR FM Gold is a FM radio channel in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, India. It is run by the All India Radio, a government owned enterprise, a division of Prasar Bharati . In Mumbai, it features Hindi songs, and occasionally English songs along with hourly news in English and Hindi...