HISTORY OF RADIO IN INDIA

Amrita Chakraborty

Broadcasting began in India with the formation of a private radio service in 1923.
In June 1923, the Radio Club of Bombay made the first ever broadcast in the
country. This was followed by the setting up of the Calcutta Radio Club five
months later.

The Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) came into being on July 23, 1927. The
company almost went bankrupt in 1930 but the colonial government took away
the two transmitters and the Department of Labour and Industries started
operating them as the Indian State Broadcasting Services (ISBS). In 1936, this very
Corporation was renamed All India Radio (AIR) and was controlled by the
Department of Communications. When India became independent in 1947, AIR
was made a separate department under the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting.

There were only six radio stations in India at the time of independence, i.e. at
Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow. There were three in
Pakistan (Peshawar, Lahore and Dacca). AIR then had coverage of just 2.5 % of
the area and 11% of the population. Since 1956 All India Radio was renamed as
Akashvani. The name ‘Akashvani’ was coined by Rabindranath Tagore.

Expansion of Services:

All India Radio`s network had expanded by the mid-1990s to around 146 AM
stations. Along with a National Channel, there is Integrated North-East Service
that aimed at reaching out to the tribal groups in Northeast India. There are five
regional headquarters for All India Radio, namely in the North Zone in New
Delhi; the East Zone in Kolkata; the North-East Zone in Guwahati, the West
Zone in Mumbai and the South Zone in Chennai.

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The government-owned network of Indian radio provides both national and local
programs in Hindi, English, and sixteen regional languages. The broadcasting
equipment used in India is mainly indigenous and reaches special audiences, such
as farmers needing agro climatic, plant protection and other agriculture-related
information.

Vividh Bharati:

Commercial Radio Services (CBS) in India started in 1957 by Vividh Bharati

Service with its headquarters at Mumbai. Vividh Bharati is one of the best-known
services of AIR. Its name roughly translates as “Diverse Indian”. Vividh Bharati
offers a wide range of programmes including news, film music and comedy
programs. Vividh Bharati earned its revenues from extensive advertisements and
had been broadcasting from AM and FM stations.

FM Services:

FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Chennai, and was expanded during the
1990s. AIR operates at present 18 FM stereo channels, called AIR FM Rainbow,
targeting the urban audience in a refreshing style of presentation. Four more FM
channels called, AIR FM Gold, broadcast composite news and entertainment
programmes from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. With the FM wave
sweeping the country, AIR is augmenting its Medium Wave transmission with
additional FM transmitters at Regional stations.

News Services Division (NSD) and External Service Division (ESD):

The Central News Organisation (CNO) came into existence in August, 1937. In
1948, CNO was split up into two divisions, the News Services Division (NSD) and
the External Services Division (ESD).

The News Services Division, of All India Radio broadcasts 647 bulletins daily for a
total duration of nearly 56 hours in about 90 Languages/Dialects in Home,
Regional, External and DTH Services. In addition to the daily news bulletins, the

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News Services Division also mounts number of news-based programmes on
topical subjects from Delhi and its Regional News Units.

Presently, Programmes of the External Services Division are broadcasting in 11

Indian and 16 foreign languages reaching out to more than 100 countries. These
external broadcasts aim to keep the overseas listeners informed about
developments in the country and provide a rich fare of entertainment as well.

Present status of AIR:

The phenomenal growth achieved by All India Radio has made it one of the largest
media organisations in the world. With a network of 262 radio stations, AIR today
is accessible to almost the entire population of the country and nearly 92% of the
total area. AIR today broadcasts in 23 languages and 146 dialects catering to a vast
spectrum of socio-economically and culturally diverse populace.

Role of radio in Social Development:

The early history of Indian radio broadcasting in independent India set the
parameters for the succeeding role of television in the nation. At Independence,
the Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru followed three major goals:
firstly, to achieve political integration; secondly, to attain economic development;
and finally, to achieve social modernization. Indian broadcast media was expected
to play an important role in all three areas. In those days radio was considered as
an integral medium of communication, primarily due to the absence of any motion
medium. All the national affairs and social changes were informed through the
waves of broadcast media and within no time, popularity of radio spread
nationwide. Indian radio proved to be a prime medium of social integration.

Indian radio also took up the task of aiding in the development of economic
scenario. Indian radio was specially designed program to contribute to the process
of social modernization, which was an important pre-requisite of economic
development. The main problem was that the old ideas were influencing the young

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minds thus hindering the process of social change and modernization. The role of
broadcasting provided an inlet for the flow of modern ideas.

It was due to the same reason of static thoughts prevailing in the society; that
television came into existence in 1959. Television broadcasts started from Delhi in
September 1959, again associated with the All India Radio`s services. When
television was taking birth, radio happened to be a matured medium in India.
Various entertainment programs were added in the curriculum of Indian Radio. A
limited number of old U.S. and British shows were also telecast sometimes in
radio. The oldest radio broadcaster of India, All India Radio or Akashvani is one of
the largest radio networks in the world.

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