Radio at a Glance
Transcript of Radio at a Glance
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ALL INDIA RADIO Citizens’ Charter
(At a glance) AIR is committed to: (i) be an exemplary Public Service Broadcaster, (ii) uphold and strengthen democratic and secular values, (iii) promote national integration and harmony, (iv) inform, educate, entertain, enrich and empower people, (v) become a powerful tool of social transformation, (vi) fight with social evils and strengthen social justice, (vii) provide timely, updated, objective and comprehensive news and views, (viii) provide a balanced insight on Indian thought, institutions and culture, (ix) become a truly national broadcaster by covering 100% of the population, (x) achieve international standards in programme content and signal quality, (xi) encourage international co-operation, (xii) have a global reach through internet services and use state of art technology, (xiii) cover at present about 99.14 % population and 91.79 % area of the country with 231
Broadcasting Centres and 372 Terrestrial Transmitters including 170 FM transmitters in 24 language & 146 dialects nationally. AIR signals also reach externally to about 108 countries in 27 languages (11 national & 16 foreign).
(xiv) increase transparency and accountability of its functioning by leveraging technology
and through effective use of websites/internet technology. (xv) acknowledge all complaints within 7 days and reply within 30 days approximately. _________________________________________________________________________ Contact us Grievance Redressal Visit us atDirector General All India Radio, Room No.102 Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi-110 001. [email protected]
Dy. Director General (Programme Planning & Development), Directorate General, All India Radio, Room No.106, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi-110 001. [email protected]
www.allindiaradio.org, www.newsonair.com, Information & facilitation counter/ Grievance Officer/ Head of Office or Station
Note: For more information, please see details of profile, services, contacts, etc., on the website.
________________________________________________________________________Suggestions/comments, if any, to this Citizens’ Charter, are welcome from any one in India at [email protected] and [email protected] , within 15 days.
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All India Radio
Citizens’ Charter
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Prasar Bharati All India Radio
Citizens’ Charter (Detailed)
This charter is a declaration of the AIR’s vision, mission, roles, objectives, major targets, services offered, details of it’s business, range of the citizen/customers/clients/ groups covered, grievances redressal & access system, standards followed, business transacted, importance & values, etc., of AIR, with commitment to achieve excellence in these as per following:
Sl.No. Contents Descriptions 1 Vision Empower people by developing knowledge based societies through
broadcasting of the high quality messages to inform, awake & enlighten people freely, truthfully, objectively and with maximum speed & clarity using state of the art broadcast technology.
2 Mission i. Pay special attention on the overall quality & quantity of the contents creation/programme coverage & production and the carrier (signal) transmission of approved quality standards for the human developmental programme. ii. Maintain the transparency, promptness and efficiency of the services for promoting the social welfare, noble cause and happiness to empower people of all types of the masses (Bahujan Hitaya Bahujan Sukhaya), etc. iii. Meet the national challenges by helping to combat social exploitation & abuses, corruption, poverty, unemployment, inequality/much disparity, untouchability and other socio- economic evils. We also help people during disaster & emergency and the relief works. Our thrust areas are to help people in overall socio-economic development, bridging the gap of digital divide and up-liftment of the poor, backward, downtrodden, tribal, villagers, illiterate, under privileged, unemployed, aged and, aggrieved people, minorities, vulnerable sections of societies, rural areas, etc.
3 Roles i. Maintain & strengthen its role as a national public service broadcaster and, provide adequate radio coverage with good quality signal & sufficient programme to reach the maximum population and area of India and also abroad in the electronic media {Terrestrial (MW, SW & FM), Satellite (DTH), Internet medium, etc.} with the progressive use of appropriate & advanced broadcast, information & communication technologies. ii. AIR signal covers about 99.14 % by population & 91.79 % by area with 231 Broadcasting Centres & 372 Terrestrial Transmitters including 170 FM Transmitters nationally in about 24 language & 146 dialects. The external services of AIR covers about 108 nearby countries across the world in about 27 languages (11 national & 16 foreign). AIR has also plan to expand & improve the services in multimedia in future. iii. Provide fair & balanced news & current affairs, broadcast coverage on major events nationally & internationally, political affairs, sports and games, weather & meteorological data, disaster data, traffic data, grievances redress system, life style, etc. iv. Provide popular music (devotional, classical-Indian & Western), songs and spoken words(important talks, interviews & discussions), etc., to meet the entertainment and socio-economic needs of the masses.
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v. Provide live & state of the art service on the Internet/Website on a regular basis for coverage of AIR programme to all parts of the world including USA, Canada, Pacific Ocean – countries, etc., where signals of AIR-External services are not received adequately.
4 Objectives i. To disseminate information freely & without any bias, promotes education and provide entertainment with a variety of human development programme in the existing different languages and dialects spread all over the country and also abroad for enrichment of the life of the people. ii. To uphold & promote national unity & integrity, democratic values and fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India and, the Indian cultural heritage & the archives. iii. To safeguard citizens’ rights to be informed on all matters of public interest by presenting a fair and balanced flow of information. iv. To pay special attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy, agriculture, rural development, environment, health & family welfare and science and technology. v. To create awareness about women’s issues and take special steps to protect the interests of children, aged and other vulnerable sections of the society. vi. To provide adequate coverage to diverse cultures, sports & games and youth affairs. vii. To promote social justice, safeguarding the rights of working classes, minorities and Tribal communities. viii. To develop harmonious atmosphere among the masses of different religion, caste, gender, community, region, state, border areas, etc., in the country, and, also promote global harmony for balance development. ix. To expand broadcasting facilities and promote research & development and training in broadcast technology for better services to the public. x. To increase transparency and accountability of its functioning by leveraging technology and through effective use of websites/internet technology. xi. Other relevant socio-economic issues in the country in the public interest.
5 Services Offered (Major wings of AIR working system are: i. Programme, ii. Engineering, iii. News, iv. Admin. and, v. Civil Construction Wing.)
i. Provide adequate programme coverage, production & transmission (in the electronic media, using the audio broadcast format at present and now developing & planning to start soon the data, text & multimedia broadcast format in near future) on all the important socio-economic and overall development related matters of the human being residing & moving in India, border areas, neighboring countries and also abroad. ii. Disseminate information freely & without any bias, promote education and provide entertainment and, also pay special attention on development of science & technology, health & family welfare, agriculture, social & natural justice, law & order, sports & games, youths, women & children development programme, environment, humanities, employment & opportunities, etc., including the diverse cultures of India and also important news, events of public interest through various development programme prepared in different languages & dialects of various regions in popular format like music, songs, features, talks, discussions, drama, interactive programme, interviews, etc.
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iii. Provide news & current affairs, coverage on all the major national & international events, political affairs, social justice, life style, sports and games, weather & meteorological data, disaster & emergency data, traffic data, grievances redress system, etc. iv. Provide adequate broadcast coverage with the existing, advanced & better broadcast, information and communication technology. At present, AIR’s terrestrial coverage is about 99.14 % by population and 91.79 % by area nationally in addition to the AIR coverage in the neighboring countries (about 108 Nos.). The Satellite coverage is also across the country except A&N islands. AIR has 20 channels on the DTH-DD Direct+ platform at present. The coverage population, area, quality & total Nos. of the channels shall increase in future. AIR has also planned to have about 20 Internet Channels that may come into operation very soon. v. Give advertisement for promotion to the various products and services and, also important issues. vi. AIR has 231 broadcasting centres/channels with 372 Nos. terrestrial transmitters including 170 FM, 148 MW & 54 SW transmitters at present all over the country. vii. AIR comprises the services of National Channel, Regional Stations, Local Radio Stations, Vividh Bharati Centres, FM Service and North Eastern Service at national level and, it has also External Services at international level to meet the requirements. viii. AIR has 3 tier broadcasting system nationally, namely; at the national, regional and local levels. ix. AIR has broadcasts in 24 languages & 146 dialects all over India. x. AIR has an External Services Division operating since 1st October, 1939. It broadcasts various programmes to cover about 108 Nos. nearby foreign countries by about 24 high power Transmitters (20 SW Transmitters & 4 MW Transmitters). It has broadcasts in 27 languages (11 national & 16 foreign) and has about 58 news bulletins in 26 languages. xi. AIR has 45 Regional News Units, 28 Up-Linking Centres and 40 Commercial Broadcasting Stations in the country and an AIR Resource Centre at central level. xii. Special broadcasts for VVIP (President/PM/ Governor/ CM etc.) & VIP coverage. xiii. AIR has its own public websites i.e. www.allindiaradio.org & http://www.newsonair.com/ for proper communication between the AIR Network and the Public. It has also an internal website for its own use and for improvement of the office communication & the data base management purpose. For knowing more about the AIR Network, please see the facts at a glance of AIR, AIR Stations, frequency schedule, popular FM service, mile stones since independence, who’s who, contact for feedback on the reception quality and other parts of the website and also the annual reports of Prasar Bharati-All India Radio of year 2005 and onwards. xiv. AIR is under Prasar Bharati board which is an autonomous body under Ministry of I&B, Govt. of India. AIR has a central headquarter office i.e. DG:AIR office at Delhi, Staff Training Institute at Delhi, and also has several Regional Staff Training Institutes located allover India to train & empower the AIR/DD officials. AIR has an office of Chief Engineer (Research & Development) at Delhi for effecting improvement & automation in
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the services offered to the public. AIR has also 5 zonal Chief Engineer’s offices and 12 Regional Dy. Director General offices allover the country for controlling the operation & maintenance activities more effectively and, further improvement & better delivery of the broadcast services offered to the public. xv. AIR makes enough efforts and co-ordinate with other offices to earn the required revenue for its normal functioning & growth of the organization after meeting the commitment, duties & responsibilities with the mission, major goals/targets & objectives as planned, by the various commercial activities through the Commercial Broadcasting Services, Marketing Division, AIR Resource Centre and other possible systems & mechanism from time to time. xvi. AIR communicates & helps the masses of all the categories, casts and religions located in the different geographical areas including rural, hilly, tribal, backward, mountainous, border areas and villages, as the signal reaches each and every corner of the areas along the earth surface & also in the nearby sky areas in the minimum time and at minimum cost than any other media available to them. xvii. AIR helps the large masses during various disasters & emergency (earthquake, flood, drought, tsunami, cyclone, civil war, country war etc.) by way of providing fast, authentic and enough information much conveniently in minimum cost to them. xviii. AIR provides broadcast training & development functions through its training institutes (STI/RSTIs etc.) to its own employees, foreign broadcast professionals/employees and summer trainees of the colleges, etc., and also arrange various workshop, seminars etc. in collaboration with BES(India) for the broadcast awareness and developmental activities. xix. Other relevant services in the national & public interest and meeting the priorities, plans & directives from the Indian Govt./Ministry and Prasar Bharati from time to time.
6 The Citizens/ Customers/ Clients covered
All the citizens of India, border areas, neighboring countries, large People of Indian Origin (PIO) countries across the world, and also, the broadcasters, broadcast manufacturers & the suppliers, etc.
7 Details of Quality Standards & System Improvement Mechanism
The standards that fulfill and satisfy the masses’ expectations are worked out routinely for broader coverage, state of the art programme production & the transmission for quality reception through better delivery system to the public well in time. It deals in detail with the programme contents, quantity, signal/carrier quality and the delivery mechanism for better quality programme & the services to the public. AIR uses international standards (ISO/IEC/AES&EBU standards and ITU-R Recommendation/Regulations) and Indian standards (BIS/ISI Standards & WPC frequency co-ordination), etc., for the whole AIR network systems like the Studios, Transmitters, Studios-Transmitter-Links, Uplinks-Downlinks, Power Supply and Air Conditioning Systems and other relevant items. AIR provides training; conduct workshop/seminars for better awareness and broadcast development programme, etc. to train its own employees for better delivery of the services to the public and other related people and also students in broadcast related field for helping them to meet the requirements. AIR has a Planning &
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Development Unit to execute various modern & expansion schemes and the projects and, also have a Research & Development wing for inducting new technology, automation and further improvement of the systems of the whole AIR network for delivery of better services to the public.
8 Details of the Grievances Redress & Access Mechanism
It could be worked out at three levels, namely, the concerned station level, zonal headquarter level and at the central headquarter level (DG:AIR, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi-110 001). The citizens (clients/customers etc.) can approach to any concerned officer at any of the three levels as the case level may be. The Information & Facilitation Counter (IFC) or Head of Office of the concerned AIR station/office may be approached for getting the information & necessary help as per the matter. IFC is available near to the reception counter just after the entrance to the AIR office complex. Director of Public Grievance at the central level and/or Grievance officer at the local station/office level may be approached for the grievance redressal system. We will promptly acknowledge & reply on your grievance/complaint, if any, within 30 working days (7 working days for acknowledgement, and within about 30 to 45 working days for normal reply and/or other reply). Regarding major/policy/ planning issues at the central level, any one may contact/send grievance/complaint, if any, to the Director General, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi -110 001 or CVO, Prasar Bharati, Prasar Bharati Secretariat, PTI Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001. However, for any particular matter of the central level, following officers at the O/o DG:AIR, Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi, may be approached for speedy disposal of the grievances, if any: Particular matter related with
Officer may be contacted
Programme Dy. Director General (Programme Planning & Development), Directorate General, All India Radio, Room No.106, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110 001. Tele : 011-23421391 Fax : 011-23421632 E-mail: [email protected]
Engineering Chief Engineer (Development), Directorate General: All India Radio, Room No.107, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421464 Fax : 011-23421967 E-mail: [email protected]
News Addl. Director General (News), News Services Division, Room No.211, NBH, All India Radio, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421210, Fax : 011-23421240, E-mail: [email protected]
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Administration Dy. Director General (Admin.), Room No. 209(A), 2nd Floor, Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001. Tele : 011-23421110 Fax : 011-23421110 E-mail: [email protected]
Civil Construction Wing (Civil & Electrical Works)
Chief Engineer (Civil), Civil Construction Wing, Soochana Bhavan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. Tele : 011-24367360 Fax : 011-24367360 E-mail: [email protected]
For further details, please visit out website i.e. www.allindiaradio.org & http://www.newsonair.com. You may please see the who’s who, feedback on the reception quality, DG:AIR office at Delhi, Annual Reports/Financial Reports/Network Growth(Progress), STI & RSTI for training, AIR Stations, Marketing Division, AIR Resource Centre, Zonal CE and DDG offices, and other parts of the website. Under the RTI Act 2005, the APIO, PIO/CPIO/Appellate authority may be contacted as the case may be, under the grievance redressal mechanism and the access system. For more details about RTI, Information and Facilitation Counter may be approached at the office.
9 List of the related websites
Name of the organization/ministry Websites address All India Radio-Organization www.allindiaradio.org All India Radio-News Services Division http://www.newsonair.com All India Radio-Resource Centre http://www.resourcesair.com Doordarshan http://www.ddindia.gov.in Ministry of Information & Broadcasting http://mib.nic.in Press Information Bureau http://pib.nic.in Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited
http://www.becil.com
10 Time frame of redress of the grievances
Subject Time(Approx.) Issue of acknowledgement / interim reply to the petitioner
1 week
Issue of formal reply to the petitioner 4 week Forwarding of the grievances / petition to the concerned authority
2 week
Final disposal of transferred / referred cases by the concerned Ministry / Department / State and time limit for informing the position of the outcome
3 months
Disposal of cases referred to the Complaint Committee on “Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace”
3 months
11 Compensation
System We will compensate citizens/customers/clients, etc., by our sincere efforts to ensure better maintenance & availability of our services in time.
12 Expectation of AIR from public/ citizens/ customers/clients.
Please interact, suggest, inform and help freely from time to time. You may enjoy the AIR services and send your feedback/comments/suggestions, if any, to the AIR authorities/at Information and Facilitation Counter/suggestion box, etc.
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13 Expectation of AIR from its own employees
To scrupulously follow the guidelines/rules/procedures to ensure better services of AIR, etc., as above and, also existing instructions of the AIR/Central Govt./Competent authorities for better delivery of the standard quality services of AIR to the public/citizens/ customers/clients, etc., in time.
14 Business Transacted
Brief report on AIR (at a glance) (Annexure-I, as per Prasar Bharati), and the Network Growth of AIR (Annexure-II) are enclosed. For further details like major activities/achievements/targets/services, etc., completed in the last year and facts at glance, please see the Annual Report of AIR.
15 Importance andvalue of All IndiaRadio (AIR):
All India Radio (AIR) has a leading role as a public service broadcaster & national service broadcaster. It is the important electronic media, which is the most powerful medium for maximum reach and conveying information/messages through the of various human development programme to the large masses in most cost effective manner. Radio waves reaches to the people at maximum speed i.e. at the speed of light waves and hence, it is the fastest means of mass communication. It takes lesser time from coverage, production to the transmission & reception. It is best suited to the music, talk, news and other audio programme including data & text transmission. It has miraculous power to stimulate & empower the large masses and excite them for taking immediate suitable action towards the national development process. It is least complicated, least expensive, most convenient and very friendly to the customers/clients. Radio sets are the cheapest & most cost effective media than any other media for getting the messages/information of mass communication. AIR specially helps & provides maximum motivation to the aggrieved, blind, aged, poor, illiterate, backward, downtrodden, ill people, and villagers, vulnerable sections of societies, mobile and alone people, etc. It also helps much to the people in trouble during disaster (natural/man made calamity).
Note: 1. This charter may be reviewed annually or as and when required or as directed by the competent authority for further continuous improvement. 2. We are committed to constantly revise and improve the services being offered under the charter with your cooperation. 3. Let us join our hands together in making this charter a grand success. Annexure (For details of business transacted): I. Brief report of AIR (at a glance) (Annexure-I) and, II. Network Growth of AIR (Annexure-II). Suggestions/comments, if any, to this Citizens’ Charter, are welcome from any one in India at [email protected] and [email protected] , within 15 days.
CHAPTER IV
ALL INDIA RADIO
Radio broadcasting began in India in the early 1920's.
The first programme was broadcast in 1923 by the
Radio Club of Bombay. This was followed by the
setting up of a Broadcasting Service that began
broadcasting on 23rd July, 1927 on an experimental
basis in Bombay and Calcutta, under an agreement
between the then Government of India and a private
company called the Indian Broadcasting Company
Ltd. When this company went into liquidation in 1930,
Indian State Broadcasting Service under the
Department of Controller of Broadcasts was
constituted. The Indian State Broadcasting Service was
renamed as All India Radio in January 1936.
. When India attained independence in 1947,AIRhada network of six stations and 18 transmitters. The
coverage was 2.5 % of the area and just 11% of the
population. AIR today has 222 radio stations and
356 transmitters and its coverage extends to 91.42 %by area and 99.13 % by population. Operating in a
multi-cultural, multi-linguistic country like India, AIR
broadcasts in 24 languages and 146 dialects. In
External Services, it covers 27 languages including 16
foreign languages. AIR operates its broadcasting
services on Medium Wave, Short Wave and FM. The
FM Service uses a larger bandwidth to provide a
programme service of high fidelity.
Alipore RoadOffice of All India Radio,Delhi
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AIR is still the most popular media, considering the
fact that it is assessible even in the remotest parts of
our country where any other media like TV or
newspapers cannot reach.
Programme objectives
In its programming and other activities, AIR is guided
by its motto "Bahujana Hitaya; Bahujana Sukhaya" i.e.
to promote the happiness and welfare of the masses
through information, education and entertainment. To
realize its objectives, AIR has evolved a three tier system
of broadcasting - national, regional and local. It caters
to the mass communication needs of the people
through its various stations spread across the country.
They provide music, spoken word, news and other
programmes. Local stations meet the area specificneeds of the listeners.
AIR Code
Broadcasts on All India Radio by individuals will
not permit:
1. Criticism of friendly countries;
2. Attack on religion or communities;
3. Anything obscene or defamatory;
4. Incitement to violence or anything against
maintenance of law and order;
5. Anything amounting to contempt of court;
6. Aspersions against the integrity of the
President, Governors and Judiciary;
7. Attack on political party by name;
8. Hostile criticism of any State or the Centre;
9. Anything showing disrespect to the
Constitution or advocating change in the
Constitution by violence.
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AIR Channels
All India Radio operates its services through followingchannels.
i) Primary Channels
ii) Commercial Broadcasting Service(Vividh Bharati)
iii) FM Channels
iv) Yuva Vani
v) National Channel
vi) External Services Channels
vii) Other niche channels
Primary channels
The public service broadcasting channel of AIR, the
Primary Channels put out infotainment programmes
with the objective of enriching the lives of their listeners.
The Primary Channels, broadcast largely on the
Medium Wave frequency, follow a composite
programming mix. They also promote art and culture
with a major emphasis on Indian classical music.
Around 40 percent of total broadcast on primary
channels comprises music which includes classical
music, light, folk, film and music of various other
languages. News and current affairs programmes
constitute 20 to 30 percent of the broadcast time. Radio
plays and drama, health and family programmes,
programmes on women and children, farm and home
programmes aimed at empowering rural masses are
the other important segments of Primary Channels.
These channels being the most accessible of all the
AIR channels, strive to reach their audience in the
language most understood by all.
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Vividh Bharati
The entertainment channel of AIR, Vividh Bharati
service was started in October, 1957,with popular film
music as its main ingredient. It started accepting
commercials from 1"1November, 1967. Vividh Bharati
Service provides entertainment for 15hours a day from40 Vividh Bharati stations and four Short Wave stations.
Nearly 85 percent of programming is based on music
with film music topping the chart. Classical, folk, lightand devotional music are also broadcast. Bulk of the
Vividh Bharati programming originates from Mumbai
which are relayed by other Vividh Bharati stations.
Regional stations also produce and broadcast a few
programmes at specified timings in their respective
languages. Several programmes of Vividh Bharati are
very popular, with "HelloJaimala"being a top favourite
with the armymen posted at the borders.
FM Rainbow
All India Radio operates 13PM Stereo channels in Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,
Panaji, Lucknow, Cuttuck, Jalandhar, Tiruchirapalli,
Kodaikanal and Coimbatore. These channels, called
AIR FM Rainbow, provide wholesome entertainment
to the urban audience with a refreshingly new style of
presentation. Besides music - Hindi, English and
regional, the FM Channels also broadcast chat shows,
helpline programmes, interactive phone- in programmes
etc. The traffic beat and the city weather updates are of
particular interests to metro dwellers.
FM Gold
A composite news and entertainment channel calledAIR FM II was launched in 2001. The channel is on air
for 18 hours a day. These metro FM channels,
operational in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai
are now called AIR FM Gold. The programming is a
blend of information and entertainment, with one third
of its content devoted to news and current affairs.
While the hourly news bulletins in Hindi and English
originate from Delhi, the FM Gold Channels at the
other three centers also broadcast news in respective
regional languages. AIR FM Gold is positioned as a
ClassicChannel with golden oldies, ghazalsand light
classical music forming part of the entertainment
segment.
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Yuva Vani (Voice of the Youth)
The Yuva vani service of AIR provides an enriching
and novel radio-experience by encouraging youth
participation and experimenting with varied script
ideas. With shows like 'Mehfil', 'In the groove' and
'The Roving Microphone' which have been around
for more than three decades, Yuva Vani still holds
a firm ground of its own. Some of the big names on
the Indian media scene began their journey with
'Yuva Vani. In Delhi, Yuv Vani is a separate Channel(Delhi '0') while other radio stations have a fixed time
chunk for youth broadcasts.
National Channel
The National Channel of All India Radio, in operation
since 1988, is essentially a night service that operatesas "link and information" medium to listeners at odd
hours, be it factory workers, farmers, drivers, soldiers
or students. The National Channel has now become
a 24 hour channel with day time broadcast on Short
Wave transmission. Vividh Bharati service was
introduced in night tansmission from 1st August, 2004.
External Services
As an electronic ambassador, the External Services
Division (ESD) of AIR has been a vital link between
India and the rest of the world, especially those
countries with substantial ethnic Indian population.
It ranks high among the External Radio networks of
the world, both in reach and range, covering about
100 countries in 26 languages, 16 of them foreign and
10 Indian. AIR through its external broadcasts aims
to keep the overseas listeners in touch with the ethos
of India. The languages in which AIR reaches its
foreign audience are: English, French, Russian,
Swahili, Arabic, Persian, Pashtu, Dari, Baluchi,
Sinhalese, Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese, Thai, and Bhasha
Indonesia. The services in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu,
Malayalam and Gujarati are broadcast for overseas
Indians, while those in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and
Bengali are meant for listeners in the Indian
Sub-continent. The General Overseas Service (GaS)
in English, AIR External Service in Hindi and Urdu
are three major services of the External ServicesDivision.
--.
The External Services broadcasts follow a composite
pattern and generally comprise news, current affairs
features, review of the Indian press, magazine
programmes on sports and literature, talks and
discussions on social, cultural, economic, political and
historical subjects. Music of all genres is also broadcast
in good measure. The ESD also supplies recordings
of music, spoken word and other programmes to about
100 foreign broadcasting organizations under
programme exchange arrangements.
DTH
12 Channels of All India Radio are currently available
on Doordarshan's Direct To Home (DTH) service-
DO Direct Plus. The channels are - Vividh Bharati,
AIR FM Rainbow, AIR FM Gold, AIR Hindi,
AIR BangIa, AIR North East, AIR Punjabi, AIR Gujarati,
AIR Marathi, AIR Telugu, AIR Tamil and
AIR Kannada. The programmes include information
and entertainment in equal measure. DTH radio marks
a major technological breakthrough, as it makes
programmes available across the country, as against
the limited geographic area coverage of medium wave
transmission. DTH, thus smashes the regional barrier
which had been hitherto hindering the reach of
language radio.
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Amrutha Varshini
Amrutha Varshini is a dedicated music channel
operational in Bangalore. It aims to promote audience
for classical music - both Hindustani as well as
Carnatic.
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News & Current Affairs on AIR
The history of news broadcasting is much older thanthat of All India Radio. The first ever news bulletin in
the country went on air from the Bombay Station on
23rd July, 1927 under the Indian Broadcasting
Company. The News Wing of All India Radio came
into existence ten years later in August 1937. NewsServices Division located in New Delhi is the hub of
all news and current affairs programming. It is
supported by 44 Regional News Units (RNUs) spread
across the country.
The Home, the Regional and the External Services of
News Services Division put out news bulletins for aduration of over 44 hours from Delhi and RNUs. More
than 75 news bulletins are broadcast in the Home
Service from Delhi. RNUs put out over 225 bulletins
daily in 66 languages/ dialects. News headlines'
on -the- hour- every -hour' are broadcast on AIR FM,
Delhi. Regional FM channels also broadcast news
headlines at regular intervals.
'AIR News-on-Phone ' service provides latest news
highlights in Hindi, English or a regional language to
a listener on phone, upon dialing a specified number.News-on-Phone service is available in Tamil from
Chennai, Telugu from Hyderabad, Bengali fromKolkata and Marathi from Mumbai. The News-on-
Phone service is being extended to Raipur, Lucknow,
Bangalore, Shimla, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Imphal,
Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram.
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NSD also puts out a number of current affairs
programmes on topical subjects. The format used are
panel discussions, Q & A, news features, radio bridgeetc. The bulk of AIR news comes from its own
correspondents spread all over the country. It has 90
regular correspondents in India and four foreign
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correspondents based at Dubai, Kabul, Kathmandu
and Colombo, AIR has 542 part-time correspondents
based at important District headquarters in the
country. NSD also subscribes to the wire services
offered by PTI, UNI and ANI.
In the late nineties, AIR also changed the format of its
news broadcast. AIR News is now more participatory
and lively with the inclusion of actualities and live
correspondents' reports. AIR News is also availableon the net at www.newsonair.com.
Sports Broadcasts on AIR
AIR is the companion of a sports lover on the move.
When cricket is on, it is a common sight to see people
moving around with a portable transistor in hand
(now also mobile phones), eager to keep themselves
abreast of the latest score. Not just cricket, AIR has
been in the forefront of providing extensive coverage
for important national and international sporting
events. Daily sports news in Hindi and English are
broadcast from Delhi. AIR has been regularly
broadcasting running commentaries on all cricket
matches involving India. It also broadcasts live
commentary of important hockey and football
tournaments and customized radio report on
Wimbledon Tennis Championship.
All India Radio and theIndian Classical Music
Even before the commencement of organized
broadcasting in India, individual effortswere on to air
'recorded music' for the consumption of a very
fortunate and chosen people in the British Raj.
Recording and broadcasting of music was a part of the
routine of all major radio stations of the Raj period,
which included Lahore, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras,
Travancore and Mysore.
After independence, All India Radio began to
patronize the musicians of the country. Hence
Akashvani got the opportunity to record, broadcast and
preserve the renderings of all the major musicians. The
nation witnessed an integration of a different kind
when distinct gharanaswere heard all over the country
for the first time. All India Radio today has a collectionof more than five thousand hours of Indian Classical
Music of Hindustani and Carnatic traditions. The
tradition of patronizing classical music has continued
and if the Indian classical music is popular with a
section of today's youth, All India Radio has played a
major part in it.
Akashvani Archive
The sound archive of All India Radio ranks as one of
the finest radio libraries in the world. It has about 50
thousand tapes of different formats, including 12,500
tapes of music. Some of the recordings of the maestros
of yesteryears are rare and unavailable elsewhere.
The sound archive preserves a separate collection of
important voice recordings of eminent national and
international personalities. It also has a separate
reference library of Folk and Tribal Music in all
principal languages and dialects of the country. The
main purpose of the Programme Exchange Units is to
exchange good quality programmes among stations as
per their requirements. Recordings from the archives
are now being transferred to CD format under a special
project funded by the UNESCO.
In a new initiative that has won laurels for All India
Radio, the archival recordings are being made available
to the public in the form of CDs and cassettes under the
brand name' Akashvani Sangeet'.
AIR Programmes andProgramme formats
News, music and spoken word programmes constitute
the three major pillars of AIR's programme
composition. Talks, discussions, interviews are
regularly arranged to provide a forum for all shades of
opinion on imp'ortant national and internationalissues.
Radio drama is another important ingredient of AIR's
programme as are Radio features and documentaries,
which employ the entire range of audio formats in a
single programme, e.g., narration, music, drama,
interviews, poetry, sound effects, etc.
Educational programmes of AIR cover a wide spectrum
of primary, secondary, tertiary and university levels.
Farm & Home programmes, directed at rural audience
are designed to provide information about different
aspects of agriculture, introduce new techniques of
farming and also create awareness about the ways and
means of improving quality of farmers' lives.
The vast network of 215 radio station across the country
regularly broadcast Family Welfare programmes in the
regional languages / dialects of our country. There are
40
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full-fledged Family Welfare units in 22 AIR stations to
ideate, conceptualize and produce programmes. The
combined output of all the stations of All India Radio
exceeds 15 thousand programmes every month. They
take various forms like talks, discussions, features,
quiz, jingles, spots, short stories, drama, success-stories,
phone-in programmes, etc. The themes covered include
-age of marriage, delay the first child, space between
two children, terminal methods, maternal care, child
, survival,women empowerment etc.
The afternoon programming chunk is usually reserved
for broadcasting programmes of women's interest.
Major topics covered include socio-economic
development of women, health & family welfare,
food & nutrition, scientific home management, women
entrepreneurship, education, including adult
education, gender issues etc.
All India Radio and children of Indian hinterland
share a special bond since a very long time. AIR
regularly broadcasts programmes which involve active
participation of children. A visit to the AIR studio and
talking into the microphone is a memory these children
cherish for their life. Every primary station of AIR
broadcasts programmes for children in different age
groups, beginning with tiny-tots to adolescents and
young adults. Every second Sunday of December, AIR
mounts special programmes to commemorate the
International Day of Children Broadcasting, inassociation with UNICEF.
AIR Commercial Service
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Realizing the role of advertising in supplementing
broadcasting budget, All India Radio opened its Vividh
Bharati Service in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur for spot
advertisements in 1967. Encouraged by the
overwhelming response, the service was extended to
other centres in a phased manner. Advertisements
began to be accepted on the Primary Service from 1985.Now FM Channels are also in the forefront. The vast
network of All India Radio has proved to be a cost-
effective advertising medium and several private and
public sector companies and Government Departments
have reaped the benefit of its widespread reach. AIR's
role in transforming the rual markets of India into high
potential markets, especially after the Green
Revolution, can not be over-emphasized.
In order to attract advertisers/ clients towards AIR,
Commercial Wing has introduced special rates for itsFM Channels of Southern Zone as well as combined
packaged rates for all FM Channels across the country.
A new bonus scheme for attracting higher business
was also introduced. The Commercial Wing,
alongwith the efforts of Prasar Bharati Marketing
Divisions and the Development Communications
Division, was able to rope in almost all the media-activeMinistries to advertise their schemes and services on
AIR. Several Public Sector Undertakings like BSNL,
MTNL, Indian Oil, lOBI and large private advertisers
are also present on AIR network.
AIR Resources
AIR Resources is a premier broadcast consultancy and
technology solution centre growing at a rapid pace. It
specializes in providing consultancy and turn-key
solutions in the field of broadcasting to Government as
well as private sector organizations. After helping the
private FM players to set up their transmitters in major
cities, AIR Resources has successfully commissioned
Gyan Vani FM Channels on behalf of the IGNOU.
Museum of Radio and Television
India's first Museum of Radio and Television has been
set up at the Broadcasting House in New Delhi, with
the aim of preserving the broadcasting heritage of the
country. Opened in 2001, the Museum houses rare
manuscripts of plays broadcast long ago, different
musical instruments used by the maestros performing
in AIR studios, broadcast equipments including
different forms of mikes used in the past and even theold radio sets.
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Akashvani Annual Awards
Akashvani Annual Awards were instituted in 1974
with a view to promote professional excellence and to
bring out the best from the staff working at various
radio stations and installations. Awards are given for
outstanding broadcasts in different disciplines and
subjects every calendar year. There are special awards
like 'Lassa Kaul Award for National Integration',
award for best special topic documentary, best
correspondent award and awards for technical
excellence. AIR Bangalore hosted the 2004 Akashvani
Award Ceremony in December
Every year, AIR also gives away awards for Best Radio
programmes produced on Public Service topic and
Gandhian Thought. These awards are given away on
12thNovember every year, which is observed as the
'Public Service Broadcasting Day' to commemorate the
only visit of Mahatma Gandhi to the AIR Studio in1947.
Growth of radio audience (Percentage of radio listenership)
Year
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
41
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