[HCDX] Radio In India

[Mukesh Kumar <thecosmosclub@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Radio In India 

Akashvani : The Voice From The Sky

The term All India Radio has easily entrenched itself
in the collective consciousness of Indians. In spite
of its tumultuous path, radio continues to be a part
of our lives. This is the story of AIR. 
	From the moment it was established that the human
voice could be transmitted by electromagnetic waves
over long distances without the help of wires, radio
has exercised a strange fascination on people?s minds.
 This is as true of India as anywhere else in the
world.
	The first regular broadcasting station in the world
is believed to have been opened in Pittsburgh (USA) in
1920.  In England, the first radio programmers were
broadcast successfully on February 23, 1920, by the
Marconi Company from Chelmsford, although it was not
till November 1922 that the British Broadcasting
Company, with John Reith as its Managing Director,
went on air with regular programmes.

PRE ? INDEPENDENCE INDIA

	It is interesting to note that as early as August
1921, in India, newspaper giant ?The Times of India?
collaborated with the Posts and Telegraphs Department
to broadcast a special programmed of music from its
Bombay (Mumbai) office at the request of Sir George
Lloyd, the Governor of the Province, who heard it in
Poona (Pune), 175 kms away.  After that, the evolution
of broadcasting in India proceeded in a climate of
much uncertainty.  As elsewhere in the world, the
government was slow to recognize its importance, and
the enthusiasm for it came mostly from radios homes
that took it up as a hobby.
	Today, after more than 75 years, listeners are taking
the services of 214 broadcasting centers for granted.
So, it is not easy for most people to imagine what it
was like in the beginning, what work had to be done,
and what decisions taken for the journey of radio to
begin.  Alongside those who saw broadcasting as
ideally suited to the needs of a country where
illiteracy was high with most people lacking the means
for education and entertainment, there were many
prophets of doom, too.
	The Radio Club of Bengal, Calcutta (Kolkata), started
transmitting programmes on a small Marconi transmitter
in Novembver 1923.  The Bombay Radio Club inaugurated
a similar service in June 1924, also on a Marconi
transmitter.  The Madras Presidency Radio Club was
formed on May 16, the same year, by a group of
dedicated amateurs with Viscount Gohan, Governor of
Madras, as its patron.
	It was the Indian Broadcasting Compay that took upon
itself the pioneering task of starting regular
broadcasting in India.  Its authorized capital was Rs
15 lakh and subscribed capital was Rs 6 lakh.  The
main shareholders were Raja Saheb Dhanrajgirji
Narsinghji and the Indian Radio Telegraph Company. 
The rest was contributed by numerous shareholders. 
For all practical purposes, the Indian Telegraph
Company, of which the Marconi Company held two-third
of the capital, exercised control.
	Technically, the Bombay and Calcutta stations were
the same as the London 2LO station. Each cost about
two lakh rupees to erect, and the estimated cost of
running and maintening each was Rs 1.8 lakh per annum,
of which approximately Rs 50,000 was earmarked for
programmes giving an average expenditure, on this
score, of Rs 137 per day.  Both these medium-wave
transmitters operated on a power of 12 kW, and the
assured reception range of each was 48 to 80km,
although in actual practice, the signal was received
at a fairly good strength and at greater distances.
	Mr Eric E Dunstan of the BBC was taken on as the
first General manger of the first General manager of
the Indian Broadcasting Company.  Lional Fielden, who
later became the first Controller of Broadcasting in
India, wrote about Dntan in his autobiography, ?The
Natural Bent?:? Where in 1927, a member of the BBC,
Eric Dunstan, the ?Golden Voiced Announcer? of the day
was just leaving England to take charge of India
Broadcasting, I envied him, in spite of the low value
we attached to broadcasting in those days.  I envied
him in India; I envied him what I conceived to be the
business of transmitting barbaric music of jeweled
instruments to a population of India Princes in the
intervals of holding profound converse with sages of
charm and infinite wisdom. ?With such romantic
notions, it is no wonder the Fielden too left India a
disappointed and frustrated man in 1940.
	Organised broadcasting in India began when the
British Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, inaugurated the
first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC)
in Bombay on July 23, 1927.  Five weeks later, on
August 26 1927, the Governor of Bengal, Sir Stanley
Jackson, inaugurated the Calcutta station.  The
stations were operating on medium wave on 1.5 kW
power, and broadcasting by the end of the year to
3,594 licence holders.  The broadcasting studio in
Radio House at Apollo Bunder was connected by a P&T
line to a transmitter located at Worli.  The acoustic
treatment of the studios, such as the hanging of
coloured drapes, attracted considerable attention in
the press. Around this time, a small transmitter was
established by the Radio Club of Young Men?s Christian
Association in Karachi (now in Pakistan).
	The revenue of the IBC consisted of 80% of the
licence fee charged by the government at the rate of
Rs. 10 per annum, and a tribute of the invoice value
of the wireless receiving apparatus, which had to be
collected by the company from the dealers. After the
company had put in the initial cost of installation of
the stations, it had little resource to fall back on.
The number of licences was too small to meet the
company?s expenses. The number of sets at the end of
1928 was over 6000, but the annual increase was not
even 1000. The company approached the government for
assistance. In spite of a loan being advanced by the
Indian Post and Telegraph Company, IBC went into
premature liquidation from March 1, 1930.
	The government decided to take over the stations in
Bombay and Calcutta at the depreciated value of its
assets and staff at the existing term of the company.
So, from April 1930 broadcasting in India came under
the direct control of the government. It was placed in
the Department of Industries and Labour under the
designation of ?Indian Broadcasting Service.? Faced
with recession, the government announced in a press
communiqué of October 10, 1931, that it had finally
decided to close down the broadcasting service.
	The decision, naturally, caused wide spread
resentment and a certain amount of agitations,
especially in Bengal. The decision was then reversed
on November 23, the next month. The government decided
to continue the service by increasing duty on the
receiving sets and valves separately from the existing
25% to 50%. By May 5, 1932, the government had decided
to continue Indian Broadcasting Service under state
management. By the end of the year, when BBC started
its Empire service, the number of receivers was 8,557.
This increased to 10,872 by the end of 1933, and
jumped to 16,000 by the end of 1934, when the
government embarked on a policy of development of
broadcasting by sanctioning Rs 2.5 lakh for the
establishment of a radio station in Delhi.
	In spite of the formation of the Indian Broadcasting
Service, parallel efforts to expand broadcasting
continued. The Marconi Company had started rural
broadcasting in the North West Frontier Province by
loaning both, the transmitters and receiving sets, to
the provincial government. The Agricultural Institute
at Naini, Allahabad, too, started transmitting rural
programmes for the benefit of the neighborhood.
	In September 1935, broadcasting began in the princely
state of Mysore with the name Akashvani (the voice
from the sky. Dr. Gopalaswami, Professor of Psychology
at the Mysore University, had set up a 30-watt
transmitter at his house. A 250-watt transmitter was
later imported. It continued with support from the
public and the Mysore Municipality till it was taken
over by the Mysore State in 1941,
	The Delhi station of the Indian State Broadcasting
service went on air on January 1, 1936, from temporary
studios at 18 Alipur Road. The 20kW MW transmitter was
located at Mall Road. By now, Controller of
Broadcasting Lionel Fielden was able to persuade
Viceroy Lord Linlithgow to adopt the name ?All India
Radio? despite opposition from the secretariat. The
new name was adopted from June 8, 1936. Later in
December, Lahore (now in Pakistan), the fifth station
(5kW MW) was commissioned.
	Apart from launching the name ?All India Radio?, and
getting together a group of dedicated young people,
Fielden and his chief engineer, Goyder, should be
remembered for the short wave coverage of the entire
country, which they achieved quickly by 1938. In fact,
Goyder differed with Mr Kirke?s plan for medium wave
coverage of the country, as he felt it would take
long, and large parts of the country would remain
uncovered. The first 10kW short wave transmitter was
commissioned in Bombay on February 4, 1938.
	Another decision for which Fielden was responsible
was the banning of the harmonium on March 1, 1940.
Even through the matter was raised in the Station
Director?s Conference in 1939, the decision came
mainly as a result of Fielden?s initiative following
an article by a western music expert, Mr. John Foulds,
who pointed out that the tempered scales of the
harmonium into 12 mechanical divisions were not suited
to produce the microtones (shruties) which form the
basis of Indian music.

POST INDEPENDENCE INDIA

Fielden was succeeded by Ahmed Shah Bokhari, who
remained the Director-General for all the years of the
Second World War, and thereafter till the partition of
the country. When the Ministry of Information was set
up on October 24, 1941, All India Radio became a part
of it. AIR moved to its new Broadcasting House on
Parliament Street on February 1943.
	On June 3, 1947, Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten,
Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah made their
historic broadcasts on the partition of India. The
transfer of power on the midnight of 14-15 August,
1947, was broadcast live, and Jawaharlal Nehru?s
famous ?Tryst with destiny? speech was heard all over
the country. It has been preserved in the archives of
All India Radio for all posterity. When the princely
states were integrated with India, low power radio
stations at these palaces were taken over by All
Indian Radio and became part of the network by 1950.
The Staff Training School was started on July 19,
1948, with Dr. Narayana Menon as its first Director.
	When over as Deputy Director (and later Director) on
September 15, 1948, the External Services was
separated from what was then known as the Central news
Organisation (now News Services Division). By 1950,
AIR was broadcasting in 11 languages. When the
Constitution of India was enforced on January 26,
1950, broadcasting, along with post, telegraphs,
telephones and wireless, was placed in the union list
of the seventh schedule.
	On July 20, 1952, the first National Programme of
Music went on air. In October the same year, the
National orchestra of AIR was set up in Delhi under
the conductorship of the eminent musician Pandit Ravi
Shankar. Renowned Carnatic violin player, T K Jairama
lyer, later joined the orchestra as the second
conductor. National Programme of talks (English) went
on air in April 1953, and in October 1955, the first
Radio Sangeet Sammelan was broadcast.
	However, the biggest impact of Indian music on the
radio was felt only in the years when Dr. BV Keskar
was Minister for Information & Broadcasting (1952-61).
He was highly knowledgeable about Hindustani Classical
Music and took several steps with the intention of
improving its range and quality, and encouraging
musicians in this category. The cheap, hybrid quality
of film songs had caused concern to AIR even in
pre-Keskar days, and some effort was made to see if
the service could prepare some good, light music
itself. Keskar had no patience with film songs, and
soon after he took over, he decided that film songs
were to be phased out totally in 18 months. 
	The drastic restrictions placed on the use of film
songs created a situation that could not have been
anticipated by the ministry. Listeners turned
increasingly to Radio Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), which
stepped up the broadcast of such songs. Its commercial
service began to attract advertisers of consumer goods
in India in large numbers. In a couple of years, it
became clear that listeners had defected to Radio
Ceylon in large numbers. To control the situation,
some of the steps taken had to be retracted, and in
February 1955, it was decided to relax the
restrictions placed on the use of film songs at AIR
stations to a considerable extent. The All India
Variety Programme, popularly known as Vividh Bharti,
was introduced on October 3, 1957. It consisted mainly
of film songs, bringing back with a vengeance what
need not have been banned in the first place. The
creation of this new channel has had serious
implications to the general pattern of listening to
AIR stations, and these have not received sufficient
thought. At present, there are 36 Vividh Bharti and
Commercial Broadcasting Stations operating in the
country on MW, SW and FM.
	The Radio Sangeet Sammelan was started in 1955. The
concerts, before invited audiences, are held all over
the country. More than 50 prominent artistes take part
in concerts held at major stations before a live
audience. These recordings are then broadcast as a
season of around a month in October and November and,
at times, till December. Following a request from
Acharya Binoba Bhave to Dr. Keskar, Akashwani made
recordings of chanting of selections from the ?Sama
Veda? and ?Rig Veda? in 1955. The idea was to preserve
this ancient oral art before Vedic scholars
disappeared completely, as was perceived to be
happening. A cultural renaissance of sorts took place
on air in the ?50s. Litterateurs, musicologists,
musicians, writers, poets and playwrights were invited
to produce programmes of deep meaning and profundity.?
	The first, high definition, public TV service was
started by the BBC in 1936, and resumed in 1946 after
over six years of interruption caused by World War II
(1939-45). In India, we did not begin this till
September 15, 1959, and then too with a small studio
rigged up on the fifth floor of Akashvani Bhavan. Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India,
inaugurated the service named ?Doordarshan? in Hindi.
Even though poorly equipped and short staffed, the
young pioneers showed much initiative, and the
Republic Day Parade and the Flag Hoisting ceremony on
Independence Day were telecast live in 1960, as also
some state visits by foreign dignitaries.
	On December 4, 1964, the Government of India, under
the chairmanship of Ashok K Chanda, set up a committee
on broadcasting and information media, which made a
report on April 18, 1966. This was the first ever,
independent review of broadcasting in India, ordered
at the initiative of Indira Gandhi, the then Minister
of Information and Broadcasting. The committee
recommended, among other things, the setting up of two
autonomous corporations for radio and television.
While this recommendation was found unacceptable, its
recommendation for introduction of Commercial
Broadcasting was accepted. In the year 1967,
commercial advertisements in the Bombay-Pune-Nagpur
chain of Vividh Bharti stations commenced. Yuv Vani
was inaugurated as a separate channel for the youth in
1969. The Prasar Bharti bill achieved autonomy to some
extent only recently.
	In January 1976, commercial advertisements were also
introduced in television centers, and on April 1 of
the same year, television was formally separated from
All India Radio. The first FM service was started from
Madras (Chennai) on July 23, 1977. FM transmitters
were also commissioned in Calcutta and Bombay during
1979-80. These FM broadcasts had many more advantages
in audio quality, although not much was utilized
because of lack of hi-fi production facilities.
	During the cold war period, not only AIR, but many
stations from abroad were broadcasting for their
audience in India. Voice of America and Radio Moscow
were busy making their arguments and trying to put
their point of view forward. BBC also developed from
strength to strength, and even now has a large
population tuned to it in rural and semi-urban areas.
Radio Australia gained prominence and was heard
clearly in India, and Radio Deutcshe Welle started
broadcasting in Hindi from Germany. Apart from these,
for around two decades or more, Radio Cylone held a
captive audience in India: the Binaca Geetmala, hosted
by the iconic Ameen Sayani, was enough evidence of it.
	August 15, 1993, saw the introduction of time slots
on FM channel to private parties in Delhi-Mumbai. In
1993 and 1994, time slots were given to private
parties in Chennai and Kolkata, respectively. The
first multitask recording studio was commissioned in
Mumbai on Sept. 10, 1994, and it followed in other
placed in time to come.
	The introduction of time slots to private parties had
some teething problems for a few years, but has begun
making the FM popular in the cities. By this time,
television has become firmly entrenched as the
information and entertainment medium, and replaced the
radio sets in the living rooms. The advent of cable TV
and dish antenna has had a major impact on the
listenership. The erstwhile listeners are mostly
booked to their TVs, and the radio remains popular
mostly with the rural folks. However, a new chapter
has begun with the granting of licences and
frequencies on the FM to private parties. The
composition of programmes on these FM channels has
become more listener-oriented, departing from the
objectives of the AIR.
	The Internet brought in a new kind of service, and
AIR launched on-line information services on the
internet, offering audio on demand. In 1997, Digital
Audio Broadcasting was introduced in Delhi on
experimental basis. In recent times, many advanced and
different formats of broadcasting have started.
Worldspace started a digital satellite service with
its selection of channels offering music and
information. Its satellite, Asianstar, covers the
whole of India. 2003 saw the launch of Direct-to-Home
(DTH) services, mainly for the TV telecast with
hi-fidelity sound quality.
	The All India Radio has an archive full of tapes of
great importance. These include performances by the
great masters of yesteryears, momentous speeches of
leaders, talks, etc. some of these have been released
in that past on LPs and tapes, commercially. Recently,
in 2003, AIR released music by maestros like Pt Omkar
Nath Thakur and D V Paluskar, among others, on tapes,
and is selling it directly from its stations.
	Today, the radio is emerging as a new medium. Most
automobiles rolling out of shops are fitted with some
kind of radio. At one time, in the not so distant
past, people were ready to sound the death knell of
the radio. But with new innovations and advancements,
radio continues to be a part of our lives in some form
or the other.

--- YASHWANT PARASHAR
(Recently published in AV MAX) 

Regds.

Mukesh Kumar
Muzaffarpur 
INDIA.


________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/
---[Start Commercial]---------------------

World Radio TV Handbook 2004 is out! Only $20.97 through us.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059685/hardcoredxcom

---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt