RADIO IN INDIA

1. RADIO IN INDIA

2. RADIO CLUB YEARS • June 1923: Broadcast of programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay • November 1923: Calcutta Radio Club puts out programmes. • May 16, 1924: Madras Presidency Radio Club founded.

3. PROFESSIONAL BROADCASTING • July 31, 1924: Broadcasting Service initiated by the Club. • March 1926: The Bombay Station of The Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC), a private Company, was formed • July 23, 1927: The Bombay Station of IBC inaugurated by Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India. • August 26, 1927: Calcutta Station of IBC inaugurated. • 1928: A small transmitting station was set up at Lahore • March 1, 1930: IBC goes into liquidation.

4. GOVERNMENT BROADCASTING • April 1, 1930: Indian State Broadcasting Service under Department of Industries and Labour commences on experimental basis • January 1934: The 'Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933) comes into force • January 1935: NWFP Government set up a 250 watts transmitting station at Peshawar for community listening • March 1935: Office of Controller of Broadcasting created under the Department of Industries and Labour of the Government • August 30, 1935: Mr. Lionel Fielden assumed charge as the first Controller of Broadcasting

5. GOVERNMENT BROADCASTING • January 1936: Delhi radio station was opened. • July 9, 1936: Mr A.S.Bukhari Station Director Delhi becomes Deputy Controller of Broadcasting. • June 8, 1936: The name of Indian State Broadcasting Service is changed to All India Radio at the behest of Lionel Fielden and after Lord Linlithgow approves of it. • November 1937: AIR comes under Department of Communication. • October 1, 1939: External Services Started with Pushtu Broadcast. Today it goes out to 155 countries in 25 languages. • October 24, 1941: AIR comes under Department of I & B.

6. UNDERGROUND RADIO • September 3, 1942: Congress Radio starts as an underground radio with secret location (changing locations in Mumbai) spearheaded by Vithaldas Khakar, Usha Mehta and Chandrakant Jhaveri. Said to be the brainchild of Ram Manohar Lohia. • November 11, 1942: The Congress Radio ends when all three are arrested. Khakar is sentenced to five years while the others are sentenced to one year.

7. GOVERNMENT BROADCASTING • February 23, 1946: AIR comes under the Department of Information and Arts. • September 10, 1946: Deptt. of Information & Arts changed to Deptt. of Information & Broadcasting. • August 15, 1947: India becomes independent

8. SNAPSHOT AT 1947 • 18 transmitters/2.5 lakh receivers/325 million listeners • Covered only 2.5% area and 11% population of the country • Six Radio Stations in India: Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow. • Three Radio Stations in Pakistan: Peshawar, Lahore and Dacca

9. OBJECTIVES OF AIR AIR informs, educates and entertains • All India Radio keeps the people all over the country informed quickly about Government policies, plans, programmes and achievements. • AIR seeks to promote national integration • AIR seeks to acquaint the audience with various aspects of Indian culture.

10. A REGULATED MONOPOLY • Broadcasting is a regulated monopoly of the central government. • The Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 was later amended to vest the exclusive right to “establish, maintain and work” wireless apparatus in the Government of India. • Consequently, AIR has functioned as an arm of the central government ever since its inception.

11. AIR TODAY • AIR covers 99.37% of India's populace • AIR has approximately 200 broadcasting centres around the country • AIR transmits in 24 different languages. • Genres: Music, Drama, Newscasts, Rural and farm programmes, programmes for women and children. • Entertainment arm: Vividh Bharati which was started on October 3, 1957.

12. SOME IMPORTANT DATES • January 19, 1936: first News bulletin broadcast from AIR • October 3, 1957: Vividh Bharati inaugurated • November 1, 1967: first commercial over Vividh Bharati • April 1, 1976: Doordarshan separated from AIR • July 23, 1977: first ever FM service inaugurated from Madras • May 18, 1988: Introduction of the National Channel • April 1, 1994: Sky Radio becomes operational • November 23, 1997: formation of Prasar Bharati

13. PROBLEM AREAS • The government has held that any member of the elite Indian Administrative Services can function as head of AIR with equal disinterest. Hence the director general is a bureaucrat who may or may not be interested or qualified in radio. • The credibility of AIR news has always been in question, however, not only because it is a government department but also because of well-reported instances of interference by the prime minister’s office, irrespective of who is in power. • AIR’s heavily bureaucratic ways have been the major impediment to innovation and creativity.

14. PROBLEM AREAS • Programming Policies: From the late '70s, the radio channel has been plagued by archaic programming policies, incongruous censorship norms, and it sidelined its brightest stars in all departments. • Obsolete technology: its outdated medium wave technology and poor sound, it will not be able to lure away listeners from FM. • Bureaucratic Work Culture: Bureaucratic control, tight-fisted attitudes, constant shuttling of staff between AIR and DD; misjudgements.

15. RADIO BROADCAST MODELS There are three options for the expansion of the radio network: • the commercial broadcast model: market-driven and therefore, its objective is to gain as much market share as possible by expanding business. • public service broadcast model: concentrates on content for education, information and entertainment with the broad objective of addressing the concerns of a large and varied listener group • the community model: serves to bring small communities together, focuses on common man’s day-to-day concerns and helps in realizing local aspirations.

16. FM RADIO • Radio broadcasting uses either of two types of signals -- AM or FM. • FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. • FM signals do not need expensive transmission towers. • FM Radio enables a great degree of localization and hence brings along interactivity with a local flavour, at relatively low broadcast costs, which cannot be matched by television.

17. AM or FM • AM means "amplitude modulation". The amplitude of the radio wave oscillates over time. The frequency of the radio wave is constant. The peaks of the wave get taller and shorter. The rate at which the amplitude fluctuates corresponds to the pitch. How much it fluctuates corresponds to the volume. • FM means "frequency modulation". The amplitude of the radio wave is constant. The frequency varies a small amount. The peaks of the wave get closer together and further apart. The rate at which the frequency varies corresponds to the pitch. How much it varies corresponds to the volume.

18. HISTORY OF FM IN INDIA • FM Radio was first introduced by All India Radio in 1972 at Madras and later in 1992 at Jalandhar. • Phase One: In 1993, the government sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in Madras, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Goa to private operators, who developed their own programme content. • Indian policy currently laid down that these bids were a One-Time Entry Fee (OTEF), for the entire license period of 10 years. Annual license fee for private players is either 4% of revenue share or 10% of Reserve Price, whichever is higher. • Four years later (1997), after the initial euphoria died out and most of the bidders could not meet their commitments to pay the governments the amounts they had expected and defaulted. • The only non-defaulter was the Times Group which operated its brand, Times FM, till June 1998. The government, therefore, decided not to renew contracts given to private operators.

19. HISTORY OF FM IN INDIA • Phase Two: In 1999, bids were invited for 32 cities for an auction of 108 FM frequencies across India. Many private players bid heavily but the Times-sponsored ENIL won the largest number of frequencies, and thus started its operations under the brand name Radio Mirchi. • Final Phase: In January 2006, 338 frequencies were on offer. Of these, about 237 were sold. Radio Mirchi bagged 25 frequencies in the second wave of licences that were issued by the Government of India. • This pushes the Radio Mirchi presence in 33 centers. Reliance and South Asia FM (Sun group) bid for most of the 91 cities, although they were allowed only 15% of the total allocated frequencies. Between them, they have had to surrender over 40 licenses.

20. WHAT HAS FM ACHIEVED? • First, extended the definition of news. • Second, FM radio has increased the amount of what can be called ‘everyday life’ information. • Third, FM radio has increased the amount of social analysis available on radio through various programming formats. • Fourth, FM radio has increased the amount of oral history available on the radio. • Fifth, FM radio programs have encouraged cross-media reference as a routine practice of urban knowledge.

21. WHY COMMUNITY RADIO? • What distinguishes community radio from other media is the high level of people’s participation, both in management and program production aspects. • Community radio gives community members access to information because it gives them access to the means of communication. • The most relevant information - educational and developmental - is disseminated and exchanged. Important local issues are aired. • A free market place of ideas and opinions is opened up and people are given the opportunity to express themselves socially, politically and culturally.

22. CHARACTERESTICS OF COMMUNITY RADIO • It serves a recognizable community. • It encourages participatory democracy. • It offers the opportunity to any member of the community to initiate communication and participate in program making, management and ownership of the station. • It uses technology appropriate to the economic capability of the people, not that which leads to dependence on external sources. • It is motivated by community well being, not commercial considerations. • It promotes and improves problem solving.

23. PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY RADIO • Access to the facility: full democratization of the communication system. • Participation in the production and management of media • Self-management of the communication facility follows participation • Community mandate is result of democratisation. • Accountability must follow the opportunity to operate, control and manage the station

24. COMMUNITY RADIO IN INDIA • 1932: Punjab’s Rural Reconstruction Commissioner, Frederick Brayne, conducted an experiment in rural radio broadcasting in Lahore. • 1933: Charles Strickland, former registrar of Indian Friendly Societies, suggested the setting up of district radio stations for rural development in a presentation made to the East India Society in London. • 1956: Farm Radio Forums set up in 150 villages across five districts of Maharashtra. Based on a Canadian model, it was a collaborative effort between All India Radio and UNESCO. • 1966: All India Radio “began experimental broadcasts for farmers from the Trichinipoly station to adopt new yielding varieties. The success of these broadcasts can be gauged by the fact that a new variety [of rice] became known as ‘Radio Paddy’”.

25. COMMUNITY RADIO IN INDIA • Campus Community Radio Anna FM • Pastapur initiative of the Deccan Development Society of AP, • Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan in Bhuj, • Alternative for India Development, Bihar • Namma Dhwani in Budikote (a VOICES initiative), near Bangalore.