ISRO’S EXPERTISE CAN HELP AIR LAUNCH NATIONAL CHANNELS
Friday, 18 December 2015 | Kumar Chellappan | CHENNAI
The demand for launching 24X7 national channels of All India Radio has become louder following the report by The Pioneer that the country’s public broadcaster does not have a dedicated national radio service broadcasting to the whole country. “I was shocked when I read that AIR does not have a countrywide national channel.
Since the national channel of Doordarshan is available across the length and breadth of the country, AIR too should launch a round-the-clock national service,” Arvind Lavakare, veteran journalist and one of the pioneers in broadcast journalism told The Pioneer over phone from Mumbai. But the country’s top space scientists are of the view that the AIR could launch its 24X7 national channels if it so desires without much investment.
Lavakare pointed out that the radio broadcasting took a back seat during the 1980s while television made big strides with the setting up of a series of studios and transmitters all over India. “The AIR failed to match the speed with which television services grew in India,” said Lavakare, a close friend of AFS Talyarkhan, the legendary radio personality of yesteryears.
Both Lavakare and Radio Koya said India does not have a brand of its own in international radio broadcasting. “While countries like China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Britain and the USA are identified with their national broadcasters, Akashwani and AIR are yet to get that status irrespective of the claims made by AIR authorities,” said Koya.
Lavakare said that AIR should launch a service in the short wave band like the British Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America, Radio Beijing and Radio Moscow. “A 24X7 national channel in Hindi will attract a lot of listeners and the status of the national language too will go up in the minds of the youngsters,” said Lavakare.
A senior official of AIR News told The Pioneer that there was an attempt in 2013 to launch a 24X7 national channel. “Some initial works were done but we do not know what happened to the project,” said the official.
G Madhavan Nair, space scientist and former chairman of the Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) said it is possible and feasible for the AIR to launch any number of national channels. “The ISRO has the technical expertise to make it happen. The Doordarshan national channel reaches your drawing room through the transponders provided by ISRO.
If AIR wants to launch such a service, ISRO should be able to help them,” said Dr Nair. He pointed out that if AIR and Doordarshan join hands, the national channel services could be made available all over the country through Direct To Home Services as well as cable operators without much additional investments.
Thiruvengadam, former director, AIR, said the country is badly in need of national radio channel. People in Tamil Nadu do not get Hindi news bulletins or any of the Hindi programmes broadcast by the AIR. “Once you have national channel broadcasting in Hindi and English direct to the listeners, this handicap could be avoided,” he said.http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/isros-expertise-can-help-air-launch-national-channels.html
AIR DOES NOT HAVE A NATIONAL CHANNEL OF ITS OWN!
Thursday, 17 December 2015 | Kumar Chellappan | Chennai
It may sound shocking but the truth is that All India Radio, the country’s national broadcaster, does not have a national channel of its own. Akashwani, as AIR is known all over, claims it is the largest radio network in the world covering 92 per cent of the geographical area of India and 99.19 per cent of the total population of the country.
But a probe by The Pioneer has found that this statistics owes it to the 414 stations spread across the country transmitting in 23 languages and 146 dialects. There is no 24X7 national channel of the AIR which could be listened to by people in Tamil Nadu, Kerala or other major parts of the country.
“There is no national radio channel in this country though the AIR claims it has a national channel,” said Radio Koya of Kozhikode, an avid radio listener. “What I have found is that the national channel is not available anywhere beyond New Delhi. We are at the mercy of regional stations,” said Koya who is a regular listener of all leading international radio stations.
Broadcasters and transmission engineers accepted the contention that the country does not have a national radio channel airing 24X7 news bulletins, radio talk shows or news reels. “ We had launched a national channel of AIR in 1988 but it covered only 55 per cent of the country,” G Gururaj, the octogenarian broadcaster told The Pioneer. He said the dream of having a 24X7 national channel of the AIR remains unfulfilled.
Though AIR had launched a national service from New Delhi in 1988 which was relayed by the high power transmitter at Nagpur, it remained a regional broadcast said Gururaj. “It was audible only between 7 pm and 6 am due to atmospheric disturbances. There was a proposal to install high power transmitters at strategic locations across the length and breadth of the country but I don’t know what happened to it,” said Gururaj who retired from AIR in 1992.
Rameshan Nair, who retired from AIR as a senior programme officer said the national broadcaster should have set up two 24X7 national channels in English and Hindi at least two decades ago. “These national channels could broadcast hourly news bulletins in Hindi and English from New Delhi. Programmes like current affairs, talk shows, radio news reels, interviews and National Programme of Music could be jam-packed in these channels,” said Nair, a leading poet in Malayalam.
Radio professionals pointed out the discrepancies in the broadcasting of news bulletins. “In Tamil Nadu, no regional stations relay the Hindi bulletins. The English bulletins are also broadcast in a scattered manner with Chennai A and Chennai B relaying them alternately,” said a senior programme producer with AIR, Chennai.
G P Nair, who retired as superintending engineer from Doordarshan said it was easy to set up FM transmitters all over India and relay the National Channels so that listeners could tune in directly to the news bulletins. “This will attract more and more people towards Hindi language. Moreover, the AIR is the repository of the world’s largest music archive. We can have uninterrupted Hindustani, Carnatic, folk music programmes round-the-clock through these channels,” said Rameshan Nair.
The radio, especially the AIR, made a strong come back during the days when Chennai was almost submerged and devastated by rain and flood. “The only medium of communication was the radio and the only reliable information was provided by AIR news bulletins. We should have National Channels of AIR transmitting from New Delhi 24X7 so that people across the country get what is aired from the national capital, which is the country’s voice,” pointed out Rameshan Nair.
A serving AIR programme officer with nearly three decades of broadcasting experience said the AIR lacked the channel identity because of its dependence on regional channels. “What we should do is to broadcast straight to the people. Those who are interested in listening to the national channel will tune in to these broadcasts. Let the regional channels continue with their menu,” he said.
Information available on AIR website confirms, “The National Channel of All India Radio in radio’s 3 tier system was originally conceived as the first stage i.e. National System with a broadcast of an 18 hrs. per day. But for various reasons the channel was limited to night time service taking the National Programmes and covering 65% of area and 76% of population of the country.”http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/air-does-not-have-a-national-channel-of-its-own.html
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