Today the whole world is celebrating Radio Day. This World Radio Day is very special for our country India because radio arrived in India with the first broadcast by Radio Club Mumbai in June 1923. Therefore, this is the centenary of radio broadcasting in India. If we talk about the world broadcast of radio, it is generally believed that Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi made the first radio broadcast in 1896 at the age of just 22, while one belief is that on 24 December 1906, the world The first radio broadcast took place. In India too, the broadcast of Madras Presidency Club in 1924 also gets the credit of being the country’s first radio broadcast. But the Indian Broadcasting Company established the first radio station in Mumbai and formally started it on 23 July 1927. It was named ‘All India Radio’ on June 8, 1936. From the year 1956, it started being called ‘Akashvani’ along with ‘All India Radio’. It is noteworthy that after the partition of the country in 1947, only six radio centers were left in India – Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Tiruchirappalli and Lucknow. But India made a lot of development in radio. Today, All India Radio has a total of 501 broadcasting stations in the country. In the last 10 years, radio has developed very rapidly in India.
If we look at the golden age of radio in India, the period from 1960 to 1980 was completely the radio era. During this period, radio had become so popular that it was through its news that the whole country first came to know about the news of the country and the world. This was the reason that in that era, news readers like Devki Nandan Pandey, Ramanuj Prasad Singh, Vinod Kashyap and Ashok Vajpayee and announcers like Amin Sayani used to be radio stars. Radio also played a big role in increasing the popularity of film songs. Be it the radio drama program ‘Hawa Mahal’ or the film song programs ‘Jayamala’ and ‘Sangam’, all of them were liked very much. If we look at the hundred years of radio in India, radio has changed many colors. Many types of radio sets kept coming, from big size radios to pocket transistors. Today, radio has become digital and is accessible even on mobile phones. Years ago, an antenna was installed in the house to listen to the radio. Also, to listen to the radio, a license had to be taken, in which an annual fee of Rs 15 for domestic radio and Rs 25 for commercial-public radio had to be paid. But in the late 1980s, radio was delicensed.
When TV serials started in 1985, listeners started losing their fascination with radio. With the rapid popularity of television, radio began to fade into the background. To save the existence of radio, government and private FM channels were started in the country. This increased the inclination of young listeners towards radio. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s program ‘Mann Ki Baat’ made radio popular again. When it started on October 3, 2014, the digital era was growing rapidly. But Prime Minister Modi chose radio only for ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Till now its 109 episodes have been aired and have written a new history of popularity. Due to this, not only the number of listeners of All India Radio but also its revenue is at a new peak. Here in the country, community radio is also becoming popular among the listeners of a particular category. Community radio in India was started by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by making a policy in 2002. The first community radio station in the country was started by the then Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani in February 2004. Prime Minister Modi is even giving financial grants to institutions to promote community radio. There are currently 481 community radio stations running in the country.
Certainly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has given oxygen to All India Radio’s dying breath. But a lot more will have to be done to return it to its golden days. For this, along with the introduction of new special programs of public interest, there is a need to make some changes in the structure here. It has been observed that old radio workers are retiring here every day. But due to lack of new appointments in their place, the number of employees has reduced significantly. Some competent officers are following the tradition even in such a situation. But some lazy and careless employees, without taking much burden on themselves, do not hesitate to tarnish the pride of All India Radio by repeatedly broadcasting old programs instead of new ones. Therefore, there is a great need for new ideas and some new best broadcasters in radio today. Even today, the number of listeners who listen to good and new types of programs on radio is innumerable because if truth be told, radio has no equal even today.
(These are the personal views of the author.)