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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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