by Dan Greenall

Back in the 1970’s, All India Radio (also called Akashvani) had no programs beamed to North America. Perhaps, partly because of this, it took me nearly a year and a half of DXing to finally hear them from my listening post in southern Ontario, Canada. I used to think their evening transmission to the UK and Western Europe on 9912 at 1945 hours UTC would be my best bet, but as it turns out, I had better luck at 1330 UTC when their target area was Southeast Asia. This was part of their General Overseas Service in English, and their schedule from the 1975 World Radio TV Handbook is attached.

Here is a recording of the station circa 1971, beginning with their interval signal.

Fast forward 55 years to September 1, 2026. English language programs from All India Radio now seem to be quite scarce. There are only one or two daily news bulletins in English, each roughly 15 minutes in length. Many of their broadcasts are aired via powerful transmitters in Bengaluru (Bangalore) in southern India.

This first recording was made using a remote SDR near Perth, Australia, on September 1, 2026, on 15410 kHz beginning around 0243 hours UTC. At about the 2:11 mark of the recording, they switch into English with the announcement: “Akashvani presents morning news.”

In the second recording, made September 9, a strong signal was noted on 15260 kHz at 0130 hours UTC, while tuning on a KiwiSDR in Bandung, Indonesia. The familiar interval signal of All India Radio is heard beginning at the 1:25 mark followed by sign on in Indonesian.