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.
I am listening akashvani live english news in shortwave at 15410 KHz , transmitted from Bengaluru, towards nepal. Listening from chennai. I think Indians can avail shortwave service.
I listen to AIR a bit in the 70’s-80’s as I like the music. For few years they sent me their monthly paper magazine “India Calling” that has cultural essays and full schedule.
AIR sent it “snail” mail so by the time I got it it was a month or two late.
I had them all stocked for years but 3-4 years ago I threw most of them away, still have 2 or 3 .
Look at;
https://www.drm.org/drm-in-the-world/india/
I also believe that they have 4 high frequency transmitters for international coverage
mangoesman
Sadly, AIR seems to have gone the way of virtually all of the major shortwave broadcasters, falling victim to budget cuts and a preference for digital services. I listened regularly to AIR’s General Overseas Service on 11620 kHz. From my vantage point in the Midwest U.S., reception was generally good and even excellent depending on propagation conditions. I can still pick up the occasional broadcast, but it’s nothing like it was even six years ago, before AIR suddenly pulled the plug in March 2020.
What happened is that the English news and various Indian languages are now found via YouTube on the newsonair channel. Spotlight, a 15-mimute English feature, is heard within many language services on shortwave, such as in the French program to Europe.