Tag Archives: All India Radio

All India Radio considering shut down of shortwave service?

All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo source: Wikipedia.

AIR mulls shutting down soft power short wave units

By AREEBA FALAK

The Prasar Bharati Board is contemplating shutting down the short-wave service of the External Services Division (ESD) of All India Radio (AIR) even as a proposal to switch to an affordable internet-based radio service is still under consideration. A section of the board is keen on closing down the short wave service as an exorbitant amount is being spent to maintain the current infrastructure.

“The total budget allocated to ESD is Rs 100 crore annually. Out of this, approximately Rs 95 crore is spent on the maintenance of short wave transmitters, which includes the high cost of spare parts that are not easily available. The remaining Rs 5 crore is spent on the production of programmes in 27 languages, and to pay the salaries of the staff who are hired on a contract basis,” said a senior official in the ESD.

“One would expect to gain a large fan base after spending so much money, but this has not been the case with ESD. Since no survey has ever been done to determine the number of listeners, we cannot give an exact or even an approximate number of people who listen to AIR’s ESD channels across the world. But we know that we have a good following based on the feedback that we receive from people in countries where ESD is being listened to. Our listeners send us postcards or emails from Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, etc. But the following is not in proportion to the money being spent on this service,” said the senior officer.

“The proposal suggests the shutting down of short wave and the service being made web-based. Since internet is far reaching, listening radio live on the web should not hurt our existing fan base. But of course there is the argument that short wave can reach even the remotest corners of the world, which is not the case with internet signals. The shutting down of short wave, without a doubt, will affect the propaganda value of India among its listeners abroad. This is why there are chances that the short wave service might continue in neighboring countries like China, Nepal, etc. Also, India’s edge in a continent like Africa will suffer a blow if the short-wave is to be shut down,” said sources in AIR.

[…]At present, ESD broadcasts 57 transmissions daily, with almost 72 hours covering over 108 countries in 27 languages, out of which 15 are foreign and 12 are Indian. The Indian languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The foreign languages are Arabic, Balochi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, French, Indonesian, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Thai, Tibetan and English (General Overseas Service).

Read the full news item on the Sunday Guardian Live website…

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AIR and BBC design programming for post-earthquake Nepal

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(Source: RMbiz)

MUMBAI: In the wake of recent earthquake that affected Nepal and India, All India Radio (AIR) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have designed special programming for affected areas of Indo-Nepal border and Nepal respectively. AIR is also transmitting services through their External Services Division (ESD).

AIR stations in Patna, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Gangtok, Siliguri, Guwahati, Delhi and others put out suitable programmes to generate awareness among the masses, particularly informing them how to tackle such situations.[…]

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Shortwave Radio Recordings: All India Radio

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One of my favorite shortwave stations for music, besides ERT Open (former Voice of Greece), is All India Radio (AIR).

Since their broadcasts originate on the other side of the planet (from my North American location), their signal bounces off the ionosphere many times before I ever hear it. I actually like the result of this; the static of space makes their already beautiful music sound even more textured, enhancing the distance of its source, and heightening the music’s sense of mystery and nostalgia.

I recorded this AIR broadcast on August 14th, 2014–around 20:45 UTC–on 9,445 kHz. You can download the MP3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below. Enjoy!

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BBC World Service features DRM

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In this BBC World Service report, Mark Whittaker explores Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) and, especially, its potential in India. Use the embedded player or link below to listen:

listen to ‘Digital Shortwave: a radio revolution ’ on Audioboo

(Source: Audioboo via Tarmo Tanilsoo on Facebook)

You’ll note the BBC World Service fails to mention that DRM has been in use now for over a decade.

The report ends by suggesting that portable DRM receivers will be on the market in a few months. Even if DRM radios start appearing, whether or not they’ll be effective and inexpensive remains to be seen. So far, portable DRM radios have been mediocre performers (at best) and relatively expensive.

Don’t get me wrong: I would love to see DRM take hold, I just have my doubts. DRM might stand a chance if a manufacturer like Tecsun were to build an inexpensive portable radio, with a form factor much like that of their other portables. If they made a DRM version of the PL-380, for example, it could be a winner for both the company and the medium/mode.

By the way, if you’ve never heard what DRM sounds like over the shortwaves, I just posted a fifty eight minute recording of All India Radio on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Contributor, Mark Fahey, recorded the broadcast from his home in Australia.

I’ve embedded a link to the audio below, but you can listen to the broadcast and read Mark’s notes on the shortwave archive (click here).

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All India Radio publishes a tender for 800 DRM receivers

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The DRM Consortium has posted an All India Radio (AIR) tender for 800 DRM AM/FM/Shortwave receivers.

AIR is seeking a DRM receiver with a feature set that would include:

DRM decoding on both shortwave and medium wave (AM broadcast) bands
1 kHz tuning increments on DRM bands (with DRM auto lock)
Stereo speakers and headphone jack
Four line mono/color digital display
Built-in stereo recording of DRM broadcasts–including a scheduling feature
Upgradable firmware
Built-in rechargeable battery pack with 6 hour playback time

There are more specs/features, of course–click here or here to download a scanned copy of the actual AIR tender.

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All India Radio: A Welcome Voice

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Many afternoons, I’m drawn to All India Radio on 9,445 kHz. I love what the ether does to their Bengaluru transmitting station’s signal as it travels at the speed of light over 8,700 miles to my home here in the southeastern US.

I enjoy, too, the way All India Radio announcers speak the news, in slow cadence, honoring the fine tradition of radio: “This is the general overseas service of All India Radio. It’s time now for the news. Please stand by…” I also delight in their English language news bulletins, which begin with “Namaskar.” I appreciate this–it makes it much easier for me to identify the station when listening on an analog radio like my BC-348-Q. I’m sure this makes a difference for many other listeners seeking their station, too.

I also love All India Radio–like I do the Voice of Greece–for their superb music. Where else on the shortwave dial will I hear the sitar sing, as on AIR?

But don’t take my word for it. If you live in North America and Europe, when conditions are favorable, All India Radio is a favorite listening experience for many–myself obviously included.

For your listening enjoyment, here is a 30 minute recording I made of All India Radio only an hour ago on 9,445 kHz, starting at 22:00 UTC. Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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