{"id":18344,"date":"2016-04-18T07:26:28","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T11:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=18344"},"modified":"2016-04-18T07:26:44","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T11:26:44","slug":"all-india-radio-considering-shutting-down-shortwave-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/all-india-radio-considering-shutting-down-shortwave-service\/","title":{"rendered":"All India Radio considering shut down of shortwave service?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"All<\/a>

All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo source:\u00a0Wikipedia.<\/p><\/div>\n

(Source: Sunday Guardian Live<\/a>)<\/p>\n

AIR mulls shutting down soft power short wave units<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By AREEBA FALAK<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said a senior official in the ESD.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne 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\u2019s 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,\u201d said the senior officer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s edge in a continent like Africa will suffer a blow if the short-wave is to be shut down,\u201d said sources in AIR.<\/em><\/p>\n

[…]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).<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full news item on the\u00a0Sunday Guardian Live\u00a0website…<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: Sunday Guardian Live) AIR mulls shutting down soft power short wave units By AREEBA FALAK\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,960,3,43],"tags":[52,53,2763,3120,4977],"class_list":["post-18344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-air","tag-all-india-radio","tag-india","tag-shortwave-closures","tag-sunday-guardian-live"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-4LS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38124,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/all-india-radio-prasar-bharati-seeks-proposal-to-phase-out-shortwave-broadcasting\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":0},"title":"All India Radio: Prasar Bharati seeks proposal to phase out shortwave broadcasting","author":"Thomas","date":"June 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Hindu) by Sobhana K. Nair Prasar Bharati has asked it to come up with a proposal to phase out SW transmitters If Prasar Bharati [India's largest public broadcasting agency] has its way, All India Radio will have to stop all global short wave transmissions \u2014 eighty years after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/newdelhi90zu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33648,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/air-external-service-at-odds-with-mib-over-funding-future-of-shortwave-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":1},"title":"AIR External Service at odds with MIB over funding & future of shortwave service","author":"Thomas","date":"August 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Hindustan Times via Dan Robinson) The external services division of All India Radio (AIR) is caught in a turf war between the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), which runs it and the ministry of external affairs (MEA), which is expected to fund it. While the MIB wants the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/newdelhi90zu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21204,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/air-to-recruit-balochi-speakers-with-money-saved-from-shortwave-broadcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":2},"title":"AIR to recruit Balochi speakers with money saved from shortwave broadcasts","author":"Thomas","date":"September 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Barraclough, who shares the following link from The Sunday Guardian Live\u00a0via Facebook: At present, AIR has only two Balochi speaking people who have been helping with the daily one-hour programme transmitted to Balochistan. A senior AIR official, on the condition of anonymity, said,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/newdelhi90zu.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24717,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/all-india-radio-investing-heavily-in-drm-tranmitters\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":3},"title":"All India Radio investing heavily in DRM tranmitters","author":"Thomas","date":"March 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Pradip, who shares the following story from Radio and Music Biz online: AIR has acquired 37 DRM transmitters, in talks to get cheaper radio sets NEW DELHI: All India Radio (AIR) has introduced digital radio technology in the AIR Network by installing new state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/newdelhi90zu.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21473,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/director-general-of-all-india-radio-it-is-agreed-by-all-that-shortwave-will-stay\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":4},"title":"Director General of All India Radio: “it is agreed by all that shortwave will stay”","author":"Thomas","date":"September 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike, who shares a link to the following interview with\u00a0Fayyaz Sheheryar,\u00a0Director General of All India Radio. I've pasted a couple of\u00a0Sheheryar's\u00a0responses below--click here to read the full interview. But there had been some talk in the government at one time to disband short wave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/newdelhi90zu.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18665,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/all-india-radio-adapting-strategy\/","url_meta":{"origin":18344,"position":5},"title":"All India Radio adapting strategy","author":"Thomas","date":"May 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike R, for sharing this article from Asia Radio Today: During a session on Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) at Radio Asia,\u00a0 Fayyaz Sheheryar the Director General of All India Radio said all PSB [Public Service] broadcasters are facing the question of how to make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. 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