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All India Radio (AIR), officially known since 1956 as Ākāshvāṇī (literally, "Voice from the Sky"), is the national public radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1930, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national public television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. Its headquarters is at the Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi. Akashvani Bhavan houses the Drama Section, the FM Section and the National Service. Doordarshan Kendra (Delhi) offices are also located on the sixth floor at Akashvani Bhavan.

Etymology

The word ākāśavāni (आकाशवाणी) is taken from Sanskrit. In Sanskrit Akashvani means "celestial announcement," or a gift or message from heaven. Often in Hindu mythological stories, folk-tales and fables like Panchatantra & Hitopadesha, whenever Gods wanted to say something, an Akashvani occurred. Literally, akash means "sky" and vani means "sound" or "message".

The word "Akashvani" was coined by M. V. Gopalaswamy after setting up the nation’s first private radio station in his residence, "Vittal Vihar" (about 200 yards from AIR’s current location in Mysore) in 1936. Akashvani seemed to be an appropriate name for a radio broadcaster and was later adopted as All India Radio's on-air name after independence.

Mission

All India Radio (AIR) has been serving to inform, educate and entertain the masses since it's inception, truly living up to its motto – ‘Bahujan Hitaya: Bahujan Sukhaya’.

Objectives

To provide information, education and entertainment, for promoting the welfare and happiness of the masses (Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya), All India Radio strives to :-

• Uphold the unity of the country and the democratic values enshrined in the constitution.
• Present a fair and balanced flow of information of national, regional, local and international interest, including contrasting views, without advocating any opinion or ideology of its own.

*  Promote the interest and concerns of the entire nation, being mindful of the need for harmony and understanding within the country                    

• Produce and transmit varied programmes designed to awaken, inform, enlighten, educate, entertain and enrich all sections of the people.
• Ensuring that the programmes reflect the varied elements which make the composite culture of India.
• Produce and transmit programmes relating to developmental activities in all their facets including extension work in agriculture, education, health and family welfare and science & technology.
• Serve the rural, illiterate and under-privileged population, keeping in the mind the special needs and interest of the young, social and cultural minorities, the tribal population and those residing in border regions, backward or remote areas.
• Promote social justice and combat exploitation, inequality and such evils as untouchability and narrow parochial loyalties.
• Serve the rural population, minority communities, women, children, illiterate as well as other weaker and vulnerable sections of the society.
• Promote national integration.

History

In British India, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Mumbai and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of 23 July 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Mumbai station began on 23 July 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August 1927. On 1 March 1930, however, the company went into liquidation. The government took over the broadcasting facilities, beginning the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) on 1 April 1930 (on an experimental basis for two years, and permanently in May 1932). On 8 June 1936; the ISBS was renamed All India Radio.

On 1 October 1939 the External Service began with a broadcast in Pushtu; it was intended to counter radio propaganda from Germany directed to Afghanistan, Iran and the Arab nations. When India became independent in 1947, the AIR network had only six stations (in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli); three radio stations at Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi fell in the share of Pakistan. the total number of radio sets at that time was about 275,000 in India. On 3 October 1957 the Vividh Bharati Service was launched, to compete with Radio Ceylon. Television broadcasting began in Delhi in 1959 as part of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as Doordarshan on 1 April 1976. FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Chennai, and was expanded during the 1990s.

Growth & Development

Broadcasting in India actually began about 13 years before AIR came into existence. In June 1923 the Radio Club of Bombay made the first ever broadcast in the country. This was followed by the setting up of the Calcutta Radio Club five months later. The Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) came into being on July 23, 1927, only to face liquidation in less than three years.

In April 1930, the Indian Broadcasting Service, under the Department of Industries and Labour, commenced its operations on an experimental basis. Lionel Fielden was appointed the first Controller of Broadcasting in August 1935. In the following month Akashvani Mysore, a private radio station was set up. On June 8, 1936, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio.

The Central News Organisation (CNO) came into existence in August, 1937. In the same year, AIR came under the Department of Communications and four years later came under the Department of Information and Broadcasting. When India attained independence, there were six radio stations in India, at Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow. There were three in Pakistan (Peshawar, Lahore and Dacca). AIR then had a coverage of just 2.5 % of the area and 11% of the population. The following year, CNO was split up into two divisions, the News Services Division (NSD) and the External Services Division (ESD). In 1956 the name AKASHVANI was adopted for the National Broadcaster. The Vividh Bharati Service was launched in 1957 with popular film music as its main component.

The phenomenal growth achieved by All India Radio has made it one of the largest media organisations in the world. With a network of 262 radio stations, AIR today is accessible to almost the entire population of the country and nearly 92% of the total area. A broadcasting giant, AIR today broadcasts in 23 languages and 146 dialects catering to a vast spectrum of socio-economically and culturally diverse populace.

Programmes of the External Services Division are broadcast in 11 Indian and 16 foreign languages reaching out to more than 100 countries. These external broadcasts aim to keep the overseas listeners informed about developments in the country and provide a rich fare of entertainment as well.

The News Services Division, of All India Radio broadcasts 647 bulletins daily for a total duration of nearly 56 hours in about 90 Languages/Dialects in Home, Regional, External and DTH Services. 314 news headlines on hourly basis are also being mounted on FM mode from 41 AIR Stations. 44 Regional News Units originate 469 daily news bulletins in 75 languages. In addition to the daily news bulletins, the News Services Division also mounts number of news-based programmes on topical subjects from Delhi and its Regional News Units

AIR operates at present 18 FM stereo channels, called AIR FM Rainbow, targeting the urban audience in a refreshing style of presentation. Four more FM channels called, AIR FM Gold, broadcast composite news and entertainment programmes from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. With the FM wave sweeping the country, AIR is augmenting its Medium Wave transmission with additional FM transmitters at Regional stations.

In keeping with the Government decision for transition to the digital mode of transmission, AIR is switching from analog to digital in a phased manner. The technology adopted is the Digital Radio Mondiale or DRM. With the target of complete digitization by 2017, the listeners can look forward to highly enhanced transmission quality in the near future.

Domestic services

AIR has many services in a number of languages, each serving different regions across India.

Organisation

The Prasar Bharati Board functions at the apex level ensuring formulation and implementation of the policies of the organization and fulfillment of the mandate in terms of the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990. The Executive Member functions as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation. Officers from different streams working in the Prasar Bharati Secretariat assist the CEO, Member (Finance) and Member (Personnel) in integrating actions, operations, plans and policy implementation as well as look after the budget, accounts and general financial matters of the Corporation.

Prasar Bharati Marketing offices located at Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Jallandhar, look after the marketing activities of both All India Radio and Doordarshan.

Prasar Bharati also has a unified vigilance set up at the headquarters, headed by a Chief Vigilance Officer.

The Director General heads the Directorate of All India Radio.Director General, All India Radio is responsible for the overall administration of the entire Akashvani network consisting of 277 stations and 432 broadcast transmitters (148 are MW (Medium Wave), 236 FM (Frequency Modulation) and 48 SW (Short Wave) transmitters as on 31.03.2012), which provide coverage to 99% of the population spread over the country.

Vividh Bharati

Vividh Bharati is one of the best-known services of AIR. Its name roughly translates as "Multi-Indian Service", and it is also known as the Commercial Broadcasting Service (CBS). It is the commercially most accessible of the AIR networks and is popular in Mumbai and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programmes including news, film music and comedy programs. It operates on different mediumwave-band frequencies for each city.

Some programs broadcast on Vividh Bharati are:

• Hawa-mahal: Radio plays based on novels and plays
• Santogen ki mehfil: Comedy

Other services include

• Primary Channel
• National Channel

Timeline

The phenomenal growth achieved by All India Radio through decades has made it one of the largest media organizations in the world. Today AIR reaches out to 99.18% of the population spread over about 91.85% of the area through 262 broadcasting Centres. The inception can be traced back to the enforcement of the Telegraph Act on October1, 1885. Major landmarks of broadcasting are as below:

1920s

June, 1923 : Broadcast of programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay.

November, 1923 : Calcutta Radio Club put out programmmes.

July 31,1924 : Broadcasting Service initiated by the Madras Presidency Radio Club.

July 23,1927 : Indian Broadcast Company (IBC), Bombay Station inaugurated by Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India.

August 26,1927 : Calcutta Station of IBC inaugurated.

1930s

March 1, 1930 : IBC went into liquidation.

April 1,1930 : Indian State Broadcasting Service under Department of Industries and Labour commenced

on experimental basis.

March,1935 : Post of "Controller of Broadcast" innstituted.

August 30,1935 : Lionel Fielden appointed the first controller of Broadcasting in India.

September 10,1935 : Akashvani Mysore, a private radio station, set up.

January 19,1936 : First news bulletin broadcast from AIR.

June 8, 1936 : Indian State Broadcasting Service became All

India Radio.

August 1,1937 : Central News Organisation came into existence.

November,1937 : AIR came under Department of Communication.

October 1,1939 : External Service started with Pushtu broadcast.

1940s

October 24,1941 : AIR came under the Department of I&B.

January 1,1942 : Akashvani Mysore was taken over by Maharaja of Mysore.

February 23,1946 : AIR came under the Department of Information & Arts.

September 10,1946 : Department of Information and Arts changed to Department of Information and Broadcasting.

1947 (at the time of partition): Six Radio Stations in India (Delhi,Bombay,Calcutta,Madras, Tiruchirapalli

and Lucknow) and three Radio Stations in Pakistan (Peshawar, Lahore and Dacca)

September, 1948 : Central News Organisation (CNO) was split up into two Divisions, News Service Division and External Service Division (ESD).

1950s

July 20,1952 : First National Programme of Music broadcast from AIR.

July 29,1953 : National Programme of Talks (English) commenced from AIR.

1954 : First Radio Sangeet Sammelan held.

August 15,1956 : National Programme of Play commenced.

October 3,1957 : Vividh Bharati Services started.

November 1, 1959 : First TV Station in Delhi started as part of AIR.

1960s

November 1,1967 : Commercials on Vividh Bharati introduced

July 21, 1969 : Yuv-Vani service started from Delhi.

August 15, 1969 : 1000 KW Superpower Medium Wave Transmitter commissioned at Calcutta (Mogra).

1970s

January 8,1971 : 1000 KW Superpower Medium Wave Transmitter commissioned at Rajkot.

1974 : Akashvani Annual Awards instituted.

April 1, 1976 : Doordarshan separated from AIR.

1977 : Introduction of political party broadcasts.

July 23, 1977 : First ever FM Service was inaugurated from Madras

1980s

May,1983 : AIR Baroda became a CBS station.

September 14,1984 : Two High Power 250 KW shortwave transmitters inaugurated at Aligarh.

October 30,1984 : First Local Station at Nagarcoil started.

January 26,1985 : Commercials on Primary Channel introduced.

August 15,1985 : Introduction of hourly news bulletins.

1985 : All AIR Stations were provided with 5 channel satellite receiver terminals.

May 18,1988 : Introduction of National Channel.

April 8,1989 : Commissioning of Integrated North East Service.

1990s

March 2, 1990 : The 100th Station of AIR commissioned at Warangal (A.P.).

March 10,1990 : Two 500 KW Superpower short wave transmitters Inaugurated at Bangalore.

1990 : AIR introduced Lassa Kaul Award for the best production on the theme of National Integration.

1990 : AIR introduced Award for the best News Correspondent of the year.

October 2,1991 : Vividh Bharti Panaji became a CBS Channel.

October 2, 1992 : Commissioning of FM Channel at Jalandhar.

January 10,1993 : Introduction of Phone-in-programme at AIR Delhi.

January 28,1993 : Commissioning of VB Channel at Varanasi.

April 1, 1993 : The150th Station of AIR inaugurated at Berhampur (Orissa)

August 15,1993 : Introduction of selling of Time Slots on FM Channel to private parties at Delhi - Mumbai.

September 1,1993 : Time Slots on FM Channel to private parties at Chennai.

April 1, 1994 : Sky Radio became operational.

July 25,1994 : Time Slots on FM Channel to private parties at Kolkata.

September 10,1994 : Multi Track Recording Studio commissioned at Mumbai.

September 28,1994 : Four 500 KW Superpower shortwave transmitters at Bangalore,inaugurated making Bangalore one of the biggest transmitting centres in the world.

November 13,1994 : Time Slot s on FM Channel to private parties at Panaji.

January 15,1995 : Radio paging service inaugurated.

August 5,1995 : Multi-track recording studios inaugurated at Chennai.

1995 : AIR introduced Akashvani Awards for best Audience Research Survey Report.

February 1,1996 : Foundation stone laid for new Broadcasting House in Delhi.

May 2,1996 : Launching of AIR on-line Information Service on Internet.

January 13,1997 : Audio in real time on Internet Service started.

November 23,1997 : Prasar Bharati Corporation came into existence.

January 26,1998 : Radio on Demand’ Service on 2nd FM Channel.

February 25,1998 : AIR news on telephone, live on internet.

April,1998 : Sale of Time Slots on FM stopped.

August 29,1998 : Prasar Bharati Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 31.7.1998 made operational through an ordinance.

June,1999 : Shri R.R.Shah, IAS, named officiating Member Executive. Private FM Channels announced by GOI.

August 15,1999 : Radio Station commissioned at Kokrajhar in Bodo Land Autonomous Council Areas

August 15,1999 : Second FM Channels commissioned at Delhi and Calcutta.

November, 1999 : AIR launched a daily Malayalam Service for the Gulf Region. It consists of a 10 mts. News Bulletins at 2315 hrs. followed by a 5 mts. Commentary on a topical issue.

2000-2007

February 11, 2000 : Introduction of VB Channel at AIR Jabalpur.

March 13, 2000 : Radio Station commissioned at Dhubri in Bodo Land Autonomous Council Area.

March 24, 2000 : Introduction of VB Channel at AIR, Jammu.

June, 2000 : Community Radio Stations commissioned at Nongstoin & William Nagar in (Meghalaya), Saiha (Mizoram), Tuensang and Mon in Nagaland.

July 17,2000 : Regional Staff Training Institute (Tech.) started functioning at Bhubaneshwar (Orissa)

August 15,2000 : Introduction of VB Channel at AIR, Coimbatore.

September 3, 2000 : Introduction of VB Channel at AIR,Jamshedpur.

February 7,2001 : Radio Station commissioned at Gopeshwar (Chamoli) in the newly created State of Uttaranchal.

September 1, 2001 : AIR launched Infotainment channels, FM-II, at the four metro’s.,Chennai,Delhi.,Kolkata Mumbai

November 12, 2001 : This day declared as The Public Service Broadcasting day to commemorate Gandhji’s visit to AIR. Museum of Radio and Doordarshan inaugurated.

February 27, 2002 : AIR launched its first ever digital satellite home service to cater to the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia.

July 2002 : 75 years of Broadcasting celebrated

April 2003 : Marketing Division of Prasar Bharati inaugurated.

January 26th, 2004 : Bhasha Bharati channel of AIR launched at Delhi.

January 26th, 2004 : Classical Music channel launched at Bangalore.

February 19, 2004 : Shri Brijeshwar Singh, IAS took over as DG:AIR.

March 29th, 2004 : National Artists Awards ceremony held at Hyderabad.

April 1st, 2004 : Launch of Kisan Vani Programme from 12 stations.

May 25, 2004 : 20KW MW transmission at Kupwara Commissioned to strengthen Radio coverage in the border area of J&K.

September 6, 2004 : Min. of Information & Broadcasting laid foundation stone for 10 KW FM transmitter at Vijayawada.

December 16,2004 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated DTH Service of AIR & Doordarshan.

                        : 12 AIR channels in different regional languages from various state capitals made available countrywide through the KU Band on DTH platform of Prasar Bharati.

15th June,2005 : FM transmitter commionsioned at Port Blair, Himmatnager, Saraipalli, Mandla, Rajgarh, Agartala and Imphal.

9th July,2005 : 1 kW FM transmitter commissioned at Shimla.

15th Aug, 2005 : FM transmitter commisioned at Udaipur, Rohtak, Gulbarga, Aurangabad and Madurai.

23rd Aug, 2005 : New Broadcasting House equipped with digital studio setup for News Service Division, External Service and Home Service inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of I&B and Culture.

2nd Sept, 2005 : 1 kW FM transmitter commissioned at Gorakhpur.

23rd Decmeber,2005 : 1 kW FM transmitter commissioned at Deogarh in Orissa.

25th December,2005 : 5 kW FM transmitter commissioned at both Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Kurseong in West Bengal.

27th December,2005 : 10 kW FM transmitter commissioned at Shillong in Meghalaya and 1kW transmitter commissioned at Darjeeling in West Bengal.

15th & 16th Feb-06 : Commonwealth Broadcasting Association conference held at Delhi.

17th June, 2006 : 1 KW FM transmitter commissioned at Vijayawada (AP).

30th June, 2006 : Uplinking of DTH channel increased from 12 to 20.

11th July, 2006 : 1KW FM transmitter commissioned at Kanpur (UP).

1st Sept, 2006 : 200 KW MW transmitter commissioned at Kargil (J&K).1KW MW transmitters commissioned at Drass & Tiesuru (J&K).

2nd October, 2006 : 20 KW MW transmitter commissioned at Kota (Raj.)

Jan-2007 to Dec-2007

New Stations with FM Transmitters commisioned at Tamilnadu),Dharampur(Macherla(AndhraPradesh) and Aurangabad (Bihar).

FM Transmitters commissioned at existing stations at Itanagar (ArunachalPradesh),

Aizawl (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland), Baripada (Orissa), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and Puducherry.

Existing FM Transmitters at Chennai i.e. 5 KW FM Tr. of FM Gold and 10 KW FM Tr. of FM Rainbow replaced by 20 KW FM Transmitters.

Existing 5 KW FM Tr. of FM Gold service at Kolkata replaced by 20 KW FM Transmitter.

New station with 1 KW MW Transmitter commissioned at Soro (Orissa).

Existing 100 KW MW Transmitters at Delhi & Raipur (Chhatisgarh) replaced with new state-of-the art technology transmitters.

As part of J&K special package for boosting border coverage, new Stations with 1 KW MW Transmitters at Nyoma & Diskit in Leh region commissioned. Jan-2008 to Dec-2008

1. FM Transmitter at Leh (J&K) commissioned.

2. A 200 KW MW Transmitter commissioned replacing 100 KW MW Transmitter.at Najibabad

3. As part of J&K speacial package for boosting border coverage, a new station with 1KW MW Transmitter commissioned. at Padum in Kargil. With this all the 12 projects included in J&K special package Phase-1 commissioned.

4. Digital Captive Earth Stations at Leh, Varanasi, Rohtak and Aurangabad commissioned. New uplink stations at Dehradun and Silchar under implementation.

5. A new DTH Channel, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar added in the Direct to Home Service of AIR. There are now 21 radio channel available countrywide through the KU Band DTH Platform of Prasar Bharati (DD +), benefitting the listeners all over India.

Jan-2009 to Dec-2009

New station with 5 KW FM Transmitter commissioned at Oras (Sindhudurganagry) in Maharashtra.

Computerization of AIR stations and offices in progress to facilitate online exchange of information and improvement of efficiency.

Permanent studio facilities equipped with Digital equipment and computerized Hard Disc Work Stations for recording, dubbing, editing & playback provided at Jaipur (Raj) & Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh). Jan-2010 to Dec-2010

An exclusive dedicated FM channel "AIR FM DILLI" with one KW transmitter installed at AIR Broadcasting House Delhi. This channel was available on 100.1 MHZ in National Capital Region.

The following new transmitters were installed:

Churachandpur (Manipur)-6 KW FM Tr., Studio & S/Qrs.

Bharmour (Himachal Pradesh)- 100 W FM Tr.,

Keylong (Himachal Pradesh)- 100 W FM Tr.,

Ooty (Tamilnadu)- 100 W FM Tr.,

Thanjavur (Tamilnadu)- 100 W FM Tr.

AIR ‘News on Phone’ Service made available at 14 places i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Patna, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Thiuvananthapuram, Imphal, Lucknow , Raipur, Guwahati, and Shimla. Jan-2011 to Dec-2011

Coverage of World Cup Cricket

FM Gold started 24 Hours Service from 2nd October, 2011

2012

Bangladesh recognizes Akashvani for its contribution in Bangladesh Liberation War on 27th March, 2012 at Dhaka. Sh. L. D. Mandloi, DG, AIR received the award at a special ceremony in Dhaka.

Regional services

The headquarters of the Regional Deputy Directors General are located at Delhi and Chandigarh (NR), Lucknow and Bhopal (CR), Guwahati (NER), Kolkata (ER), Mumbai and Ahmedabad (WR), Chennai and Bangalore (SR). All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise noted.

External services

The external services of All India Radio broadcast in 27 languages to countries outside India—primarily via high-power shortwave band broadcasts, although medium wave is also used to reach neighbouring countries. In addition to broadcasts targeted at specific countries by language, there is a General Overseas Service broadcasting in English with 8¼ hours of programming each day aimed at a general international audience. The external broadcasts were begun on 1 October 1939 by the British government to counter the propaganda of the Nazis directed at the Afghan people. The first broadcasts were in Pushto, beamed to Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province. Soon broadcasts began in other languages including Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay and French. The external services broadcast in 16 foreign and 11 Indian languages, with a total program output of 70¼ hours per day on medium- and shortwave.

Two high powered FM stations of All India Radio are under installation in Amritsar and Fazilka in Punjab to supplement the programs put out from transmitters operating from Jalandhar, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai and to improve the broadcast services during disturbed weather conditions in the border regions of Punjab.

Today, the External Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts daily in 57 transmissions with almost 72 hours covering over 108 countries in 27 languages, out of which 15 are foreign and 12 Indian. The foreign languages are Arabic, Baluchi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, French, Indonesian, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Thai, Tibetan and English (General Overseas Service). The Indian languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kokani, Kashmiri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

The longest daily broadcast is the Urdu Service to Pakistan, around the clock on DTH and on short- and mediumwave for 12¼ hrs. The English-language General Overseas Service are broadcast 8¼ hours daily. During Hajj, there are special broadcasts beamed to Saudi Arabia in Urdu. The external services of AIR are also broadcast to Europe in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) on 9950 kHz between 1745-2230 UTC.

The transmissions are broadcast by high-power transmitters located at Aligarh, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Mumbai and Panaji on shortwave and from Jalandhar, Kolkata, Nagpur, Rajkot and Tuticorin on mediumwave. Soon All India Radio Amritsar will start a booster service on FM band too. Some of these transmitters are 1000 kW (1 MW) or 500 kW. Programs are beamed to different parts of the world except the Americas and received in very good Reception Quality in the Target areas. In each language service, the program consists of news, commentary, a press review, talks on matters of general or cultural interest, feature programmes, documentaries and music from India and the target region. Most programs originate at New Broadcasting House on Parliament Street in New Delhi, with a few originating at SPT Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Kolkata, HPT Malad Mumbai, Thiruvanthapuram and Tuticorin.

The External Services Division of AIR is a link between India and rest of the world, especially in countries with Indian emigrants and people of Indian origin. It broadcasts the Indian point of view on matters of national and international importance, and demonstrates the Indian way of life through its programs. QSL cards (which are sought-after by international radio hobbyists) are issued to radio hobbyists by AIR in New Delhi for reception reports of their broadcasts. == AIR Broadcast Code==

• Criticism of friendly countries;
• Attack of religious or communities;
• Anything obscene or defamatory;
• Incitement to violence or anything against maintenance of law and order;
• Anything amounting to contempt of court;
• Aspersions against the integrity of the President and Judiciary;
• Anything affecting the integrity of the Nation and criticism by name of any person.

Other services

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)

Details of the transmissions and frequencies are as follows: 0130 - 0230 UTC on 11715 kHz Nepali (Nepal) 0315-0415 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi, (E.Africa, Mauritius) 0415-0430 UTC on 15185 kHz Gujarati, (E.Africa, Mauritius) 0430-0530 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi(E.Africa, Mauritius) 1300 - 1500 UTC on 15050 kHz Sinhala (Sri Lanka) 1615-1715 UTC on 15140 kHz Russian (E. Europe) 2245-0045 UTC on 11645 GOS-I English (NE Asia)

Above transmissions are in addition to following existing DRM txn's: 0900-1200 on 6100 Vividh Bharati, DRM NVIS 1745-1945 UTC on 9950 English W. Europe) 1945-2045 UTC on 9950 Hindi (W. Europe) 2045-2230 UTC on 9950 English (W. Europe)

News-on-phone service

All India Radio launched news-on-phone service on 25 February 1998 in New Delhi; it now has service in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna and Bangalore. The service is accessible through STD, ISD and local calls. There are plans to establish the service in 11 more cities: Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ranchi, Shimla and Thiruvananthapuram. English and Hindi hourly news bulletins may be heard live. News in MP3 format may be directly played from the site, and filenames are time-stamped. AIR news bulletins are available in nine regional languages (Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, North East, Punjabi, Telugu and Urdu).

Direct-to-home service

Direct-to-home (DTH) service is offered on 21 channels via Insat.

Documentaries

There is a long tradition of documentary features on AIR. There is great interest in radio documentaries, particularly in countries like India, Iran, South Korea and Malaysia. The doyen of Engish Features was Melville De Mellow and of Hindi Features was Shiv Sagar Mishra.This format has been revived because of its flexibility, cost-cutting capacity, messaging potential and creative potential with producers such as Viren Goyal,"Som Dutt Sharma", Chitra Narain, R. G. Narula and Danish Iqbal.Som Dutt Sharma's vast experience as Top Grade Film Division Writer is reflected in the calibre of his work in the feature production.He has brought the rare combination of Innovation,facts and creativity together to present an unforgettable aural experience for the senses.His acclaimed features are-"Anahad Naad,Kathak katha,Sadhna key Sakhsya and Vani mein Ithihas". Iqbal has brought his experience as a drama producer to the documentary field; his documentary "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai" makes effective use of narrative and ambient sounds. The documentary is a heartfelt account of an unseen bridge between a Kashmiri, Shikarah Wala, and his auto rickshaw-driver friend in Delhi. Although they never met, their unseen bond transcends the barriers of political, religious and regional prejudice. Because Narula, Chitra and Danish had a long tenure at Delhi and creative collaboration with media institutes, their influence is seminal in shaping the thinking of their colleagues. Chitra and Narula were rewarded for their work, and Danish twice received the Public Service Broadcasting Award for his documentaries.

Central Drama Unit

AIR's Central Drama Unit is responsible for the national broadcast of plays. Playwrights and producers such as Chiranjeet, Satyendra Sharat, Nirmala Agarwal and Danish Iqbal has been associated with the department. Plays produced by the CDU are translated and produced by regional stations. Since its inception in the 1960s the unit has produced more than 1,500 plays, and the CDU is a repository of old scripts and productions. The National Programme of Plays is broadcast by the CDU of AIR the fourth Thursday of each month at 9.30 pm. On the National Programme of Plays, the same play is produced in 22 Indian languages and broadcast at the same time by all regional and national network stations. The CDU also produces Chain Plays, half-hour dramas broadcast in succession by a chain of stations.

Social Media Cell

News Service Division's Social Media Cell is responsible for providing AIR news on new media platforms viz. websites, Twitter, Facebook and SMS. Social Media Cell was established on 20 May 2013.

See also

• External program hours - Comparison with some other external radio broadcasters
• Vividh Bharati
• AIR FM Rainbow
• AIR FM Gold
• 106.4 FM Radio Gold
• Telugu Radio
• Radio Kashmir
• Telecommunications in India

References

1. "Mission Of AIR".
2. ^ "Milestones of AIR (official website)". All India Radio. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
3. Celestial announcement or Akashvani. BabLa dictionary. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
4. "Mysore Akashavani is now 75 years old". Business Standard.
5. allindiaradio http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Profile/Mission/Pages/default.aspx. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "AIR Manual, Chapter 1: History of All India Radio" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. "Milestones of AIR". All India Radio.
8. "National Channel". Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
9. allindiaradio http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Profile/Milestones/Pages/default.aspx. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
10. "All India Radio". Know India. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
11. http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Information/AIR%20Code/Pages/default.aspx. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
12. "Prasar Bharati". Retrieved 17 October 2011.

External links

• All India Radio Official web-site
• All India Radio Commercial Broadcasting Service Vividh Bharati On Line
• All India Radio Commercial Broadcasting Service Vividh Bharati On Line
• All India Radio General Overseas Service / External Services Division 1-4 On Line
• Know India: Radio
• All India Radio (AIR) Station Frequencies (National/International)
• Children's wing of All India Radio

• Use dmy dates from September 2011
• External services (broadcasting)
• Radio stations in India
• All India Radio
• Public radio
• Multilingual broadcasters
• Radio stations established in 1936
• 1936 establishments in India
• State media