ls radio as a medium of mass communication dying out? Discuss the potential that FM stations have in post-liberalisation India?

I. Radio as a medium of mass communication:

(i) Early stage: Radio broadcasting which commenced in India through amateur ‘ham’ broadcasting clubs in Kolkata and Chennai in the 1920s matured into a public broadcasting system in the 1940s during the World War II when it become a major instrument of propaganda for Allied forces in South-East Asia. At the time of independence there were only 6 radio stations located in the major cities catering primarily to an urban audience. By 1950 there were 546, 200 radio licences all over India.

(ii) News Telecast Programme: Since the media was seen as an active partner in the development of the newly-free nation the AIR’s programmes consisted mainly of news, current affairs, discussions on development. The box below captures the spirit of those times.

(iii) Vividh Bharti Programme: Apart from All India Radio (AIR) broadcasts news there was Vividh Bharati, a channel for entertainment that was primarily broadcasting Hindi film songs on listeners request. In 1957 AIR acquired the hugely popular channel Vividh Bharati, which soon began to carry sponsored programmes and advertisements and grew to become a money-spinning channel for.

(iv) Transister Revolution: The major constraint for the popularisation of radio initially was the cost of the radio set. The transistor revolution in the 1960s made the radio more accessible by making it mobile as battery operated sets and reducing the unit price substantially. In 2000 around 110 million households (two-thirds of all Indian households) were listening to radio broadcasts in 24 languages and 146 dialects. More than a third of them were rural households.

(v) Radio of the Independence: When India gained independence in 1947,. All India Radio had an infrastructure of six radio stations, located in metropolitan cities. The country had 280,000 radio receiver sets for a population of 350 million people. After independence the government gave priority to the expansion of the radio broadcasting infrastructure, especially in state capitals and in border areas. Over the years, AIR has developed a formidable infrastructure for radio broadcasting in India. It operates a three-tiered-national regional, and local-service to cater to India's geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity.

(vi) Songs and Commercial Programmes: Indian film songs and commercial programmes were considered low-culture and not promoted. So Indian listeners tuned their shortwave radio sets to Radio Ceylon (broadcasting from neighbouring Sri Lanka) and to Radio Goa (broadcasting from Goa then under Portuguese rule) in order to enjoy Indian film music, commercial programmes, and other entertainment fare. The popularity of these broadcasts in India spurred radio listening and the sale of radio sets. When purchasing a radio set, the buyer would invariably confirm with the vendor that the set could be tuned to radio Ceylon or Radio Goa.

(vii) India’s War with China and Pakistan other tradgedies and expansion of AIR: Interestingly wars and tragedies have spurred AIR to expand its activities. The 1962 war with China prompted the launching of a ‘talks’ unit to put out a daily programme. In August 1971, with the Bangladesh crisis looming, the News Service Division introduced news on the hour, from 6 O’ clock in the morning to midnight. It took another crisis, the tragic assassination of Rajeev Gandhi in 1991, for AIR to take one more step of having bulletins round the clock.

II. The potentiality of FM station impose liberalisation India (After 1991):

(i) Back Ground: In 2000, AIR’s programmes could be heard in two-third of all Indian households in 24 languages and 146 dialects, over some 120 million radio sets. The advent of privately owned FM radio stations in 2002 provided a boost to entertainment programmes over radio. In order to attract audiences these privately run radio stations sought to provide entertainment to its listeners. As privately run FM channels are not permitted to broadcast any political news bulletins, many of these channel specialise in ‘particular kinds’ of popular music to retain their audiences.

(ii) Working of FM Channel: One such FM channel claims that it broadcasts ‘All hits all day! Most of the FM channels which are popular among young urban professionals and students, often belong to media conglomerates. Like ‘Radio Mirchi’ belongs to the Times of India group, Red FM is owned by Living Media and Radio City by the Star Network. But independent radio stations engaged in public broadcastings like National Public Radio (USA) or BBC (UK) are missing from our broadcasting landscape.

The potential for using FM channel is enormous. Further privatisation of radio stations and the emergence of community owned radio stations would lead to the growth of radio stations. The demand for local news is growing. The number of homes listening to FM in India has also reinforced the worldwide trend of networks getting replaced by local radio. The box below reveals not only the ingenuity of a village youth but also the need for catering to local cultures.