All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is one of the two divisions of Prasar Bharati.Home page: All India Radio prasarbharati.gov.in. Retrieved 4 September 2021 Headquartered at the Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi, it houses the Drama Section, FM Section, and National Service. It also serves as the home of the Indian television station Doordarshan Kendra.
All India Radio is one of the largest radio network in the world in terms of the number of languages broadcast, the socioeconomic diversity it serves, and the scale of its broadcasting organisation. AIR's domestic service includes 420 stations nationwide, covering nearly 92% of India's geographic area and 99.19% of its population, with programming available in 23 languages and 179 dialects.
History
Akashvani When the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) was renamed to All India Radio, Rabindranath Tagore rechristened it Akashvani, the voice that comes over from the skies, in a poem penned for the inauguration of Kolkata's shortwave service.
The term Akashvani was also used in the context of radio by M. V. Gopalaswami in 1936 when he established India's first private radio station at his residence, "Vittal Vihar," located about 200 yards from the current All India Radio station in Mysore. In 1956, Akashvani was adopted as All India Radio's on-air name. With its literal meaning in Sanskrit as "voice from the sky," the name was considered highly fitting for a broadcaster. The suggestion to use Akashvani was given to Gopalaswami by the Telugu/Kannada scholar Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma, who was working as a Telugu pandit in Mysore Maharaja College and later went onto tune Annamacharya's kritis as well.
During the British Raj Broadcasting commenced in June 1923 during the British Raj with programmes by the Bombay Presidency Radio Club and other radio clubs. According to an agreement on 23 July 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd (IBC) was authorised to operate two radio stations: the Mumbai station, which began on 23 July 1927, and the Kolkata station, which followed suit on 26 August 1927. The organisation went into liquidation on 1 March 1930. The government took over broadcasting facilities and launched the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) on 1 April 1930, initially on an experimental basis for two years. It became a permanent service in May 1932 and was later renamed All India Radio on 8 June 1936. The building was contracted by Sir Sobha Singh. On 1 October 1939, the External Service began with a broadcast in Pashto. It was intended to counter radio propaganda from Germany directed at Afghanistan, Iran, and Arab nations. The Dhaka station in Eastern India, in what is now Bangladesh, opened in 1939. This station catered to and nurtured the pioneers of Bengali intellectuals. The foremost among them, Natyaguru Nurul Momen, became the trailblazer of the talk show in 1939. He wrote and directed the first modern radio play, "Rupantar (The Transformation)" for this station in 1942. This play was later published in 1943 Pooja Edition (Sharadia Issue) of Anandabazar Patrika.
In December 1940, the Standing Finance Committee sanctioned a sum of Rupees 9,30,000 for the establishment of a new headquarters of the All India Radio in Delhi. The new "Broadcasting House" of AIR at Parliament Street in New Delhi was inaugurated in February 1943. In 1956, All India Radio (AIR) was officially renamed Akashvani, and its headquarters were renamed Akashvani Bhawan.
After Independence When India became independent in 1947, the All India Radio network consisted of only six stations: Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli. The three radio stations in Lahore, Peshawar, and Dhaka remained in what eventually became Pakistan after the partition. At that time, there were approximately 250,000 radio sets in India.
In August 1947, All India Radio hired its first female newsreader, Saeeda Bano, who read the news in Urdu.
On 3 October 1957, the Vividh Bharati service was launched by All India Radio to compete with Radio Ceylon. The total capital invested by the All India Radio so far on the experimental Television service inaugurated on 5 September 1959 is about Rs. 2.14 lakhs, eight commercial licenses and four domestic licenses for television receiver sets have so far been issued by the Posts and Telegraphs Department.https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1783/1/lsd_02_09_19-11-1959.pdf page 27 Television broadcasting commenced in Delhi in 1959 under the aegis 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 expanded during the 1990s.
Deccan Radio (Nizam Radio 1932), the first radio station in the princely Hyderabad State (now Hyderabad), went live on 3 February 1935. It was launched by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, boasting of a transmitting power of 200 Watts. On 1 April 1950, after Operation Polo, Deccan Radio was taken over by the Indian Government, and in 1956, it was merged with All India Radio. Thereafter, it has been known as AIR-Hyderabad (100 kW).
Domestic services AIR offers a variety of services in multiple languages, each catering to different regions across India.
Vividh Bharati Vividh Bharati, launched in 1957, is one of the most well-known services of All India Radio. Its name roughly translates to "Diverse Indian" and is also referred to as the Commercial Broadcasting Service (CBS). Commercially, it is the most accessible AIR network, particularly popular in Mumbai and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programs, including news, film music, short plays, music, and comedy. It operates on various mediumwave and FM frequencies in each city.
Some programmes broadcast on Vividh Bharati are: Hawa-mahal: Radio drama based on novels and plays Santogen ki mehfil: Comedy Aaj ke fankar: Description of life and works of a film artist Chhayageet: Songs of announcer's choice with impeccable scripting
Central Sales Unit The Central Sales Unit (CSU), located in Mumbai, handles the commercial affairs of AIR.
Other services Primary Channel National Channel
Regional services The headquarters of the Regional Deputy Directors General are located in Delhi and Chandigarh (NR), Lucknow and Bhopal (CR), Guwahati (NER), Kolkata (ER), Mumbai and Ahmedabad (WR), and Chennai and Bangalore (SR). All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise specified. Most of the channels are also available online. + Northern regional serviceCity Frequency City FrequencyCity Frequency Agra 1530 Ajmer 603 Allahabad 1026 Almora 999 Barmer 1458 Bikaner 1395 Chairhara (Budgam) 1485 Delhi A 819 Delhi B 666 Delhi C (Vividh Bharti) 1368 Delhi D (Yuv-vani) 1017 Delhi (National Channel) 1215 Diskit 1602 Faizabad 1485 Gorakhpur 909 Jaipur A 1476 Jalandhar A 873 Jalandhar B 702 Jammu A 990 Jodhpur A 531 Kalpa (Kinnaur) 1584 Kargil A 684 Kargil B 1584 Khalsi 1485 Kota 1413 Kupwara 1350 Leh 1053 Lucknow A 747 Lucknow C 1278 Mathura 1584 Najibabad 954 Naushera 1089 Nyoma 1485 Padam 1584 Pauri 1602 Pithoragarh 1602 Rampur 891 Rohtak FM 103.5 MHz Shimla 774 Budgam 1116 Budgam A 1224 Srinagar C 918 Tiesuru 1602 Udaipur 1125 Uttarkashi 1602 Varanasi A 1242 Sawai Madhopur FM 101.5 MHz Raebareli FM 102.8 MHz
+ Northeast regional serviceCity Frequency City Frequency Agartala 1269 Guwahati A 729 Shillong 864 kHz (100 kW; Primary Channel; 1966–present), 4970 kHz (50 kW; NE Service; 1990-2019; decommissioned), 7315 kHz (50 kW; NE Service; 2000s/2010s-2019; decommissioned), FM 100.1 MHz (100W; NE Service; 2012–present), FM 103.6 MHz (10 kW; Primary Channel: 2023-2025; FM Jong Phi*: 2010-2023, 2025–present) Imphal 882 *Prior to Saturday, the 2nd of October, 2010, it is formerly known as Akashvani FM Rainbow Shillong, which relays to Akashvani FM Rainbow Delhi. Since that date, it became a full fledged radio station and it broadcasts its own programmes. + Eastern regional serviceCity Frequency City Frequency Bhagalpur 1458, 1206 Chinsurah ((Akashvani Maitree), 1 MegaWatt Transmitter Capacity) 594 & 1134 Cuttack A 972 Darbhanga 1296 Jamshedpur 1584 Gitanjali (Kolkata A)(200 KW Transmitter Capacity) 657 Sanchayita (Kolkata B)(100 KW Transmitter Capacity) 1008 Kolkata C (Vividh Bharati) 1323 kHz Medium Wave as well as 101.8 MHZ FM Patna A 621 Ranchi A 549 Muzaffarpur A FM 100.1 MHz Muzaffarpur B FM 106.4 MHz Kolkata (FM Rainbow) (20 KW Transmitter Capacity) FM 107.0 MHz Kolkata (FM Gold)(20 KW Transmitter Capacity) FM 100.2 MHz Kurseong1440 kHz as well as FM 102.3 MHZ (5 KW Transmitter Capacity)Siliguri711 kHz (200 KW DRM Transmitter Capacity)Santiniketan (Bolpur)FM 103.1 MHz (3 KW Transmitter Capacity)Murshidabad (6 KW Transmitter Capacity)FM 102.2 MHz
+ Western regional serviceCity Frequency City Frequency Ahmedabad A 846 Aurangabad 1521 Bhopal A 1593 Chhindwara FM 102.2 MHz Chhatarpur 675 Gwalior 1386 Indore A 648 Jabalpur A 801 Mumbai A 1044 Mumbai B (Asmita Marathi) 558 Mumbai C (Vividh Bharati) 1188 Nagpur A 585 Nagpur B (National Channel, 1 MW) 1566 Panaji A 1287 Panaji B (Vividh Bharati) 828 Pune A 792 Rajkot A 810 Ratnagiri 1143 Solapur 1602 Sangli 1251 Parbhani A FM 102.0 MHzJabalpur Vividh Bharati102.9 Mysore FM 100.6 MHzJalgaon963
+ Southern regional serviceCityFrequencyBroadcasting sinceTransmitted powerRemarks Chennai 101.4 MHz (AIR FM Rainbow) — 20 kW, Stereo Chennai 100.1 MHz (AIR FM Gold) — 20 kW, Stereo Chennai 102.3 MHz (Vividh Bharathi) — 20 kW, Stereo Coimbatore 103.0 MHz (AIR FM Rainbow) — 10 kW, Stereo Dharmapuri 102.5 MHz (LRS) — 10 kW Low Power Relay Station Karaikal 100.3 MHz — — Kodaikanal 100.5 MHz (AIR FM Rainbow) 1 July 2000 10 kW, Stereo Madurai 103.3 MHz — 10 kW, Stereo Main station Rameshwaram 100.9 MHz — 20 KW Relay Nagercoil 101 MHz (LRS) — 10 kW Low Power Relay Station Ooty 101.8 MHz — 10 kW Kumbakonam 101.60 MHz (Relay) — 10 kW Thanjavur 101.2 MHz (Relay) — 100 W Tiruchirapalli 102.1 MHz (AIR FM Rainbow) 10 January 2001 10 kW, Stereo Tirunelveli 102.6 MHz — 10 kW Tirupattur (Vellore) 100.1 MHz (Relay) — 100 W Yercaud (Salem) 103.7 MHz (Dharmapuri FM Rainbow relay) — 100 W Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) 100.1 MHz — 1 KW Rameshwaram 100.1 MHz — 100 W Relay Bangalore 612 kHz — — AM Bengaluru (Vividha Bharati) 102.9 MHz — — Bangalore (Rainbow FM) 101.3 MHz — — Bhadravati 675 kHz — — AM Dharwad 765 kHz — — AM Dharwad FM 103.0 MHz — — Hassan 1107 kHz — — AM Kalaburagi 1107 kHz — — AM Mangaluru 1089 kHz — — AM Mangalore FM 100.3 MHz — — Madikeri FM 103.1 MHz — — Sringeri FM 101 MHz — — Hyderabad 738 kHz — — AM Hyderabad (FM Rainbow) 101.9 MHz — — Hyderabad (Vivida Bharati) 102.8 MHz — — Warangal 103.5 MHz — — Vijayawada 103.4 MHz — —
External services
The external services of All India Radio are broadcast in 27 languages to countries outside India via high-power shortwave radio transmissions. Mediumwave is also used to reach neighboring countries. In addition to language-specific broadcasts targeted at particular countries, there is a General Overseas Service that broadcasts in English, offering 8¼ hours of programming daily aimed at a general international audience.
The external broadcasts began on 1 October 1939, initiated by the British government to counter Nazi propaganda directed at the Afghan people. Initially, the broadcasts were in Pashto, targeting Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province. Over time, broadcasts expanded to include languages such as Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay, and French. Currently, the external services broadcast in 16 foreign languages and 11 Indian languages, with a total program output of 70¼ hours per day on medium and shortwave frequencies.