All India Radio - History

History

In British India, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of July 23, 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Bombay 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. Lionel Fielden was appointed as the first Controller of Broadcasting, who took over, from BBC. 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 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, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchi); the total number of radio sets at that time was about 275,000. 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 Madras, and was expanded during the 1990s.

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 means "celestial announcement"; the word, of Sanskrit origin, is often found in Hindu mythology. When the gods wished to say something, an akashvani occurred. Literally, akash means "sky" and vani means "sound" or "message". Thus, Akashwani seemed to be fit for use by a radio broadcaster and was later adopted by All India Radio after independence.