AIR FM Rainbow is a group of FM radio channels across

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The group of stations was previously called FM Metro, but the name was changed to FM Rainbow in 2002. The group is run by

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

, or AIR, a government owned enterprise. It features

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and regional language songs, while also playing English music and providing hourly news in English,

regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...

and/or

. In Bhopal, FM Rainbow broadcasts in Hindi to more than 12 districts of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and 21 Bhopal City suburbs. AIR FM Rainbow

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

airs in as many as ten cities, more than any of the other FM Rainbow frequencies.

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, Vizag,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

, Kakinada,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

and

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

all receive FM Rainbow transmissions on a variety of frequencies. Rainbow stations are widely accessible due not only to their strong FM signals that carry transmissions to numerous villages in addition to urban areas, but also to FM Rainbow's commitment to providing diverse programming. Rainbow FM stations plays ghazals, soundtracks, and a variety of programs featuring Western music, both

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. Some such programs are "Time Out," "Take Off," "Footloose," and "Wicked Hour." FM Rainbow's variety of programming is unique for an Indian radio station, yet almost all the

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s (locally known as " radio jockeys," or RJs) on private Indian FM stations got their start at FM Rainbow. Programming is provided on a rotating schedule, accessible from the All India Radio website, along with the frequencies available in different regions. FM Rainbow channels are also available to tune in from Prasar Bharati DTH channels across the country for listeners outside the bandwidth.

History

AIR launched the FM Rainbow channel on 01.02.1993. This was a channel to cater primarily to the young listener on the move. The Radio Jockey (RJ) replaced the Announcer. The presentation style became fast-paced and informal to suit the changing listener profile. The vibrant programming and quality reception caught the imagination of the youngsters and allured them to come closer to their radio. In its round the clock broadcast, radio listeners were served with a varied menu of new formats of entertainment. Now Air RAINBOW served with a varied menu of new formats of entertainment. At present AIR has 206 FM transmitters across the country, by which it covers 24.94% of the area and 36.81% of the population of the country. FM Rainbow is originated from 17 centers, at

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, Bangalore-Kannada Kamanabilu,

, Panaji,

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

, Kodaikanal, Tiruchirapalli,

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

, Vishakhapatnam, Puducherry,

, Goa and Tirunelveli. AIR Delhi Rainbow is relayed fully from Mussorie,

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

, Kasauli, Kurseong,

Leh Leh () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...

, Aurangabad,

, Cherrapunji and Shillong and partly from

, Bhadrava, Poonch, Rajauri, Naushera, RK

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

, RK Jammu, Jhansi, Dharamshala, and

Bhatinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda district. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa Region, west of the capital city o ...

. The programming of FM Rainbow includes Pop music, Film songs, Classical & Devotional music, News Headlines, informal chat shows, phone-in programmes etc. AIR FM Rainbow commands an impressive listening and holds its own among private FM Channels. The channel currently also runs in top 25 countries which includes European countries France, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands and Germany, neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal to West Asian countries Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

News bulletins on FM ‘Rainbow’ channel

The News Services Division is putting out news headlines on FM ‘Rainbow’ channel from Delhi from 28 May 1995. Twenty four news headline bulletins on FM ‘Rainbow’ are broadcast round-the-clock from Delhi. The duration of each headline FM ‘Rainbow’ bulletin from Delhi is one minute approx. At present 22 AIR stations are broadcasting FM Headlines.

FM Rainbow India

AIR FM Rainbow India was formerly known as AIR FM Rainbow Delhi. It was rebranded with new look targeting audience of not only

but also entire

. It also changed its programming pattern & presentation also. Main genres of programmes are

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

music and Western music. It airs total 4 hours of Western music. Besides this it airs Music shows, Request shows, Interviews & Information programmes in Hindi with Filmi Music. AIR FM Rainbow India Headlines are broadcast every hour at starting of programme according to its language i.e. Hindi or English. After rebranded as AIR FM Rainbow India, it started a new programme called Good Morning India which airs at 07:00 am to 09:00 am. It includes News, Interviews, Health, Programme Summary with upbeat Filmi Music targeting all Indian audiences.

Programmes

Hindi

* Good Morning India 7:00am(tue) RJs Satya and Chitra * Hotline 10:00am * Bollywood trails 11:00am(mon-sat) rj nikhil barma * Aashiyana 1:00pm(tue)RJ Tapasaya * On Air Mehmaan rj santosh rao 10am * Bindass Bol (Friday)3:00pm rj priti mohan * Helpline(mon-fri) rj bharti dang 3.00pm rajshree trivedi * Parwaaz Hai Kaam Tera 4:00pm * Citylights 5:00pm * Message Masala Mix 7:00pm (sun-thurs)RJ Sujata * Party time 8:00pm * Aradhana

English

* Play It Cool * Matchless Music Hour *Breakfree

FM Rainbow Mumbai

FM Rainbow Mumbai is an FM radio station run by All India Radio Mumbai. It is music radio channel. It is available on 107.1 MHz frequency & also it can be tunned through DTH services. Programmes are mainly Music show hosted by RJs. Main languages of shows are

, English & Marathi. Morning slot is of Marathi songs 05:00 am to 08:00 am. In this slot, there is a feast of Golden Marathi Religious & Classic songs. English slots are reserved for Western music. Other than this there is Hindi slot between 11:00 am to 04:00 pm at Noon & 07:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

songs are showcased in this slot. AIR FM Rainbow Headlines are broadcast at the start of every hour's programme. A famous show Celebrating Life with FM Rainbow is also aired on every Friday at 07:00 pm which is an interview of famous personality.

FM Rainbow Lucknow

AIR FM Rainbow Lucknow is an FM radio station run by All India Radio Lucknow. It is available on 100.7 MHz frequency. AIR FM Lucknow made its debut on 20 August 2000 at 1900 hours with Rashi Badalia (now K Rashi Badalia Kumar) as its first Radio Jockey/Presenter with her signature announcement "Wherever you are and whatever you do, your audio aids are tuned into AIR FM Hundred point Seven Megahertz" on its first show Pop Time.The first song that went on air was 'My heart is beating' from the film Julie. Rajiv Saxena, Programme Executive, Delhi & Vijay Deepak Chibbar, Programme Executive, Mumbai were the two senior broadcasters who facilitated launch of the channel in Lucknow. It was formally inaugurated by Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley in Lucknow. Dr Satish Grover was the Station Director & Satyendra Singh was the FM Programme Executive at the time of the launch. A few famous shows which ran on AIR FM Rainbow over the years are Pop Time, Hullo FM, Mera Wala 10, Old Melodies & FM Top 10. Rajiv Saxena was the host of Hullo FM & Old Melodies in the initial days.

FM Rainbow Bengaluru

FM Rainbow Chennai

* Network Neram

FM Rainbow Tiruchirappalli

* Vanna Kolangal * SMS-il Iniya Geethangal * Vasantha Azhaippu * Masala Mix * Kadhamba Malargal * Thitthikkum Thenmalai * Idhaya Ragam * Mathura Geetham * Paatu Thaan * Mangaiyer Ulagam

References

Radio stations in Kolkata

External links

All India Radio's official site
{{coord missing, Telangana All India Radio Hindi-language radio stations Telugu-language radio stations Tamil-language radio stations Radio stations in Hyderabad Radio stations in Vijayawada Radio stations in Tiruchirappalli