All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is one of the two divisions of Prasar Bharati. 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 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. Stamp of India - 1961 - Colnect 141804 - Silver Jubilee All India Radio - Radio Masts and Emblem

Stamp of India - 1961 - Colnect 141804 - Silver Jubilee All India Radio - Radio Masts and Emblem

History

Akashvani

When the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) was renamed to All India Radio,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

rechristened it Akashvani, ''the voice that comes over from the skies'', in a poem penned for the inauguration of

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 ...

'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 Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

. In 1956, ''Akashvani'' was adopted as All India Radio's on-air name. With its literal meaning in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

as "voice from the sky," the name was considered highly fitting for a broadcaster. The suggestion to use ''Akashvani'' came from the poet Pandit Narendra Sharma.

During the British Raj

Broadcasting commenced in June 1923 during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

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 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 ...

station, which began on 23 July 1927, and the

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 Magistrate, Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, Sir Sobha Singh , Member of the Legislative Assembly, M.L.C., Member of parliament, M.P. (March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder and real estate develo ...

On 1 October 1939, the External Service began with a broadcast in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

. It was intended to counter radio

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

from Germany directed at

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and Arab nations. The

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

station in Eastern India, in what is now

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, 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 for this station in 1942. 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 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 ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

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 ...

, and

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

. The three radio stations in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, and

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 Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. On 3 October 1957, the Vividh Bharati service was launched by All India Radio to compete with

Radio Ceylon Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...

. 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. Television broadcasting commenced in Delhi in 1959 under the aegis of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as ''

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

'' on 1 April 1976. FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in

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 ...

, and expanded during the 1990s. Deccan Radio (Nizam Radio 1932), the first radio station in the princely

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

(now

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 ...

), 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

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s. 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

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 Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM broadcasting, AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. Duri ...

and FM frequencies in each city. Some programmes broadcast on Vividh Bharati are: * '' Hawa-mahal'':

Radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

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.

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

, targeting Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province. Over time, broadcasts expanded to include languages such as

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

, Persian,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, 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. Two high-powered FM stations of All India Radio are being installed in Amritsar and Fazilka, Punjab, to complement the programs broadcast from transmitters in Jalandhar, New Delhi, Chandigarh, and Mumbai. These stations aim to improve broadcast services, particularly during unfavorable weather conditions, in the border regions of Punjab. Today, the External Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts 57 transmissions daily, offering nearly 72 hours of programming that reaches over 108 countries in 27 languages. Of these, 15 are foreign languages and 12 are Indian. The foreign languages include 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, Konkani, Kashmiri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The longest daily broadcast is the Urdu Service to Pakistan, which airs around the clock on DTH (

direct-broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

) and on short- and medium-wave for 12¼ hours. The English-language General Overseas Service is broadcast for 8¼ hours daily. During

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

, special broadcasts in Urdu are beamed to Saudi Arabia. Additionally, AIR is planning to produce programs in the Balochi language. The external services of All India Radio (AIR) are also broadcast to Europe in DRM (

Digital Radio Mondiale Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM; ''mondiale'' being Italian and French for "worldwide") is a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies designed to work over the bands currently used for analogue radio broadcasting including AM broadcasting—p ...

) on 9950 kHz between 17:45 and 22:30 UTC. These transmissions are delivered via high-power transmitters located in Aligarh, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Mumbai, and Panaji on shortwave, and from Jalandhar, Kolkata, Nagpur, Rajkot, and Tuticorin on mediumwave. All India Radio Amritsar plans to launch a booster service on the FM band. Some of these transmitters have a power output of 1000 kW (1 MW) or 500 kW. Programs are broadcast to various parts of the world, excluding the Americas, with very good reception quality in the target areas. Each language service includes news, commentary, press reviews, talks on general or cultural topics, feature programs, documentaries, and music from India and the target region. Most of these programs originate from New Broadcasting House on Parliament Street in New Delhi, with some originating from SPT Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Kolkata, HPT Malad Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, and Tuticorin. The External Services Division of All India Radio (AIR) serves as a vital link between India and the rest of the world, particularly in countries with significant

Indian diaspora Overseas Indians (ISO 15919, ISO: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are people of Indian descent who reside or originate outside of India (Including those that were directly under the British Raj). Acc ...

. It broadcasts India's perspective on national and international matters and showcases the Indian way of life through its programs. QSL cards, which are highly sought after by international radio hobbyists, are issued by AIR in New Delhi in response to reception reports of their broadcasts.

Direct-To-Home

Direct-to-home (DTH) service is a satellite broadcast service where a large number of radio channels are digitally transmitted over a territory from a high-power satellite. All India Radio broadcasts various national and regional stations, which can be accessed on DD Free Dish. The DTH signals can be received directly at homes using a small dish receiver unit, which includes a dish antenna installed on the rooftop or a wall facing clear south, with the receiver placed indoors. DTH service is offered on twenty one channels via Insat.

List of DTH channels

National

* Vividh Bharati – Hindi music radio * AIR FM Rainbow India – Hindi & English music radio * AIR FM Gold Delhi – Hindi classical music & news Radio * AIR Live News 24×7 – Hindi & English news radio * AIR Urdu – Urdu entertainment radio * AIR Hindi – Hindi entertainment radio * Raagam – Indian classical music radio * Gyan Vani – Hindi & English educational radio * Akashvani Aradhana – Hindi devotional radio

Regional

* AIR Andhra – Telugu * AIR Arunachal –

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 Nyishi * AIR Assam – Assamese * AIR Bihar – Hindi and Bhojpuri * AIR Chhattisgarh – Hindi and Chhattisgarhi * AIR Goa –

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

and Portuguese * AIR Gujarat – Gujarati * AIR Haryana – Hindi and Haryanvi * AIR Himachal –

* AIR Jammu – Dogri * AIR Jharkhand – Hindi * AIR Karnataka –

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

* AIR Kerala –

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

* AIR Ladakh – Ladakhi * AIR Maharashtra – Marathi * AIR Manipur – Manipuri * AIR Meghalaya – Khasi, Garo and English * AIR Mizoram – Mizo * AIR MP –

* AIR Nagaland – Nagamese and English * AIR North East – Hindi and English * AIR Odisha – Odia * AIR Port Blair – Hindi * AIR Puducherry –

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and French * AIR Punjab – Punjabi * AIR Rajasthan – Hindi and

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of Indic languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the state * Rajasthani architecture, Indian ar ...

* AIR Sikkim – Nepali * AIR Srinagar – Kashmiri and

* AIR Tamilnadu –

* AIR Telangana – Telugu * AIR Tripura – Bengali and

Kokborok Kokborok (or Tripuri) is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kók'' meaning "verbal" or "language" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or "human", It is one of the anci ...

* AIR UP –

* AIR Uttarakhand – Hindi * AIR Varanasi – Hindi * AIR West Bengal – Bengali

Online services

* AIR Live News * AIR Najibabad
Vividh Bharati

FM Gold Delhi

FM Rainbow Delhi
* AIR Urdu * Raagam * AIR Gujarati * AIR Marathi * AIR Punjabi * AIR Malayalam * AIR Tamil * AIR Telugu * AIR Kannada * AIR Bangla * AIR Jammu * AIR Odia * AIR Assamese * AIR North East * FM Tragopan Kohima * FM Rainbow Goa * AIR Shimla * AIR Bhuj * AIR Indore * AIR Mysuru * AIR Jodhpur * Amrutvarshini * Vividh Bharati Bengaluru * FM Rainbow Kannada Kaamaanbilu * AIR Bengaluru * Sun City FM Jodhpur * AIR Pune * AIR Rohtak * FM Rainbow Lucknow * AIR Jabalpur * AIR Bhopal * FM Rainbow Mumbai * FM Gold Mumbai * Samvadita Mumbai * AIR Aadilabad * AIR Jaipur * AIR Varanasi * AIR Raipur * AIR Sangli * AIR Rajkot * AIR Nagpur * AIR Prayagraj * AIR Patna * AIR Patiala * AIR Mhadei Panaji * AIR Gorakhpur * AIR Hassan * AIR Dehradun * AIR Solapur * AIR Kota * AIR Madurai * AIR Kolhapur * AIR Suratgarh
FM Rainbow Visakhapatnam
* AIR Kurnool * AIR Bikaner * AIR Kochi * AIR Calicut * AIR Mathura * AIR Agra * FM Rainbow Vijayawada * AIR Vijayawada * AIR Kannur * FM Ananthapuri * AIR Lucknow * AIR Mount Abu * AIR Dharwad * AIR Chandigarh * AIR Chitradurga * AIR Manjeri * AIR Aurangabad * AIR Surat * AIR Tirupati * AIR Kodaikanal * AIR Alwar

Other services

Digital Radio Mondiale

Details of the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmissions and frequencies are as follows: * 01:30–02:30 UTC on 11715 kHz Nepali (Nepal) * 03:15–04:15 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi (East Africa, Mauritius) * 04:15–04:30 UTC on 15185 kHz Gujarati (East Africa, Mauritius) * 04:30–05:30 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi (East Africa, Mauritius) * 13:00–15:00 UTC on 15050 kHz Sinhala (Sri Lanka) * 16:15–17:15 UTC on 15140 kHz Russian (Eastern Europe) * 22:45–00:45 UTC on 11645 GOS-I English (Northeast Asia) * 09:00–11:00 UTC on 6100 kHz Vividh Bharati, DRM NVIS * 17:45–19:65 UTC on 9950 kHz English (Western Europe) * 19:45–20:45 UTC on 9950 kHz Hindi (Western Europe) * 20:45–26:30 UTC on 9950 kHz English (Western Europe)

News-on-phone

All India Radio launched its news-on-phone service on 25 February 1998, in New Delhi. The service is now available in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, and Bangalore. It can be accessed through subscriber trunk dialing (STD), international direct dialing (ISD), and local calls. Plans are in place to expand the service to 11 additional cities, including Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ranchi, and Shimla. The service allows users to listen to live hourly news bulletins in English and Hindi. News in MP3 format can be directly played from the site, with filenames time-stamped for easy reference. All India Radio's news bulletins are available in nine regional languages: Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, North East languages, Punjabi, Telugu, and Urdu.

Documentaries

All India Radio (AIR) has a long tradition of broadcasting documentary features, which have garnered significant interest, particularly in countries like India, Iran, South Korea, and Malaysia. The most prominent broadcaster of English features was Melville de Mellow, while Shiv Sagar Mishra was renowned for his Hindi features. This format has been revived by AIR producers across India due to its flexibility, relatively low production cost, messaging potential, and creative possibilities.

Central Drama Unit

All India Radio's Central Drama Unit (CDU) is responsible for the national broadcast of plays. The plays produced by the CDU are translated and produced by regional stations. Since its inception in the 1960s, the unit has produced over 1,500 plays and maintains a repository of old scripts and productions. The National Programme of Plays, aired by the CDU, is broadcast on the fourth Thursday of each month at 9:30 pm. Each play in this program is produced in 22 Indian languages and broadcast simultaneously by all regional and national network stations. Additionally, the CDU produces Chain Plays, which are half-hour dramas broadcast in succession by a network of stations.

Social Media Cell

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

Gallery

File:AIR FM Tower Mangalore 0203.jpg, alt=White, multistory building with tall red-and-white tower in front, AIR tower in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

File:Akashvani Bhavan, Kolkata.jpg, alt=Massive, pinkish-gray building with columns, Akashvani Kolkata: the regional centre of Akashvani,

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. File:Akashvani Emblem - Akashvani Bhavan - Kolkata 2013-09-07 2122.JPG, Emblem of Akashvani at Akashvani Kolkata

References

External links

All India Radio Official web-site

{{Authority control International broadcasters Radio stations in India Hindi-language radio stations Tibetan-language radio stations Public radio Multilingual broadcasters Radio stations established in 1936 1936 establishments in India State media Radio broadcasting companies of India Radio stations in Assam

History

Akashvani

During the British Raj

After Independence

Domestic services

Vividh Bharati

Central Sales Unit

Other services

Regional services

External services

Direct-To-Home

List of DTH channels

National

Regional

Online services

Other services

Digital Radio Mondiale

News-on-phone

Documentaries

Central Drama Unit

Social Media Cell

Gallery

See also

References

External links