The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Akashvani goes the `radio' way, renames stations

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Thursday, Apr 07, 2005

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Other States - Rajasthan

Akashvani goes the `radio' way, renames stations

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, APRIL 6. Competition from private radio stations is forcing good old All India Radio(AIR) to introduce new names and content. To start with, it has renamed all 16 radio stations in Rajasthan with more catchy names reflective of the character and history of the place of transmission.

They may not be as hot as "Radio Mirchi'' but the new identities, one should say, are imaginative and sensible like "Radio Amer''-- the new name for "Akashvani Jaipur''-- and "Radio Lake City''( for Akashvani Udaipur). The FM Radio in Jaipur will now be known as "FM Radio Pink City''.

No, the mandarins in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry did not name the Sawai Madhopur radio station as "Radio Tiger'' though they almost got near there with "Radio Ranthambhore,'' naming it after the Project Tiger National Park there. The radio station in the border town of Suratgarh is Radio Cotton City, to signify the cotton farming in the area.

Predictably the radio station in the western Rajasthan town of Jodhpur is "Radio Sun City'' while Bikaner's radio channel has been named after the legendary lovers of the desert, Dhola Maru.

"Rajasthan is the first to change the names of all radio stations to give them a new identity. Like the Delhi AIR station which has been re-named Indraprastha Radio, we also took into consideration the historical and cultural background of the areas concerned while re-christening them,'' said Dharampal Malick, station director, Akashvani Jaipur, now Radio Amer.

Addressing media persons here in connection with the golden jubilee celebrations of "Akashvani Jaipur'', Mr. Malick said all 16 radio stations together covered 99 per cent of the population and 91.6 per cent of the land area in Rajasthan.

AIR stations in Rajasthan were heard abroad as well as in the border areas, he informed.

The AIR station in Jaipur, set up on April 9, 1955 has an excellent track record.

It has won as many as 23 national and international awards in excellence during the past 50 years, Mr. Malick informed his audience.

The station library has a collection of 13,500 tapes of which 800 were being made available on CD, he added.

The station engineer, O.K. Sharma said that Jaipur AIR on Mirza Ismail Road would soon have a new building on the same premises to be built at a cost of Rs.11 crore.

The building would be the first after Delhi AIR station to have fully digitalized equipment in the country, he said.

The celebration programme whichis scheduled to be attended by the Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Navin B. Chawla; the Director-General, Doordarshan, Navin Kumar; and Director-General, Akashvani, Brajeshwar Singh, includes felicitation of 16 eminent persons from various walks of life who have in the past been associated with AIR Jaipur.

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