The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Full FM radio coverage in State in a phased manner: Dasmunsi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 12, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Full FM radio coverage in State in a phased manner: Dasmunsi

Staff Reporter

Union Government plans to set up eight transmission centres in Karnataka

GOLDEN MOMENTS: Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi (right) and Prasar Bharati Chairman M.V. Kamath releasing the compact disc versions of recorded concerts of maestros at the golden jubilee celebrations of AIR Bangalore, in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: All India Radio Bangalore, observed the golden jubilee of its founding on Wednesday evening with much nostalgia, though it is not the monarch of all that it surveyed on the news and views scene as was the case in 1955 with the advent of TV channels and also private broadcasters.

The primacy given to the radio those days is apparent from the fact that the AIR functions from a building opposite Raj Bhavan and close to the Vidhana Soudha. The building had been donated to the Government of India by the illustrious former Dewan of Mysore Sir Mirza Ismail who owned two adjacent bungalows on Cubbon Road (now the stretch is called Raj Bhavan Road).

It has been a sea change for AIR from the days of rigid control of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in those days (1955) of the puritanical Minister B.V. Keskar to partial autonomy under the present Prasar Bharati dispensation.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priyaranjan Dasmunsi was the chief guest and he announced that the Centre would make efforts to cover all the 27 districts of the State through FM radio in phases.

In his speech, he however said that the request for Kannada news telecast on Doordarshan's national channel on the lines of Tamil news being telecast would be considered only after looking into the pros and cons of such a measure.

He was responding to the request made by Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh at the gala function organised at the Jnanajyoti auditorium on the Central College premises. Mr. Dharam Singh also requested that all the districts in the State be covered under the FM radio extension programme. Mr. Dasmunsi said that the Centre wished to extend FM radio to the entire country. Its plans to set up eight FM transmission centres in the State to increase its reach had been making steady progress. The Centre would make efforts to cover all the 27 districts in a phased manner, he added.

Tracing the history of the evolution of AIR's Bangalore Kendra since November 2, 1955 "in compliance with the tradition set by the Mysore Akashavani" in the mid-1930s, Mr. Dasmunsi observed that Carnatic and Hindustani music shared a common platform only in the AIR stations in Karnataka.

Holding out on music, the Minister referred to the increasing influence of modern and musical instruments on the people. The number of artistes playing the traditional instruments was on the wane.

Welcoming the reported overwhelming response to the Bangalore Kendra's daily four hour classical music channel "Amritavarshini," Chairman of Prasar Bharati M.V. Kamath suggested to the authorities concerned to preserve the great tradition of Carnatic music in its channels irrespective of what kind society listened to it.

Chief Executive Officer of Prasara Bharati K.S. Sharma claimed that there had been a public demand to increase the duration of Amritavarshini programme from the existing four hours to eight hours. Amritavarshini was the only channel devoted to classical music by the AIR , he said.

Director-General of AIR Brijeshwar Singh welcomed the gathering. Deputy Director-General (Southern Region) and Director of the Bangalore Kendra H.R. Krishnamurthy were present.

The compact disc versions of recorded concerts of the violin maestro Mysore T. Chowdaiah, Hindustani vocal legend Kumara Gandharva, noted Carnatic vocalists T. Brinda and T. Mukta and the Nadaswaram maestro of yesteryear T. Rajarathnam Pillai and selected numbers from Sugama sangeeta were released on the occasion.

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