|
Broadcasting
is the most powerful medium of mass communication. The importance of
All India Radio as a medium to inform, educate and entertain the masses
needs no emphasis in a developing country like India. As a public service
broadcaster AIR continues to contribute to the national building process
and socio-economic and cultural development of the nation. Thrust
Areas of Tenth Plan of AIR are:
The major thrust areas for AIR during the Tenth Plan are as under: · Medium Wave Broadcasting services to be retained at the present level. Expansion of Medium Wave services to be taken up only for strategic border areas and difficult hilly terrain. · FM radio to be expanded to achieve about 50 percent of the population coverage. · Digitalisation of about 50 percent production facilities to ensure good quality convergence-ready content, which will also support interactive radio. · To put AIR services on the Internet. · Creation
of high quality content with long shelf life, to enable AIR to fulfill
its role of Public Service Broadcaster effectively. |
|
A:
Developments, Activities & Initiatives:
A special
plan to expand radio coverage in the border areas of J&K is under implementation.
At Srinagar a 300 KW MW transmitter
has been installed in place of the existing 200 KW and at Kathua a 10 KW FM
transmitter has been provided in place of 6 KW. Relay stations have been set up at Naushera, Kupwara, Rajouri, Diskit, Khalsi, Nyomarap, Drass, Tiesuru and
Padum. At Kargil a 200 KW MW transmitter has been installed.
(2) Strengthening
of radio coverage in the North- Eastern Region:
·
Radio coverage in the North-East region is being expanded.
FM channels with stereo playback facilities have already been provided at
Shillong, Imphal, Agartala , Aizawl & Itanagar and is under installation
at Kohima.
·
Existing Uplink Facilities
have been upgraded to digital uplink systems at Guwahati, Itanagar & Shillong.
·
New Radio Stations are being provided at Longtherai and Dharmanagar
in Tripura.
·
The existing 100 KW MW Transmitter at Shillong has been replaced
by a new transmitter with state- of the- art
technology and 10 KW FM Transmitter at Jorhat is under replacement
·
North-East Package: Phase-I of the special package approved for expansion and improvement
of AIR services in the North-East & Island Territories has been implemented.
Phase-II of the special package awaits the approval of CCEA.
(3) Expansion of FM Services
In view of the superior quality of FM broadcasts it is gaining popularity
in the country. AIR has also therefore undertaken to expand its FM network to achieve about 50
percent population coverage after
the completion of ongoing Tenth plan.
(4) Staff quarters at Metros:
Proposal for construction
of 916 staff quarters at Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Kolkata for Prasar Bharati
staff has been approved recently by the Government.
(5) Digitalization of
programme production & transmission
facilities
(a)
New Broadcasting House, Delhi :
Studios equipped
with latest digital state-of-the-art technical facilities have been provided in the New Broadcasting House complex constructed
at Delhi for the External Services, News Services and Home Services.
Testing of equipment and training of the users on the state-of-the-art set
up is presently in progress.
(b)
New Stereo studio set up at AIR Leh:
New stereo
studio set up for Leh with music, drama, talk, transmission studios alongwith
dubbing & editing facilities has been planned. Construction of building is at a very advanced stage.
(c) Computer based recording, editing and playback
system
This system
has the advantage of high quality digital recording, reliability, facility
for linear as well as non-linear editing, non-deterioration of signal quality
with successive generation of sound dubbing. Such system has already been
provided at 76 stations. More stations are being provided with this system
in phases.
(d)
Digital Captive Earth Stations (uplinks)
Captive Earth
Stations with digital uplink capabilities are being provided in the AIR network.
6 such stations were provided at Kolkata, Trivendrum, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,
Bangalore and Bhopal during 2004-05
(e)
Digital Downlinks
Downlink
facilities are also being digitized in phases.
(f)
Digitalization of Sound Archives:
AIR’s Sound Archives has valuable recordings
of national leaders and great maestros. These analog tapes are being converted
into digital formats on Compact Discs to ensure the preservation of recorded
material. About 43,000 CD’s have been prepared.
(6) AIR News –on-Phone Service:
The listeners
can listen AIR’s News highlights on telephone in Hindi and English by just
dialing a specific telephone number at any time from anywhere in the world.
The service is now operational in five cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Chennai
& Hyderabad. It is planned to be introduced at 11 more stations.
(7) AIR’s Interactive Radio Service(IRS):
Through the
Interactive Radio Service, listeners can interact with the presenter of the
programme and can request playback of desired song which can be done instantly. The service has been introduced on FM stations
at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Vadodara, and Pondicherry.
|
This site is maintained by All India Radio. For help and enquiries, please e-mail. |