All India Radio - Wikipedia All India Radio For the electronic band, see All India Radio ( band ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( July 2012 ) All India Radio Type Government Organisation Country India Availability National Motto Bahujanahitaya Bahujanasukhaya / बहुजनहिताय बहुजनसुखाय Headquarters Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110001, India, Owner Prasar Bharati Launch date 1 March 1930 Webcast GIR. fm - Delhi, GIR. fm - Kolkata Official website All India Radio, www.newsonair.nic.in AIR headquarters in New Delhi All India Radio ( AIR ), officially known since 1956 as Ākāshvāṇī ( `` Voice from the Sky '' ), is the national public radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1930, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati 's Doordarshan, the national public television broadcaster. AIR has covered more than 99 % of the Indian population as per the latest information given by Minister of Information and Broadcast. All India Radio is the largest radio network in the world. Its headquarters is at the Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi. Akashvani Bhavan houses the Drama Section, the FM Section and the National Service. Akashvani Bhavan hosts Doordarshan Kendra ( Delhi ). Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Domestic services 3.1 Vividh Bharati 3.2 Baluchi Programme on AIR 3.3 Other services include 3.4 Regional services 4 External services 5 Direct - To - Home service ( DTH ) 5.1 DTH Channels List 6 Other services 6.1 Digital Radio Mondiale ( DRM ) 6.2 News - on - phone service 6.3 Documentaries 6.4 Central Drama Unit 6.5 Social Media Cell 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Etymology Main article : Akashvani ( term ) Ākāśavāni ( आकाशवाणी ) is a Sanskrit word meaning `` celestial announcement, '' or `` voice from the sky / heaven ''. In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist holy traditions, Akashvanis often featured in stories as a medium of communication from the heavens to mankind. `` Akashvani '' was first used in the context of radio by M.V. Gopalaswamy after setting up the nation 's first private radio station in his residence, `` Vittal Vihar '' ( about 200 yards from AIR 's current location in Mysore ) in 1936. Akashvani seemed to be an appropriate name for a radio broadcaster and was later adopted as All India Radio 's on - air name in 1957. History During the British Raj, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the Bombay Presidency Radio Club and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of 23 July 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD ( IBC ) was authorised to operate two radio stations ; the Bombay station began on 23 July 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August 1927. However, on 1 March 1930, the company went into liquidation. The government took over the broadcasting facilities, beginning the Indian State Broadcasting Service ( ISBS ) on 1 April 1930 on an experimental basis for two years, and then permanently in May 1932. On 8 June 1936, the ISBS was renamed All India Radio. On 1 October 1939, the External Service began with a broadcast in Pushtu ; it was intended to counter radio propaganda from Germany directed to Afghanistan, Iran and the Arab nations. 1939 also saw the opening of the Dhaka station of eastern India, in what is now Bangladesh. This station catered and nurtured the pioneers of Bengali intellectuals. The foremost among them, Natyaguru Nurul Momen, became the trailblazer of talk - show in 1939. In 1942 he wrote and directed the first modern radio - play of this station. When India became independent in 1947, the AIR network had only six stations ( in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli ) ; three radio stations at Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi fell in the share of Pakistan. The total number of radio sets at that time was about 275,000 in India. On 3 October 1957, the Vividh Bharati Service was launched, to compete with Radio Ceylon. Television broadcasting began in Delhi in 1959 as part of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as Doordarshan on 1 April 1976. FM broadcasting began on 23 July 1977 in Chennai, and was expanded during the 1990s. Domestic services AIR tower in Mangalore, Karnataka Kolkata Centre of All India Radio AIR has many services in a number of languages, each serving different regions across India. Vividh Bharati Vividh Bharati is one of the best - known services of AIR. Its name roughly translates as `` Diverse Indian '', and it is also known as the Commercial Broadcasting Service ( CBS ). It is the commercially most accessible of the AIR networks and is popular in Mumbai and other large cities. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programmes including news, film music and comedy programs. It operates on different medium wave - band frequencies for each city. Some programs broadcast on Vividh Bharati are : Hawa - mahal : Radio plays based on novels and plays Santogen ki mehfil : Comedy Baluchi Programme on AIR AIR is planning to produce programmes in the Baluchi language, sources claim. Other services include Primary Channel National Channel Regional services The headquarters of the Regional Deputy Directors General are located at Delhi and Chandigarh ( NR ), Lucknow and Bhopal ( CR ), Guwahati ( NER ), Kolkata ( ER ), Mumbai and Ahmedabad ( WR ), Chennai and Bangalore ( SR ). All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise noted. Northern regional service City Frequency City Frequency City Frequency Agra 1530 Ajmer 603 Allahabad 1026 Almora 999 Barmer 1458 Bikaner 1395 chairhara ( budgam ) 1485 srinagar 819 srinagar 666 Delhi C ( Vividh Bharti ) ( विविध भारती ) 1368 Delhi D ( Yuv - vani ) ( युव वाणी ) 1017 Delhi ( National Channel ) 1215 Diskit 1602 Faizabad 1485 Gorakhpur 909 Jaipur A 1476 Jalandhar A 837 Jalandhar B 702 Jammu A 990 Jodhpur A 531 Kalpa ( Kinnaur ) 1584 Kargil A 684 Kargil B 1584 Khalsi 1485 Kota 1413 Kupwara 1350 Leh 1053 Lucknow A 747 Lucknow C 1278 Mathura 1584 Najibabad 954 Naushera 1089 Nyoma 1485 Padam 1589 Pauri 1602 Pithoragarh 1602 Rampur 895 Rohtak 1143 Shimla 774 budgam 1116 budgamA 1224 srinagar C 918 Tiesuru 1602 Udaipur 1125 Uttarkashi 1602 Varanasi A 1242 Sawai Madhopur 101.5 Raebareli 102.8 Northeast regional service City Frequency City Frequency Agartala 1269 Guwahati A 729 Shillong 864 Imphal 822 Eastern regional service City Frequency City Frequency Bhagalpur 1458, 1206 Chinsurah ( Kolkata A, 1 MW ) 594 & 1134 Akashvani Maitree Cuttack A 972 Darbhanga 1296 Jamshedpur 1544 Kolkata A 657 Kolkata B 1008 Kolkata C ( Vividh Bharati ) 1323 Patna A 621 Ranchi A 549 Muzaffarpur A 100.1 MHz Muzaffarpur B 106.4 MHz Kolkata ( FM Rainbow ) 107 Kolkata ( FM Gold ) 100.2 Kurseong 1440KHz Siliguri 711 Khz Mysore 100.06 Western regional service City Frequency City Frequency Ahmedabad A 846 Aurangabad 1521 Bhopal A 1593 Chhindwara 102.2 MHz Chhatarpur 675 Gwalior 1386 Indore A 648 Jalgaon 963 Mumbai A 1044 Mumbai B ( Asmita Marathi Programme ) 558 Mumbai C ( Vividh Bharati ) 1188 Nagpur A 585 Nagpur B ( National Channel, 1 MW ) 1566 Panaji A 1287 Panaji B ( Vividh Bharati ) 828 Pune A 792 Rajkot A 810 Ratnagiri 1143 Solapur 1602 Sangli 1251 Parbhani A 102.0 External services The external services of All India Radio broadcast in 27 languages to countries outside India -- primarily via high - power shortwave band broadcasts, although medium wave is also used to reach neighbouring countries. In addition to broadcasts targeted at specific countries by language, there is a General Overseas Service broadcasting in English with 81⁄4 hours of programming each day aimed at a general international audience. The external broadcasts were begun on 1 October 1939 by the British government to counter the propaganda of the Nazis directed at the Afghan people. The first broadcasts were in Pushto, beamed to Afghanistan and the North - West Frontier Province. Soon broadcasts began in other languages including Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay and French. The external services broadcast in sixteen foreign and eleven Indian languages, with a total programme output of 701⁄4 hours per day on medium - and shortwave frequencies. External service transmitter sites Location Number of transmitters kW Frequency DRM ! Aligarh ( HPT ) 250 Bengaluru ( SPT ) 6 500 100 kW Chennai ( Madras ) 100 720 kHz MW Gorakhpur 50 Guwahati 50 Jalandhar ( Goraya ) 300 702 kHz MW Khampur - Delhi ( HPT ) 7 250 Khampur - Delhi ( SPT ) 500 Kingsway - Delhi 50 Kingsway - Delhi 100 Kolkata - Chinsurah / Mogra ( SPT ) 1000 1134 kHz and 594 kHz ( Kolkata - A ) 1142 KHZMW Mumbai ( Malad ) 100 Nagpur ( SPT ) 1000 1566 kHz MW Panaji ( HPT ) 250 Rajkot ( SPT ) 1000 1071 kHz AIR URDU 1080 kHz ( 2 MegaWatt ) Vividha Bharti Tuticorin 200 1053 kHz MW Two high powered FM stations of All India Radio are under installation in Amritsar and Fazilka in Punjab to supplement the programs put out from transmitters operating from Jalandhar, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai and to improve the broadcast services during disturbed weather conditions in the border regions of Punjab. Today, the External Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts daily in 57 transmissions with almost 72 hours covering over 108 countries in 27 languages, out of which 15 are foreign and 12 Indian. The foreign languages are 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, Kokani, Kashmiri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The longest daily broadcast is the Urdu Service to Pakistan, around the clock on DTH and on short - and mediumwave for 121⁄4 hrs. The English - language General Overseas Service are broadcast 81⁄4 hours daily. During Hajj, there are special broadcasts beamed to Saudi Arabia in Urdu. The external services of AIR are also broadcast to Europe in DRM ( Digital Radio Mondiale ) on 9950 kHz between 1745 - 2230 UTC. The transmissions are broadcast by high - power transmitters located at Aligarh, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Mumbai and Panaji on shortwave and from Jalandhar, Kolkata, Nagpur, Rajkot and Tuticorin on mediumwave. Soon All India Radio Amritsar will start a booster service on FM band too. Some of these transmitters are 1000 kW ( 1 MW ) or 500 kW. Programs are beamed to different parts of the world except the Americas and received in very good Reception Quality in the Target areas. In each language service, the program consists of news, commentary, a press review, talks on matters of general or cultural interest, feature programmes, documentaries and music from India and the target region. Most programs originate at New Broadcasting House on Parliament Street in New Delhi, with a few originating at SPT Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Kolkata, HPT Malad Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Tuticorin. The External Services Division of AIR is a link between India and rest of the world, especially in countries with Indian emigrants and people of Indian origin. It broadcasts the Indian point of view on matters of national and international importance, and demonstrates the Indian way of life through its programs. QSL cards ( which are sought - after by international radio hobbyists ) are issued to radio hobbyists by AIR in New Delhi for reception reports of their broadcasts. Direct - to - home Service ( DTH ) Direct - to - home service is the one in which a large number of channels are digitally compressed, encrypted, uplinked and beamed down over a territory from a very high power satellite. The DTH signals can be received directly at homes with the help of a small sized dish receive unit containing a Dish Antenna installed at the building 's roof - top or on the wall facing clear south and one indoor. DTH service is offered on 21 channels via Insat. DTH Channels List AIR Agartala - Bengali & Kokborok AIR Aizawl - Mizo AIR Assamese AIR Bangla AIR Bhopal - Hindi AIR FM Gold Chennai - Tamil, Hindi & English AIR FM Gold Delhi - Hindi & English AIR FM Gold Kolkata - Bengali, Hindi & English AIR FM Gold Mumbai - Hindi, Marathi & Gujarati AIR FM Rainbow Bangalore - Kannada, Hindi & English AIR FM Rainbow Chennai - Tamil & English AIR FM Rainbow India - Hindi & English AIR FM Rainbow Kolkata - Bengali, Hindi & English AIR FM Rainbow Mumbai - Hindi, English & Marathi AIR Gujarati AIR Hindi AIR Imphal - Manipuri AIR Itanagar - Nyishi, Hindi & English AIR Jaipur - Hindi & Rajasthani AIR Kannada AIR Kohima - Nagamese, Hindi & English AIR Lucknow - Hindi & Urdu AIR Malayalam AIR Marathi AIR National - Hindi & English AIR North - East - Hindi & English AIR Odia AIR Patna - Hindi, Urdu & Bihari AIR Punjabi AIR Rohtak - Hindi & Haryanvi AIR Shimla - Hindi & Himachali AIR Tamil AIR Telugu AIR Urdu AIR Varanasi - Hindi & Urdu AIR Vijayawada - Telugu Raagam - Indian Classical Music Radio Kashmir Jammu - Dogri, Urdu & Hindi Radio Kashmir Srinagar - Kashmiri, Urdu & Hindi Vividh Bharati - Hindi Other services Digital Radio Mondiale ( DRM ) Details of the transmissions and frequencies are as follows : 0130 - 0230 UTC on 11715 kHz Nepali ( Nepal ) 0315 - 0415 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi, ( E. Africa, Mauritius ) 0415 - 0430 UTC on 15185 kHz Gujarati, ( E. Africa, Mauritius ) 0430 - 0530 UTC on 15185 kHz Hindi ( E. Africa, Mauritius ) 1300 - 1500 UTC on 15050 kHz Sinhala ( Sri Lanka ) 1615 - 1715 UTC on 15140 kHz Russian ( E. Europe ) 2245 - 0045 UTC on 11645 GOS - I English ( NE Asia ) Above transmissions are in addition to following existing DRM txn 's : 0900 - 1200 on 6100 Vividh Bharati, DRM NVIS 1745 - 1945 UTC on 9950 English W. Europe ) 1945 - 2045 UTC on 9950 Hindi ( W. Europe ) 2045 - 2230 UTC on 9950 English ( W. Europe ) News - on - phone Service All India Radio launched news - on - phone service on 25 February 1998 in New Delhi ; it now has service in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna and Bangalore. The service is accessible through STD, ISD and local calls. There are plans to establish the service in 11 more cities : Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ranchi, Shimla and Thiruvananthapuram. English and Hindi hourly news bulletins may be heard live. News in MP3 format may be directly played from the site, and filenames are time - stamped. AIR news bulletins are available in nine regional languages ( Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, North East, Punjabi, Telugu and Urdu ). Documentaries There is a long tradition of documentary features on AIR. There is great interest in radio documentaries, particularly in countries like India, Iran, South Korea and Malaysia. The doyen of English Features was Melville De Mellow and of Hindi Features was Shiv Sagar Mishra. This format has been revived because of its flexibility, cost - cutting capacity, messaging potential and creative potential with producers employed with AIR, all across the nation. Central Drama unit AIR 's Central Drama Unit is responsible for the national broadcast of plays. Plays produced by the CDU are translated and produced by regional stations. Since its inception in the 1960s the unit has produced more than 1,500 plays, and the CDU is a repository of old scripts and productions. The National Programme of Plays is broadcast by the CDU of AIR the fourth Thursday of each month at 9.30 pm. On the National Programme of Plays, the same play is produced in 22 Indian languages and broadcast at the same time by all regional and national network stations. The CDU also produces Chain Plays, half - hour dramas broadcast in succession by a chain of stations. Social media Cell News Service Division 's Social Media Cell is responsible for providing AIR news on new media platforms viz. websites, Twitter, Facebook and SMS. Social Media Cell was established on 20 May 2013. See also Telecommunication portal India portal Vividh Bharati AIR FM Rainbow AIR FM Gold 106.4 FM Radio Gold Telugu Radio Radio Kashmir Telecommunications in India References Jump up ^ `` Mission Of AIR ''. ^ Jump up to : `` Milestones of AIR ( official website ) ''. All India Radio. Retrieved 13 January 2013. Jump up ^ `` Mysore Akashavani is now 75 years old ''. Business Standard. Jump up ^ `` AIR Manual, Chapter 1 : History of All India Radio '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 17 September 2010. Jump up ^ `` Milestones of AIR ''. All India Radio. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Jump up ^ http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/all-india-radio-to-revamp-baluchi-language-programme-116083101302_1.html Jump up ^ http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Services/Primary+Channel+Services Jump up ^ `` National Channel ''. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2014. Jump up ^ `` All India Radio ''. Know India. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` DD Free Dish ( DTH ) ''. www.ddindia.gov.in. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Prasar Bharati ''. Retrieved 17 October 2011. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to All India Radio. Look up Akashvani in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 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Question: who suggested the name 'akashvani' for all india radio
Answer: M. V. Gopalaswamy