India 2018

Mass Communication 423
At present AIR has 421 FM transmitters across the country, by which it
covers 34 per cent of the area and 47 per cent of the population of the
country. Out of these, FM Rainbow channel is available at 23 places i.e.,
Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Panaji, Jalandhar,
Kanpur, Kochi, Puducherry, Shillong, Kasauli, Cuttack, Kodaikanal,
Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Raibareily, Jammu,
Srinagar and Vijayawada. Besides this, Delhi Rainbow is also relayed fully
from Mussorie, Aligarh, and partly from Dharamshala, and Bhatinda. The
FM channel includes pop music, film songs, and classical and devotional
music, news headlines, etc.
FM Gold
FM Gold channel was on air in September 1, 2001 at Delhi as a niche
infotainment channel with 30 per cent of news and current affairs component
and 70 per cent of entertainment programming. At present, FM Gold
channel is available daily round the clock. FM Gold channel is available at
five places four metros i.e., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Ludhiana.
This additional channel gave its listeners an option to choose between the
two, besides listening to other parallel running AIR and private FM stations
in the area. This channel is trying to provide information interlinked with
entertainment and brings information updates on traffic, airlines, railways,
weather, etc.
DTH Service
DTH Radio Channel is a satellite service meant for the listeners, who own
a TVset. The Service is available through the DTH platform of Prasar Bharati
with uplinking facilities at Todapur, Delhi. It is not a terrestrial broadcast
service and its programmes cannot be tuned in through the ordinary radio
receiver sets. It is a 24 hour service broadcast digitally. The programming is
planned in such a way that the repetitions are kept at a minimum.
Vividh Bharati
The popular Vividh Bharati Service provides entertainment for 15 hours a
day from 41 CBS-VB centres. Beside this, Vividh Bharati Service is also
relayed through 65 Local Radio Stations and 100 watt FM transmitters
located across the country.
News Services Division
The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio has been expanding
its presence across various domains with the aim of reaching diverse cross
section of people. The News Services Division has substantially increased its
presence on the social media and crossed major milestones in reaching out
audiences far and wide.
NSD’s 46 Regional News Units (RNUs) play a vital role to cater to the
information needs of the people. RNUs make bulletins and programmes in