Evolution and Impact of All India Radio on Indian Broadcasting

Radio found its way into Indian homes long before television, smartphones, or the internet. For millions of people across the country – especially in villages and remote regions – it was not just a source of entertainment but the primary connection to the wider world. At the heart of this story is All India Radio (AIR), officially known as Akashvani, India’s national public radio broadcaster. Since its formal establishment in 1936, AIR has grown from a modest colonial-era service into one of the largest broadcasting networks on the planet. Its journey mirrors India’s own – from the struggle for independence to the challenges of building a modern, pluralistic democracy, and now, a full-scale leap into the digital era.

From radio clubs to a national broadcaster: the early years 🔗

Broadcasting in India did not begin with the government – it began with enthusiasts. According to Prasar Bharati, radio in India started in June 1923 when the Radio Club of Bombay made the country’s first-ever broadcast, followed soon after by the Calcutta Radio Club. On July 23, 1927, the privately-owned Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) was formally authorised to operate two stations in Bombay and Calcutta, marking the beginning of organised radio in the country.

The IBC, however, could not survive financially and went into liquidation in 1930. The government stepped in, launching the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) on an experimental basis under the Department of Industries and Labour. In August 1935, a senior BBC producer named Lionel Fielden was appointed as India’s first Controller of Broadcasting, and he brought significant professional structure to the service. As the Prasar Bharati website records, on June 8, 1936, the ISBS was renamed All India Radio, and the Central News Organisation was established in 1937 to manage news broadcasts.

Independence and the voice of a new nation 🔗

When India became independent in 1947, AIR had just six radio stations – in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli – reaching a mere 2.5% of the country’s geographic area and about 11% of its population. Yet the medium’s importance was already immense. It was through AIR that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic “Tryst with Destiny” speech was broadcast to the nation on the eve of independence. As Encyclopaedia Britannica notes, AIR also broadcast President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s declaration of the Emergency in 1975, and it served as the platform for election literacy campaigns during India’s first general elections in 1951-52.

In 1956, AIR formally adopted the name Akashvani – a Sanskrit word meaning “voice from the sky.” The name was reportedly suggested by poet Narendra Sharma, drawing from a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore for the inauguration of AIR’s shortwave service in Calcutta. It captured the almost ethereal quality of radio – a voice that arrived from nowhere yet spoke to everyone.

Programming that shaped a culture 🔗

AIR’s programming has never been limited to news bulletins. Over the decades, it built an extraordinarily diverse content ecosystem catering to audiences across social, linguistic, and educational divides.

Music and the arts 🔗

One of AIR’s most enduring contributions has been to Indian classical music. In 1952, Information and Broadcasting Minister Balakrishna Vishwanath Keskar actively promoted Indian classical music on the platform, founding the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan in 1954 – an annual event that provided eminent musicians like Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan, and Ahmed Jan Thirakwa a national stage. AIR thus became a key institution in preserving India’s classical music traditions and making them accessible to ordinary listeners.

In 1957, AIR launched Vividh Bharati, a dedicated entertainment channel to compete with the hugely popular Radio Ceylon. Vividh Bharati offers a wide range of programming including film music, short plays, comedy, and news, and remains one of the most widely listened-to services on the network, particularly in large cities.

Drama and literature 🔗

AIR’s Central Drama Unit (CDU) has been a quiet but significant patron of Indian literature and theatre. Since its inception in the 1960s, the CDU has produced over 1,500 plays, which are translated and broadcast in 22 Indian languages simultaneously across the network every month. Legendary playwrights like Habib Tanvir and P. L. Deshpande were associated with AIR in its early years, using radio drama to bring complex ideas to a mass audience.

News and current affairs 🔗

AIR’s News Services Division is among the most extensive news operations in Asia. It broadcasts around 647 news bulletins daily, amounting to nearly 56 hours of news programming every single day. AIR’s commitment to multilingual news – bulletins are available in 23 languages and 179 dialects – ensures that even communities with no access to print or digital media are kept informed.

AIR as a nation-building tool 🔗

Perhaps AIR’s most underappreciated role has been in building national unity and advancing development in post-independence India. A study by the Association for Asian Studies highlights how AIR contributed to nationhood across multiple dimensions: promoting cultural unity, supporting agricultural self-sufficiency, advancing literacy and education, and managing foreign relations through external broadcasts.

In rural India – where access to newspapers, television, and later the internet remained limited for decades – AIR was often the only reliable source of information. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, AIR was instrumental in spreading messages around literacy, health awareness, and agricultural knowledge to rural and urban audiences alike in the years following independence. Agricultural advice, weather updates, family planning awareness, and government welfare scheme announcements were all broadcast regularly to reach citizens who could not access other media.

AIR’s reach during national emergencies has also been critical. The broadcaster has provided vital emergency communications during natural disasters, including broadcasting crucial alerts during the 2014 Hudhud cyclone that devastated parts of Andhra Pradesh. In conflict zones and border areas, AIR has consistently served as a trusted, accessible source of verified information.

The external services division: India’s global voice 🔗

AIR’s influence has never been limited to domestic audiences. Its External Services Division broadcasts in 11 Indian and 16 foreign languages, reaching over 100 countries. The external service began as early as October 1, 1939, with a broadcast in Pashto – originally intended to counter German radio propaganda directed at Afghanistan and the Arab world. Today, these broadcasts promote Indian culture, connect with the Indian diaspora, and project the country’s perspective on global affairs.

Scale and reach: AIR by the numbers 🔗

The growth of AIR’s infrastructure since independence is staggering. From six stations in 1947, the network has expanded to 470 broadcasting centres across India, with programming in 23 languages and 179 dialects. AIR’s home service now covers nearly 92% of India’s geographic area and reaches 99.19% of its total population, making it one of the most extensive public broadcasting networks in the world in terms of geographic and demographic coverage.

The network spans Medium Wave (MW), Short Wave (SW), and FM frequencies. AIR currently operates 467 radio stations and 662 radio transmitters nationwide, including 140 MW, 48 SW, and 474 FM transmitters, forming a transmission infrastructure of remarkable scale.

Going digital: AIR in the modern era 🔗

Far from being a relic of the past, AIR has been actively modernising its infrastructure and expanding its digital footprint to reach new generations of listeners.

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) 🔗

The most significant technological upgrade underway at AIR is the adoption of the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard for digital terrestrial broadcasting. India’s adoption of the DRM standard provides digital radio coverage for over 900 million citizens. DRM allows a single frequency to carry multiple audio channels simultaneously, along with supplementary data like news headlines, song information, and emergency alerts – a major upgrade over conventional analog AM transmission.

Prasar Bharati has already introduced nonstop pure DRM transmissions in four major metro cities – Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai – with dedicated channels including AIR News 24×7 for news and current affairs, AIR Raagam 24×7 for classical music, and live sports broadcasts. The car industry in India has also aligned with this transition: leading manufacturers like Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki have started equipping new models with built-in DRM receivers.

NewsOnAir: radio meets the smartphone 🔗

For listeners who prefer their phones, AIR launched the NewsOnAir mobile application. AIR’s content is now accessible worldwide through the NewsOnAir app, podcasts, and official websites, effectively integrating traditional broadcasting with modern digital media. The app offers over 200 live radio streams, which have been accessed by more than 2.5 million users from different countries, giving Akashvani a genuinely global listener base.

Social media and the new listener 🔗

AIR’s News Service Division Social Media Cell, established in May 2013, actively disseminates content across platforms including websites, Twitter, Facebook, and SMS. This multiplatform approach means AIR is no longer just a broadcaster – it functions increasingly as a multimedia content publisher, keeping its content relevant across screen sizes and attention spans.

Akashvani: the name returns to the fore 🔗

In a symbolic move that reflects changing priorities, the Indian government issued an order in May 2023 directing that AIR be exclusively referred to as Akashvani in all broadcasts and programmes. The move reinforces the broadcaster’s Indian identity and cultural roots, aligning it with a name already in everyday use across regional language broadcasts. Whether listeners see it as a natural homecoming or a rebranding challenge in the age of global recognition under “AIR,” the name Akashvani carries deep historical weight – one chosen, after all, by Rabindranath Tagore himself.

A public broadcaster in the age of streaming 🔗

AIR operates under the twin mandate of its motto: Bahujan Hitaya, Bahujan Sukhaya – for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many. In an era dominated by algorithm-driven content platforms, this commitment to public service broadcasting remains both a strength and a challenge. AIR cannot cherry-pick high-value urban audiences; it is constitutionally required to serve everyone – the tribal farmer in Arunachal Pradesh listening to folk music in her dialect, the student in Patna tuning in for educational programming, and the Indian diaspora in the Gulf catching a Malayalam news bulletin.

AIR still retains the ability to reach 99% of the population – a figure that no private broadcaster, streaming service, or social media platform has come close to matching in India. That reach is not just a statistic; it is a reminder of what a well-resourced public broadcaster can accomplish when its mission is to serve the nation rather than maximise profit.

What do you think? As private streaming platforms and podcasts compete fiercely for listeners’ attention, does a public broadcaster like Akashvani still have a distinct and irreplaceable role in Indian society? And in a country as linguistically diverse as India, can any digital-only platform truly replicate what AIR does for communities whose languages and dialects remain outside the mainstream?

References

1. https://prasarbharati.gov.in/akashwani/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_India_Radio
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-India-Radio
4. https://www.iasexpress.net/all-india-radio-akashvani-background-evolution-significance/
5. https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/building-nationhood-through-broadcast-media-in-postcolonial-india/
6. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=151941&ModuleId=3
7. https://english.mediabharti.net/news/credibility-and-national-integration
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_in_India
9. https://www.drm.org/drm-digital-fm-radio-for-public-private-and-community-stations-a-real-need-for-india/
10. https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/digital-radio/digital-radio-mondiale-in-focus-in-india
11. https://www.gktoday.in/all-india-radio/
12. https://nenow.in/top-news/media-reports-on-closure-of-all-india-radio-stations-are-fake-news-prasar-bharati.html