Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has inaugurated the Vividh Bharati Service in FM mode of All India Radio in Mumbai on March 17, 2015. He was accompanied by Actors Jackie Shroff and Vikram Gokhale. The Minister said that the All India Radio’s FM Service could cover the whole country in the next couple of years.
The Vividh Bharti Service continues to be available on short and medium waves. The FM Vividh Bharti channel is available on Akashwani at 102.8 MHz. This service will serve around two crore people in and around Mumbai.
The Minister has added that at present 40% of India is covered by the FM service and the government aspires to take the remaining 60% in the next two-two and a half years.
The officials conveyed that AIR is all set to inaugurate the launch of Vividh Bharati service in FM mode in other metros, which includes Delhi and Chennai. The Vividh Bharati service is already available in the FM mode in Kolkata.
Knowledge is Wealth
- The Vividh Bharati radio channel was launched on October 2, 1957. It was a popular channel of every household for more than 40 years.
- The Vividh Bharati Service was conceptualized to compete against Radio Ceylon.Â
- Radio Ceylon’s pre-cursor, Colombo Radio, was launched on 16 December 1925.Â
- Colombo radio was the first ever radio station in Asia and the second oldest radio station in the world.
- All India Radio was launched in 1930. It’s official name is Akashawani. The motto of AIR is Bahujan Hitaya Bahujan Sukhaya.Â