Race over the Frequency

Indian Radio History

In British India, broadcasting began in July 1923 with programmes by the Radio Club of Bombay and other radio clubs. According to an agreement of 23 July 1927, the private Indian Broadcasting Company LTD (IBC) was authorized to operate two radio stations; the Bombay station began on 23 July 1927, and the Calcutta station followed on 26 August 1927. On 1 March 1930, however, 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 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. When India became independent in 1947, the AIR network had only six stations (in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Chennai, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli); the total number of radio sets at that time was about 275,000. 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.

The word "Akashvani" was coined 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 means "celestial announcement"; the word, of Sanskrit origin, is often found in Hindu mythology. When the gods wished to say something, an akashvani occurred. Literally, akash means "sky" and vani means "sound" or "message". Thus, Akashvani seemed to be fit for use by a radio broadcaster and was later adopted as All India Radio's on-air name after independence.

 

Focus on Tamil-Nadu

Radio stations that broadcast in the Tamil language are found primarily in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Canada as well as other parts of the world containing a significant Tamil diaspora population.But race for frequency has recently started about a decades putting down the old AIR down and attracting listeners with new ideas and information 

Key Players in Tamil radio Industry

1.Suryan FM (93.5 FM) (Chennai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Pondicherry).

Sun TV Network owns two Radio brands: Suryan FM in Tamil Nadu and for other territories Red FM. Sun is one of the largest Radio broadcasters in India and Tamil's first private FM stations

 

 

2.Radio Mirchi (98.3 FM) (Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai)

Radio Mirchi is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group. The tagline of Radio Mirchi is "Idhu semmma hot machchi ,It's hot!".

 

3.Hello FM (106.4 FM) (Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin)

Hello FM (106.4 MHz) is one of the private radio stations operating from different locations in Tamil Nadu. It is owned by Malar publications, Chennai. It is licensed to use the FM band frequency 106.4 MHz. It started in 2006 broadcasting from Chennai and Coimbatore. Later, in 2007 it expanded its broadcast to other cities in Tamil Nadu such as Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and to the union territory of Puducherry.

4.Radio City (91.1 FM) (Chennai, Coimbatore)
5.Aahaa FM (91.9 FM) (Chennai)
6.Big FM (92.7 FM) (Chennai)
7.Radio One (94.3 FM) (English) (Chennai)