Listening to your favorite songs in Radio, how does it feel, I guess a beautiful smile on your faces is the answer. But on a shattering note, the Public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati due to funding issue has decided to close their All India Radio’s national channel along with its regional training centers in 5 cities of India including Lucknow, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Shillong.

We will be launching a 24×7 News Service soon. Team @airnewsalerts has been tasked with it. Future growth of @AkashvaniAIR will continue on FM and Digital. https://t.co/eDdBBv6OPp

— Shashi Shekhar (@shashidigital) January 6, 2019

According to the order, “The programme, technical, ministerial and other staff posted at National Channel in Todapur and Nagpur etc, apart from those working at Regional Academies of Broadcasting and Multimedia in five cities, may be posted as per the requirement of the organization.” this was decided in All India Radio director general on December 24, 2018.”

A source told to PTI, “These days you can live stream, you can make it an application-based service, there are many other ways of cost-cutting. The effort should have been to strengthen the national channel and not close it down.”

George Kallivayalil, Journalist- Columnist. Associate Editor and Chief of Bureau of the leading daily wrote in his tweet, “All India Radio shuts down its National Channel and regional academies including in Thiruvananthapuram, with immediate effect. They don’t have funds.”

The radio station was launched on this day in 1936 when Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio. It was Sir Lionel Fielden who coined the term ‘All India Radio’ on June 8, 1936. The first ever FM service was started on July 23, 1977, in Madras, now known as Chennai.

Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Shashi Shekhar Vempati told ThePrint:

“We have been reviewing areas that have not been effective and where technology is getting obsolete and will invest in new areas that we expect to be relevant and technology is forward-looking, such as digital. This is an ongoing exercise and will continue.”

Courtesy by : Daily Hunt