This is All India Radio...the Prime Minister will now speak... Akashvani, once an information lifeline to a poor, communications-challenged country, is hoping that fortnightly prime ministerial radio chats with the nation will remake its brand.The first of Narendra Modi's Akashvani-only chats will happen on October 3, this Friday. First Doordarshan, then private television channels and subsequently private FM radio had reduced the sarkari radio broadcaster to the fringes of the broadcasting game. Politicians prefer TV and radio entertainment, which basically means private FM channels.
The PM's unusual decision to talk to Indians only via Akashvani guarantees high degrees of national attention. The regular periodicity once a fortnight the suggested informal nature of his address, the fact that the PM intends to invite suggestions from citizens, combined with Modi's rhetorical abilities, will be a big draw, so the sarkari radio broadcaster hopes. And Akashvani is taking no chances.
The broadcaster is setting up a studio inside the PM’s official residence, 7, Race Course Road. This in-house studio facility, incidentally, is the same arrangement the US president’s Oval Office has. “The last mile optical fibre has already been laid,” says a person close to the development.
The PM’s chats will reach almost all of India. Though suffering in terms of its brand image, Akashvani retains the distinction of having the largest geographical reach – All India Radio reaches 99.20% of India’s population and covers 92.6% of the country’s area. Doordarshan, the state TV broadcaster, will act as a force multiplier for AIR’s broadcast of Modi chats.
Private FM channels may also carry AIR’s feed.
Regular radio chats were first used by US President Franklin D Roosevelt. His fireside radio chats, which came at a time the radio was what TV is today, are considered to have been a very effective means of communication. Americans at that time had to cope with effects of the Great Depression and World War II. US President Ronald Reagan, ex-Hollywood actor and considered a master communicator, revived the tradition of radio chats in 1982. Current White House incumbent Barack Obama is more attuned to technology – his weekly chats are on video. But many broadcasting professionals argue the radio is on a comeback.
Abraham Koshy, professor of marketing at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad says radio is a powerful medium but hasn’t been used effectively by anyone so far. “Radio is very subtle.
Sircar says Modi’s chats are “a unique opportunity for us to showcase the potential of radio.” However much of AIR’s radio infrastructure today is still geared towards analogue medium wave (MW) signals.
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