Radio evolution

EVOLUTION OF RADIO

After the electronic media came into the broadcasting making the dessimination of information and ideas of sounds and pictures in a scale so gigantic and global that no one is immune to it.We are still in the midst of what is happening to us”NarayanMenon .

EVOLUTION OF RADIO

1877:Thomas Edison recorded “Mary had a little lamb”using a hand cracked device with a cylinder wrapped in a tin foil that preserved sound.It could be told to be a prototype of a phonograph

For many years this talking machine was exhibited at a lecture hall,exhibitionsas a curiosity.Edison later realized that this new invention might best be suited to the business world.

Competition came in when Chinchester Bell and Charles Tainter patented a device called graphophone in which edison’s tinfoil got replaced by a wax cylinder.

Competition became greater when yet another yet another American ,Emile Berliner patented a system that used a disc instead of a cylinder called “Gramophone”

EVOLUTION OF RADIO

Meanwhile across the ocean a Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell provided the theoretical basis for the development of wireless transmissions in the space.Maxwell argued that electromagnetic waves exsisted and that they traveled at the speed of the light.

1887:Fifteen yrs later a german scientist ,Heinrich Hertz verified the correctness of Maxwell’s theories in a series of experiments in which Hertz actually sent and detected radio waves.

1896:An Italian ,Guglielmo Marconi refined and improved on Hertz efforts .He could send a wireless signal over a two mile distanceA businessmen as well as an inventor ,Marconi saw that wireless had promising commercial aspects in maritime communication(ship to shore and ship to ship messages)

At 23 he went to England and established the Marconi Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company ,later shortened to British Marconi world war I,this company and it’s U.S subsidiary ,American Marconi had become a powerful force in maritime and transatlantic communication

EVOLUTION OF RADIO

1906 :Two Americans Reginald –Fessenden and Lee De Forest carried out the worlds first radio braodcaston Christmas Eve.Lee De forest invented the vaccum tube which made much easier to receive voice and music transmissions.

With the world war I setting in there was a significant improvement in radio was observed.The US Navy realized the immense power of radio communication and began to work on it.

By 1930’s : radio was routine in maritime services and in international work.Thetechnology had stabilized into a world wide network of commercial and maritime stations including those of navies and government of the world as well as dozens of nations broadcasting to each other on the short waves that were the high frequencies first explored by the amateures experimenting and communicating world wide.

EVOLUTION OF RADIO

1957:The Russians launched the first earth satellite “Sputnik”-the fellow traveller.Itsradio signals beeped down to the whole Earth.

Telegraphy system were improving notably throughout the 20th centuryThis extensive development was due to buisness and government demands for machines that were easier to use.As a result radiotelegraph companies expanded their bandwidth offerings.As the spread of the telegraph systems increased many associations in United States and Europe such as the Western Union Telegraph Company were establishing.

This soon followed by establishment of U.S European Radio Communication, emergence of mass media ,development of improved receivers which were affordable, easy to use, relatively efficient receiving set. emergence of networks, commercial radio prog’s and implementation of of acts ,The Radio act of 1927

EVOLUTION OF RADIO in INDIA

Broadcasting was introduced in India by amateur radio clubs in Bombay ,Calcutta,Madras and Lahore though even before the clubs launched the several experimental broadcasts were conducted in Bombay and other cities.

The Times of India records that a broadcast was transmitted from the roof of the building on August 20,1921.

The Radio club of Calcutta was perhaps the first amateur club to start functioning(November,1923) followed by Madras Presidency Radio Club which was formed on May 16,1924 and started broadcasting on July 31.

Financial difficulties forced the clubs to come together in 1927 to form the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) the first organized broadcasting network in India

The government of India thought broadcasting as a curse .The programme accordingly detoriated even from their former low standard and Indian Broadcasting would have come to an end had not BBC at the critical moment started an empire programme.

Europeans in India rushed to buy sets


August 30,1935 –Lionel Fielden succeeded The Indian Broadcasting Service as its New Controller

September ,1935 –Broadcasting began in the princely state of Mysore with the name Akashvani(The Voice of the Sky)

June8,1936 –All India Radio was adopted after the efforts of Lord Linlithgow.

1940 –Fielden was succeeded by Ahmed Shah Bokhari

Oct 24,1941 –AIR became the part of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

1947 –AIR played an important role during the partition of India –important speech of Lord Mountbatten, Mohamed Ali Jinha, Jawaharlal Nehru

At the time of Independence AIR network had 9 stations of which 6 were in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay ,Madras, Lucknow , Tiruchi remained with India :Lahore, Peshawar, Dacca having gone to Pakistan

During the first five year plan,6 new radio stations were set up at Pune,Rajkot,Jaipur,Indore,Shimla and Bangladesh was also replaced by Mysore

September 15,1948 –The External Services were separated(27 lang:17 foreign lang+10 Indian lang1955 –The first Radio Sangeet Sammelan was Broadcasted

1955 –Radio News Reel was started.

Jan 25,1956 -The National Symposium of Poets was organized.So was Sahitya Samaraha, National Programme of Operas ,plays and features3rd October,1957 –Vividh Bharti Programme launched at Bombay.Programmes of vividh Bhartilike Hello Farmaish, Celluloid ke sitare ,Sargam ke Sitare,Biosscope ke batein,bhule bisreGeet,Chaya Geet became immensely popular.

july 7,1957 –Inter station Programme Exchange unit was established.This station was also given the responsibility of looking after the AIR Sound Archives.

1956 -61 –During the second five year plan an expenditure of Rs.80 million was calculated.

January 25,1958 –Annual folk music festival ‘Songs of Nations Builders “, was Started.

November 17,1959 –Nation wide Radio Rural forums was launched (community listening and discussion grps )1960 –Delhi station started it’s special ‘Urdu Majlis” programme and the External service began it’s Nepali Service


By the end of the second five year plan,ten medium wave transmitters were added to the AIR Network either as a replacement or new services bringing the total number of medium wave transmitters to 33 and shortwave to 26.

It covered a total of 55% of population and 37% of the area.

Auxillary and independent stations were built up one after the other.

August 15,1965 –The auditorium attached to the Delhi Station of AIR was converted into a television studio and a daily one hour service commenced

April,18,1966 –The report of the Chanda committee(committee on broadcasting and Information media set up in 1964 under the chairmanship of Ashok K.Chanda) was submitted.

The Chanda Committee(A.K.Chanda,Ms.Mehra Masani,NathPai,M.S.Gurupadaswamy,L.M.Singhvi,Kamala Chaudhuri,Vidya Charan Shukla,HasanZaheer,Ashok Mitra,M.Chalapati Rao,Hazari Prasad Dwivedi) was the first ever independent review of broadcasting in India ordered at the initiative of Indira Gandhi .The committee recommended Commercial broadcasting and the setting up of autonomous bodies for television and radio.


1967 –Introduction of commercial advertisement in Bombay –Pune –Nagpur chain of Vividh Bharti Stations(Family Planning Advertisements)

1967 –Introduction of nine point code for individual broadcasters.

According to the nine point code Broadcasting on AIR by individuals will not permit –•Criticism of friendly countries•Attack on religion or communities•Anything obscene or defamatory•Incitements to violence or anything against maintanence of law and order.•Anything amounting to contempt of court.•Aspersion against the integrity of the president ,governors and judiciary•Attack on political party by name.•Hostile criticism of any state or centre.•Anything showing disrespect to the constitution

july 21,1969 –Commissioning of a separate Yuv –Vani (Youth Channel) at Delhi.Stations were set up at Aligarh,Leh,Rajkot,shimla,Jodhpur,Allepy,Imphal,Kohima,Gorakhpur was addedJanuary ,1973 –National Programme of folk and regional Music introduced


1975 -1980 –fifth year plan

1975 –SITE Prog inagurated.ATS6 was used to transmit programmes to nearly 2400 villages in 6 states of Andhra Pradesh,Bihar,Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh,Orissa and Rajasthan.

April 1,1976 –Television was formally separated from Radio

June 5,1976 –Transmitters at Nagpur and Indore were upgraded.

1976 –Inaguration of 6 new radio stations at Darbhanga,Rohtak,ChhattarpurUdipi,Ambikapur

1977 –Radio station at Jagadalpur, Ratnagiri,Rewa was established

July 1977 –FM transmitters was commissined at Madras.

March,1977 –B.G.Verghese committee was set up to ensure free,fair and objective functioning of AIR AND Doordarshan.Feb 24,1978 –Submitted the report.National Broadcast Trust(Akash Bharti) to be formed .


1980 -85 –AIR’s sixth five year planThe four main objectives are as follows –a. Consolidation and expansion of the existing regional serviceb. Strengthening of the external servicesc. Development of a dedicated national broadcasting channeld. Introduction of local broadcasting The major objective of radio broadcasting development of the eighties should be that

people in all parts of the country should have access to at least two radio program channels viz. regional, national ,commercial or local.

Problems –a.increasing demand for broadcasting in different languages and dialects for specific groups and tastes.

b.Lack of office accomodation or studio facilities.Budget alloted –Rs.151.91 crores.Upgradation and addition of auxiliary centgres.Mainly to cover uncovered pockets the sixth year plan projected radio stations at Gangtok,Tura,,Goalpara,Kokrajhar,Tezpur,Dhanbad ,Surat in Assam,Orissa, Mharashtra,Bihar,Gujrat repectively.Establishment of 6 local radio(Rs.3 crore)-1.Adilabad –Andhra Pradesh,Diphu –Assam,Keonjhar –Orissa,Kota –Chambal,Nagarcoli –Tamil Nadu,6.Sholapur –Maharashtra


When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations

and a complement of 18 transmitters. The coverage was 2.5% of the area and

just 11% of the population. Rapid expansion of the network took place post

Independence.

AIR today has a network of 229 broadcasting centres with 148 medium

frequency(MW), 54 high frequency (SW) and 168 FM transmitters. The

coverage is 91.79% of the area , serving 99.14% of the people in the largest

democracy of the world. AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home

services. In Externel services, it covers 27 languages; 17 national and 10

foreign languages.

AIR today is a national service planned, developed and operated by the

Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India

EVOLUTION OF RADIO:FM

Radio as a tool of communication is creating a revolution and taking the nation by storm

Broadcasting in India is speedily shifting it’s profile from government monopoly to highly commercialized broadcasting

Reason for the resurgence : Conducive FDI’s and Privatization of the industry.

Broadcasting Tiers -1.AIR2.Private FM Radios3.Community Radio


Industry size –

The estimated size of the Indian Radio Industry is INR -20billion

The industry is estimated to grow 20%carg till 2015 from the current base

Radio registered a growth rate of 24% in the past year

Radio is estimated to have a share of 4% of the total advertisement revenue in India.The above findings have projected that this volume will increase considerably over the next 5 to 10 yrs.Recent RAM surveys revelaed of increased FM Penetration for Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore.Kolkta almost standstill


LIBERALIZATION OF RADIO :

Phase -1 –

•In March 2000,the government invited private sector into FM radio Broadcasting by

opening up the frequencies in FM Band.

•They were invited to bid a 10 yr license to set up and operate FM radio stations.

•The original plan was to set up 108 FM radio frequencies across 40 cities.

•101 bids were received ,aggregating to a license fee of approximately Rs.4.25 billion.

•The unusually high license structure hampered the FM Growth leading to revenue

losses. .

•21 channels were operational zed in various states in Phase -1.


•Phase -2 –Phase -2-of privatization of FM Radio is an initiative in line with roadmap laid out in linewith Phase -1.•A total of 338 channels in 91 cities across the country would be made available forbidding by private companies.236 channels were operationalized in Phase -2.•Lifting restrictions on airing news and current affairs,permitting licensees to own multiplelicenses,Improving HR practices,expansion of listenership and impending base for wereamong a host of issues being taken care of.•This phase saw the issuance of 245 licences by the government

Phase -3 –

• FM radio's phase III expansion is not likely to take off until the new radio channels that earned licences under phase II bidding start beaming programmes and turn in their balance sheets. •The phase -3 is expected to bid over than 600 licenses in 200 cities• News and current affairs ,electronic auction,increase in FDI (from 20 -26%)opening up multiple frequencies in radio,political advertisements,15 yrs license period,networksharing,permission to relay news from prasar bahratiensure more number of local players and adding a regional flavor ……………. tops the phase -3


Phase -1Number of licenses available 338 in 91 citiesNumber of licenses bid for 280 licensesNumber of bidding companies 37Number of licenses allotted 245 licenses in

87 citiesHighest average bid for a city Mumbai

244.65millionHighest bid in northern region Chandigarh

130.61 millionHighest bid in the southern region Cochin -

95.76millionHighest bid in western region Mumbai

244.65 millionHighest bid in eastern region Patna

51.3 million.



•FM service of AIR has two channels –1. FM Rainbow 2.FM Gold.

• There are 12 FM Rainbow channels and 4 FM Gold Channels.

• The program me content of these channels is mainly popular Indian and Western music, compared in a vivacious and contemporary style and therefore highly popular with the urban youth.

• A sort of News bulletins and current affairs programmes are also broadcast from these channels.

1 Bangalore 101.3 MHz

2 Chennai 107.1 MHz

3 Coimbatore 103.0 MHz

4 Cuttack 101.3 MHz

5 Delhi 102.6 MHz

6 Jalandhar 102.7 MHz

7 Kodaikanal 100.5 MHz

8 Kolkata 107.0 MHz

9 Lucknow 100.7 MHz

10 Mumbai 107.1 MHz

11 Panaji 105.4 MHz

12 Tiruchirapalli 102.1 MHz

1 Chennai 105.0 MHz

2 Delhi 106.4 MHz

FM RAINBOW

FM GOLD


The following trends that have supported the growth and Mass Penetration of FM in India –

1.liberalization of laws2.Commercialization3.Privatization of radio4.Consumer preferences towards music.5.Growth of youth as potential target group.6.Boom of mobile and automobile industry7.Affordable price of radio sets8.Strong promotional activities


Challenges1.Incapability to generate significant amount of listenership(higher recall achieved by good amount of branding has failed to develop higher listenership) 1.High license fee is deterrent for new entrants .2.The high licence fee has reportedly put a question mark on the sustainability of many FM Radio stations.3.Failure of FM stations to reach the smaller towns.4.Failure of FM Stations from attracting much advertisers (specially local retailers)5.Lack of suitable differentiation among FM Stations.6.Bitter relationship with music companies. (steep royalties being charged by the music companies) 7.High programming and manpower cost leading to the creation of a people –cost structure which is incompatible with the present size and revenue earning capacity


Possible Revamp Strategy –•To attract advertising revenues through nische marketing, market segmentation and differentiation of one FM channel to that of another.•Each FM station to earn a distinct identity of it’s own.FM stations to encourage participation of local retailers.Boost up listenership by promoting national events,reality shows,interviewsetc.•Though music companies remain the primary format,much experimentations have been carried out with radio genres like:Mythology/Reality show/comedy /Horror•Cutting short manpower and programming costs by creating intellectual property which share library value and can be reused in future and syndicated across channels.A right mix of live and recorded programmes can help reduce production and salary costs.Hiring part timers rather than full timer RJ’s can also reduce costs.•Good cordial relationships with the music industries.•Developing loyal listener base by catering all the specified needs of the listeners through more innovative programme

Education

Radio evolution