The Samikhsya Bureau
NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati, on Wednesday, clarified that no AIR station is being closed anywhere in India.
Taking a serious note of the “false reporting and fake news” claiming closure of AIR stations by various media outlets across India, Prasar Bharati has made it clear that these reports are “baseless and factually incorrect”.
Prasar Bharati has further stated that no AIR station is being downgraded or converted anywhere in any state or union territory.
AIR stations will continue to originate local programming in line with linguistic, socio-cultural and demographic diversity furthering the mission of AIR to nurture local talent, it explained.
Prasar Bharati also announced that it is moving ahead with its plans to strengthen the Akashvani,
All India Radio, AIR Network with several key projects are ready for implementation during 2021-2022, expanding its network with more than a hundred new FM radio transmitters across India, it revealed.
Prasar Bharati is also moving ahead with its plans to introduce Digital Terrestrial Radio in India.
Select AIR channels are already available through Digital DRM technology to the listeners in many cities and regions on an experimental basis.
Listeners in these areas can experience the power of Digital Radio through a choice of multiple radio channels available on a single radio frequency in digital mode.
Specialised Digital Radio Services of Akashvani available on DRM transmitters include AIR News 24×7 dedicated to news and current affairs, AIR Raagam 24×7 dedicated to classical music apart from local/regional radio services and Live Sports.
Prasar Bharati is also in advanced stage of testing Digital Technology options for FM Radio and a standard for the same will be finalised soon to herald the rollout of Digital FM Radio in India, it added.
