All India Radio Vividh Bharati Service celebrates Golden Jubilee

All India Radio Vividh Bharati Service

The popular Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was
conceptualized to combat 'Radio Ceylon' in 1957. Within no time it
proved to be a popular channel of every household. The service
provides entertainment for nearly 15 to 17 hours a day. It presents a
mix of film music, skits, short plays and interactive programmes, Some
of the old popular programmes of Vividh Bharati are 'SANGEET SARITA',
'BHULE BISRE GEET', 'HAWA MAHAL', 'JAIMALA', 'INSE MILIYE', 'CHHAYA
GEET' ETC., are still distinctly recongnised by the listeners. From
time to time new programmes were introduced like 'BISCOPE KE BATEIN',
'SARGAM KE SITARE', 'CELLULOID KE SITARE', 'SEHATNAMA', &' HELLO
FARMAISH',.

All these programmes are produced centrally at Vividh Bharati
Service,Borivili, Mumbai and up-linked to the satellite. 40 Vividh
Bharati stations across the country down-linked these programmes
through captive earth stations provided at each of these AIR stations.
Some local programme windows are also provided at these stations to
give regional flavour to the listeners. These 40 Vividh Bharati
stations are known as Commercial Broadcasting Service Stations and are
located at all major and commercially vibrant cities covering 97% of
the Indian population. In 1999 Vividh Bharati Service proved its
success connecting Indian Soliders posted on remote border areas to
their family members through a special programme entitled "Hello
Kargil", through which not only the family members of the soliders ,
but even a layman including young and old conveyed their best wishes
to the soliders to keep up their morale. Eminent actors, play back
singers, renowned writers, lyricists, directors and music directors
have found way to express their experience and opinion through the
Vividh Bharati Platform . A special programme entitled "Ujaale Unki
Yaadon Ke" takes the listeners into the world of nostalgia dipping
into the memories of the artists of the yester years. With the advent
of new technology the transmission of programmes gradually migrated
from earlier medium wave transmission to high quality digital stereo
FM. Commercials were introduced initially in the Vividh Bharati
Service in the year 1967 on an experimental basis. Realising the role
of advertising in accelerating the social and material progress of the
country, commercials were extended to Primary channels including FM &
Local Radio Stations in a phased manner. Advertsing on Radio is not
only cost effective to the advertisers but also has the potential to
reach far flung areas where no other mass media has succeeded in
making any tangible dent.

Some of the popular programmes of Vividh Bharat can also be heard on
our National Channel from 2300 hrs. to 0600 hrs. This service now
enjoys global listenership through Direct to Home Service (DTH)
besides other 11 channels of All India Radio.

Source : All India Radio
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Vividh Bharati: Connecting a nation with music and memories for 50 yrs

Lekha Agarwal
Posted online: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 12:00:00

Mumbai, October 2 From the Jaisalmer border, soldiers have written to
us…they brave the scorching sun and hot winds to protect our borders.
In those trying climatic conditions, there is something else they
protect just as fiercely—their transistors. They will bake in the sun,
but keep their transistors in the shade because if that heats up, they
can't tune in to Vividh Bharati," said a proud Assistant Station
Director Mahendra Modi.
That's not surprising—for in 1999, at the peak of the Kargil War, it
was Vividh Bharati that connected soldiers with their families across
the country, through a special programme "Hello Kargil".
And it's a proud moment for Modi—he has been with the All India Radio
for four decades now—and his team at the Vividh Bharati Service in
Borivili as they gear up to celebrate Wednesday, the day this very
popular service of AIR completes 50 years. For, it is from this
building opposite the Gorai bus depot that programmes synonymous with
the radio channel—like 'Bhule Bisre Geet', 'Sangeet Sarita', 'Hawa
Mahal', 'Jaimala' etc—are centrally produced and uplinked to
satellite, to be dished out to 40 Vividh Bharati stations across the
country.
In Mumbai, a team led by Modi has been tirelessly working for the last
two months to ring in the golden jubilee celebrations. A string of
special programmes, each lasting two hours, has been planned through
the day. So, from 6 am on Wednesday, until 11 pm, listeners can get
nostalgic with legends like Sohrab Modi, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Raj
Kapoor, Dev Anand.
"We will be playing recorded excerpts from interviews conducted since
inception. Also, there will be four broad categories—rare film songs,
rare non-film songs, rare singers and legendary music directors," said
Yunus Khan from Modi's team. Congratulatory messages from a number of
celebrities—including Lata Mangeshkar, Javed Akhtar, Sunidhi Chauhan,
Abhijeet, Shaan, etc—will be aired.
"Esteemed veteran broadcasters like Madhup Sharma, Ramsingh Pawar and
Mona Thakur will also be invited," Modi added. Of course, the
festivities wouldn't be complete without Ameen Sayani's britone—he
will be hosting 'Star Jaimala' that day, which is being produced and
written by Lokendra Sharma.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Vividh-Bharati-Connecting-a
-nation-with-music-and-memories-for-50-yrs/223677/

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Vividh Bharathi to celebrate golden jubilee
Saturday September 29 2007 07:31 IST
Express News Service

BANGALORE: All listeners of Vividh Bharathi and celebrities will come
under one roof to share their experiences with the radio station at
its golden jubilee celebrations on October 3.

Looking into the history of AIR's entertainment station and the kind
of responses it has received over the years, assistant station
director, Commercial Broadcasting Service, All India Radio, B V Padma
told this paper that Vividh Bharathi has been successful in building a
rapport between both listeners and advertisers.

According to her, this is one of the major milestones that the station
has crossed.

She proudly claims that the channel receives over 300 letters a day
and many SMSs and e-mails too. ''The respondents,'' she says, ''are of
varied age groups.'' Recollecting one incident, she said that an
85-year-old man, who was an ardent listener of Arpana, a devotional
songs' programme aired at 6.30 am, was chosen as the best listener
last year.

He had come with the help of his son to collect his award. He, along
with some others, had brought a large cake to celebrate the
anniversary of Vividh Bharathi and this was a very touching moment she
said.

As a part of the 50th year celebrations, Vividh Bharathi Radio Clubs
will give opportunity to their members to express their views via
telephones. Celebrities like Upendra, Girish Karnad, Chandrashekhar
Khambar, Sudha Murthy, Shailendra Babu, K S L Swamy and even
politicians, who have been listening to Vividh Bharathi since
childhood, will also share their experiences. Padma pointed that
similar programmes aired from the Mumbai station will also be relayed.

Apart from this, various competitions will also be organised and
prizes will be given away to the winning listeners. The programmes
will begin from 8 am. Special importance will be given to Manchahe
Geeth, a relay programme from 12 noon, where listeners can enjoy their
requested programmes. One of them called 'Shopping Mall' will have an
anchor taking requests from public places.

However the highlight will be Suvarna Chitra Bharathi, between 9.15-
9.45 where classics from Karnataka will be played.

TUNING IN
+ Started in 1957, the channel intends to create dynamic promotional
concepts, build a rapport between the audience and advertisers and
create dynamic promotional concepts. A recent survey reveals there are
over 52.96 million people tuning in to 102.9 FM every day.
+ Vividh Bharathi now has 40 radio stations across India.
+ Vividh Bharathi, the radio channel was launched in October 3, 1957.
It was in October 18, 1970 that Vividh Bharathi Bangalore came into
being. The Bangalore FM Channel went on air on December 9, 2000.
+ To mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations, All India Radio will sell
music collections of the golden era. These hits will be available in
the archives section. They are popularly heard on Bhoole Bisre Geet,
Chaya Geeth and Aapki Farmaish.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE120070928211016&
Page=1&Headline=Vividh+Bharathi+to+celebrate+golden+jubilee&Title=
Bangalore&Topic=0&

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