The Vividh Bharati was started on 2nd October 1957, as a service of ‘light entertainment’ to compete with Radio Cylon, which had begun directing a commercial service to India on powerful short wave transmitters.
At present there are 30 Vividh Bharati and commercial Broadcasting stations in the country. Sixty per cent of the time of the stations is devoted to film music and the rest is earmarked for devotional music, light music and spoken word programmes in the form of short plays, talks interviews, etc.
Sponsorships are also accepted for these programmes. Vividh Bharati service increased the popularity of radio as a mass communication medium. At present this service is on the air for 12 hours and 45 minutes every day with an extra hour and a quarter on Sundays and holidays.
The Verghese Committee found that it has become a repetitive film-disc programme and there is a need to develop a genuine radio originated light entertainment programme along with film music.
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News: The News Services Division (NSD) produces 89 bulletins in 19 languages which emanate from Delhi and are relayed by several AIR stations. In addition to these bulletins, the Regional News Units, 41 in all, located in different parts of the country, produce as many as 134 regional and 7 external news bulletins. The News Service Division produces bulletins for listeners abroad in 24 languages.
Radio presents news in a dissimilar pattern. People hardly sit down for extended periods of time to listen attentively to a lengthy radio news broadcast. They used to before television was available, but today they listen to radio while driving car, before going to sleep at night, while preparing meals or while doing something else.
Thus radio listening is often a secondary activity but is more convenient than newspaper reading because it can be done while doing other important things. Therefore, radio newscasters present their reports frequently and in brief ‘bursts’. A radio news report offers few details. Thus radio news presentations touch on the main points.
Radio is relatively ineffective compared to newspapers when it comes to audience comprehension of the news. On the other hand, it has the factor of immediacy.