I am very happy to connect with all the listeners of All
India Radio on World Radio day. World Radio Day is observed by UNESCO since
year 2012. Last year the theme was on Radio and sports. This year, the theme is
dialogue, tolerance and peace. I think it's a very interesting theme,
coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji always
stood for peace, tolerance and dialogue. So in that sense, it's an interesting
coincidence that UNESCO has also chosen this topic for World Radio Day.
Interestingly, Radio has evolved as a platform for people to
connect across regions of India, across cultures, in a manner that you probably
had not foreseen sometime back. A great example is the Prime Minister's Mann Ki
Baat which has brought Radio back to the national discourse as a medium,
especially in this day and age where smartphones have invaded almost every
moment in our private space, where television viewing and the internet have
dominated how media is consumed. Radio still has a value, very unique value and
a unique place, thanks to the nature of this medium. So it is fitting that we
are observing World Radio Day.
As we expand and transform Radio in India, I think it is
important that we increasingly build out more and more digital capabilities,
make radio accessible as a medium through devices of choice that are easily
available to the masses across India. The fact that FM chipsets where embedded
in Smartphones made FM listening very easily accessible, even if you are on the
go, or working, or commuting. I think this was a very transformational change
that has popularised FM as the medium of choice to listeners which is also
reflected in our expansion plans of All India Radio, where you see increasingly
more and more of our investment is going towards FM transmitters and FM
stations. So that is possible largely because of this convergence that is
happening on devices with smartphones capable of catching FM signals, but as we
look ahead, I think when we launched All India Radio services on artificial
intelligence enabled devices like Amazon Alexa, I think we have taken this
transformation to the next level.
Historically, Radio has been a one way medium where you could
just listen to what was being broadcast. Now with Amazon Alexa you can actually
converse with the device, you can instruct it, you can command it and you can
listen to the content of your choice on demand. I think it's a fundamental
change in listening habits and I am very happy that All India Radio has
prepared itself for this artificial intelligence enabled future. We will have
to take this further by ensuring that all of our content, especially the
content diversity that we have across languages, from various parts of India is
easily accessible in these digital medium of choice, be it on smartphones, be
it on intelligent devices like Google Home, Alexa and so on.
We also will have to ensure that we are digitally savvy and
we are much more nimble in how we produce content, how we distribute content,
how we package content by understanding the consumption behaviour of today's
youth so that Radio as a medium appeals to them, Radio as a medium is something
that they can identify with. India is a young nation, so clearly Radio must
evolve as a platform of choice for the youth.
So these are my thoughts on World Radio Day and I hope and
wish that Radio as a platform continues to enhance dialogue, encourage
tolerance and becomes a means of establishing peace both within the nation and
across the globe.
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