“MAJOR PUBLIC

BROADCASTERS OF INDIA”

A PBL Report

Submitted towards partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree
of
Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication

Submitted to

SAGE UNIVERSITY
BHOPAL (M.P.)

Submitted by - Under the supervision of -

Ishan Nangia 20BJM3JMC10005 Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar
Mahak Chopra 20BJM3JMC10006

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

SAGE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL
(2021-22)

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 SANJEEV AGRAWAL GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL UNIVERSITY, Bhopal
SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

DECLARATION

We the students of “Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication”, session 2020-21,

hereby inform that the work presented in this project entitled “Major Public Broadcasters of
India” is the outcome of our own work, is bona fide and correct to the best of my knowledge and
work has been carried out taking care of Journalism and Mass Communication ethics. The work presented
does not infringe any patented work and has not been submitted to any other University or anywhere else
for the award of any degree or any professional diploma.

Date: 28/05/2022 Ma. Ishan Nangia (20BJM3JMC10005)

Place: Bhopal Ms. Mahak Chopra (20BJM3JMC10006)

Director
Supervisor
Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar

(Bhopal)

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 SANJEEV AGRAWAL GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL UNIVERSITY, Bhopal

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work embodies in this project entitled “Major Public Broadcasters of
India” being submitted by Ishan Nangia (20BJM3JMC10005), and Mahak Chopra
(20BJM3JMC10006) in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of “Bachelors in
Journalism and Mass Communication” to Sage University, Bhopal (M.P) during the academic
year 2021-22 is a record of bona fide piece of work, carried out by him under my supervision and
guidance in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Bhopal.

Supervisor HOS
Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar Dr. Swati A. Sharma
SSoJMC, Bhopal SSoJMC, Bhopal

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 SANJEEV AGRAWAL GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

SCHOOL OF JOIRNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

DECLARATION OF PLAGIARISM

I hereby declare that the work embodies in this project entitled “Major Public Broadcasters of
India” being submitted by us in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of “Bachelors of
Journalism and Mass Communication” in School of Journalism And Mass Communication,
Bhopal, is an authentic record of my own work carried under the supervision guidance of Asst. Prof.
Harshil Paradkar, has not been submitted the matter of embodied, in this report for any other degree.
I also declare that “A check for Plagiarism has been carried out on this project report and is found
within the accepted limit and report of which is enclosed as annexure 1”

Submitted by - Under the supervision of -

Ishan Nangia 20BJM3JMC10005 Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar
Mahak Chopra 20BJM3JMC10006

HOS Signature
Dr. Swati A. Sharma

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 SANJEEV AGRAWAL GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL UNIVERSITY, Bhopal

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

The project entitled “Major Public Broadcasters of India” being submitted by Ishan Nangia
(20BJM3JMC10005), Mahak Chopra (20BJM3JMC10006), has been examined b y us and is
hereby approved for award of “Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication” for which
it has been submitted. It is understood that by this approval the undersigned do not necessary
endorse or approve any statement made, opinion expressed or conclusion drawn therein but
approved the project only for the purpose for which it has been submitted.

(Internal Examiner) (External Examiner)

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 SANJEEV AGRAWAL GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL UNIVERSITY, Bhopal
SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my proud privilege to present a project on “Major Public Broadcasters of India”. I take this
opportunity to express deep sense of gratitude and would like to give thanks to my guide, Asst.
Prof. Harshil Paradkar, School Of Journalism And Mass Communication, Bhopal, for
their valuable guidance, inspiration and encouragement that has led to successful completion of this
work. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks towards HOS, Dr. Swati Sharma. I would like to
express my heartfelt thanks for their valuable suggestions throughout the project work. I could not
have accomplished, what I actually have, without their guidance.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and sense of gratitude to Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar for
being a constant source of inspiration. I am also thankful to all faculty members and staff of SSOJMC for
their suggestion and support.

I would like to deeply thank my family and friends for all the support and encouragement they
have rendered time to time.
Last but not the least, I dedicate my work to almighty God without whose wish and helping
hands this work would not have taken the shape it has now and also to my family members
whose support and encouragement had led me to complete this task.

Ishan Nangia 20BJM3JMC10005

Mahak Chopra 20BJM3JMC10006

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 Proposal for PBL
Topic – Working of Doordarshan and All India Radio

Names -

Ishan Nangia (20BJM3JMC10005)

Mahak Chopra (20BJM3JMC10006)

Objective -
1. To have an opportunity to explore the working of Doordarshan and AIR.

2. To explore and understand the different programs of radio and television.

Execution plan -

Stage 1 – Organizational structure and working of Doordarshan

Stage 2 – Organizational structure and working of AIR

Stage 3 – Creating some of the programs of radio or television

Learning Outcomes –

At the end of PBL, we will be learning many new things. Some are mentioned below -
1. Working of a radio and television.

2. Developing speaking skills.

3. Acquires new skills and abilities.

__ _ _ _ _

Asst. Prof. Harshil Paradkar

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 PUBLIC BROADCASTERS OF INDIA

In India, Prasar Bharti is India's public broadcaster. It is an autonomous corporation of

the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India and
comprises the Doordarshan television network and All India Radio. Prasar Bharati was
established on 23 November 1997, following a demand that the government owned
broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries.
The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not
enacted until 15 September 1997. Though a public broadcaster, it airs commercial
advertisements.

DOORDARSHAN

Doordarshan is a public broadcast terrestrial television channel run by Prasar

Bharati, a board formed by the Government of India. It is one of the largest
broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the infrastructure of studios and
transmitters. Doordarshan had its beginning with the experimental telecast started
in Delhi in September, 1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The
regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television
service was extended to a second city Mumbai in 1972. Till 1975, only seven cities
were covered by Doordarshan and it remained 48 the only television channel in
India. Television services were separated from Radio in 1976. Each office of All India
Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate
Director Generals in New Delhi. Finally, its existence came into being when
Doordarshan became a National Broadcaster. It is one of the largest broadcasting
organizations in the world in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters.
Recently it has also started digital Terrestrial Transmitters. Doordarshan is the only
network that it is permitted to broadcast television signals domestically. In a
communications breakthrough for Indian Television in July 1995, Doordarshan
agreed, for a US $1.5 million annual fee and 50 percent of advertising revenue when
it exceeds US$1.5 million, to allow CNN to broadcast twenty-four hours a day via an
Indian satellite. Indian television channel Doordarshan offers national, regional, and
local service of Indian television viewers. DD became national when it started to
telecast national programmes in the year 1982).

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In the same year, colour TVs were introduced in the Indian markets. The first colour
programmes were the live telecast of the Independence Day parade on 15* August,
1982, followed by the Asian Games being held in Delhi J The eighties was the era of
Doordarshan with soaps like Hum

Log (1984), Buniyaad (1986-87) and mythological dramas like Ramayana (1987-88)
and Mahabharata (1988-89) glued millions to Doordarshan. (Other popular
programmes included Hindi film songs-based programs like Chitrahaar and Rongoli
followed by the crime thrillers like Karamchand (starring Pankaj Kapoor), Byomkesh
Bakshi and Janki Jasoos. Now more than 90 percent of the Indian population
receives Doordarshan (DD) programmes through a network of nearly 1400
terrestrial transmitters. About 46 Doordarshan studios are presently producing TV
programme. Currently, Doordarshan operates 19 channels - two All India channels,
11 Regional Languages Satellite Channels (RLSC), four State Networks, an
international channel, a Sports Channel and two channels (DD-RS & DD-LS) for live
broadcast of parliamentary proceedings. On DD-1 national programmes, regional
programmes and local programmes are carried on time-sharing basis. DD-News
channel was launched on 3 November 2003 which replaced the DD-Metro
Entertainment channel that provides 24-hour news service.

The Regional Languages Satellite channels have two components i.e., the Regional
Service for the particular state relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in the state and
additional programmes in the regional language in prime time and non-prime time
available only through cable operators. Sports channel is exclusively devoted to the
broadcasting of sporting events of national and international importance. This is the
only sports channel which telecasts rural sports like Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, etc.,
something which private broadcasters will not attempt to telecast as it will not
attract any revenues. Doordarshan is often criticized for low quality of programmes
and sometimes even poor telecast and presentation in quality. It is a board
nominated by the Government of India. It comprises Doordarshan television and All
India Radio which was established in November 23, 1997. It was due to the demand
that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like
those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this
autonomy in 1990. But it was not enacted until September 15, 1997. Doordarsan is
one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the
infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently it has also started Digital
Terrestrial transmitters. Gone are the days of Indian T.V. serials with which the
people could relate.

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The journey from Doordarshan to Zee, Sony and Star plus has been a long one.
Indian Soap had its humble begriming’s in "Hum Log" the first ever T.V. serial to be
broadcasted by Doordarshan the sole -51- T.V. channel in 1984. People were glued
to their television sets to watch each episode of Manohar Shyam Joshi's "//w/w
Log". This was a story of an Indian family that a large section of people could identify
with. People could relate to the characters, their happiness and sorrows. Over the
years, Doordarshan has presented many popular and engrossing serials.

For example, "Waghley Ki Duniya", "Yeh Jo Hain Zindagi", "Nukkad", "Rajni" and the
list goes on. The common theme across all these stories was the background setting
which reflected everyday life's struggles, failures and triumphs. These serials had an
underlying positive message upholding tradition, moral values and strengthening
the fabric of Indian culture. From the mid 1990's, Cable TV brought about a home
entertainment revolution. Doordarshan found itself struggling to compete with a
network of privately owned quality entertainment channels powered by
commercials, and latest technology. Doordarshan made an effort to catch up but
like most state-owned efforts, soon became lackluster in comparison to the glitz and
glamour of Zee, Sony and Star Plus.

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The following are some major landmarks in the history of Doordarshan—
15.09.1959 Experimental transmission form Delhi
24.10.1961 School television for Delhi students.
15.08.1965 Regular service with daily news bulletin in Hindi.
26.01.1967 Krishi Darshan - programmes for farmers.
02.10.1972 Television in a second city—Mumbai
01.08.1975 SITE launched. 01.01.1976 Commercials introduced.
01.04.1976 Doordarshan delinked from AIR.
15.08.1982 National programmes, colour transmission and networking through
satellite. 19.11.1982 Expansion though LPTs launched.
15.07.1984 First mass appeal serial Hum Log.
15.08.1983 Countrywide classroom of UGC launched.
09.08.1984 Second channel at Delhi.
09.08.1985 First regional satellite network in Maharashtra.
23.02.1987 Morning transmissions
26.01.1989 Afternoon transmissions
01.04.1993 Metro channel with satellite networking
01.10.1993 Regional language satellite channels.
15.08.1994 Restructuring of channels -DDl to DD 13.
14.03.1995 DD India—International channel.
23.11.1997 Prasar Bharati—the autonomous broadcasting corporation of India.
18.03.1999 DD Sports channel inaugurated.
10.07.1999 News on the hour.
15.08.1999 DD News and current affairs channel. (Test transmission).

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On the eve of formal launch of Doordarshan's DTH service by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, Prasar Bharati said that it has set a target of two million
subscribers by end 2005 and increasing channel capacity to 50 by June next. On the
occasion of a demonstration of DD Direct Plus, the brand name under which DD
would market its free DTH service, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sanna said," By December
2005 we hope to have a subscriber base of two million, which may help the platform
net additional private TV channels." DD Direct Plus is a free to DTH service offering
32 FTA TV channels, including 13 private ones, and 12 customized radio channels. A
subscriber would have to make a one-time investment of Rs 3000 - Rs 3500 on the
hardware and pay no monthly subscription fee, unlike the country's first DTH
service, marketed by ZEE Telefilms under Dish TV brand name. DD Direct Plus,
beaming through NSS 6 satellite, includes all DD channels, apart from the likes of
BBC World, Sun TV, Star Utsav, from the Zee stable Kairali TV, Zee Music and Smile
TV, Jain TV, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. The radio channels include All India Radio
channels and according to the words given by the Prime Minister, DTH is reaching
now to the mass of India in a huge way with all facilities. National broadcaster
Doordarshan has launched two new channels in the public interest. Speaker
Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
did the honours by flagging off the two satellite channels. It was his intention that to
telecast the proceedings live of both the Houses of Parliament. Chatterjee's idea of
exposing the honourable members in live telecasts of their actions in Parliament
with a hope that it will improve their behaviour which will cost the tax payer a
reported Rs 12 billion annually for each of the channels. Now Doordarshan and local
channel of Doordarshan as Doordarshan North East services are available in Tata Sky
too, a satellite tele service.

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 All India Radio

As you have already learnt in the previous unit, broadcasting started in India in 1927
with two privately-owned transmitters at Mumbai and Calcutta which were taken
over by the Government in 1930. These were operating under the name “Indian
Broadcasting Service” until 1936 when it was given the present name “All India
Radio (AIR)”. It also came to be known as “Akashvani” from 1957.
When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations and a
complement of 18 transmitters. The coverage was limited to 2.5% of the area and
just 11% of the population. Rapid expansion of the network took place only post-
Independence.
Expansion of broadcasting was brought within the ambit of planned development in
1951 with an allocation of Rs. 40 million when India’s first Five Year Plan (1951-
1956) was launched. On July 20, 1952, the first National Programme of music went
on air. In October the same year, the National Orchestra of AIR was set up in Delhi
under the conductorship of the eminent sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar. Regional news
bulletins were started from Lucknow (in Hindi) and from Nagpur (in Marathi) on
April 15, 1953. In October 1955, the first Radio Sangeet Sammelan was broadcast.
Sardar Patel memorial lectures and radio newsreel also started in 1955. The first
National Symposium of Poets was held on January 25, 1956. Dr. B. V. Keskar, the
then minister of Information and broadcasting, did much for the encouragement of
Indian classical music on radio. Dr. Keskar’s other contribution was induct eminent
writers, poets, musicians and dramatists as producers in the All India Radio. At the
end of the first Five Year Plan, All India Radio had 26 stations with 29 medium wave
and 17 short wave transmitters, radiating 741.35 kilo watts of power. It covered 46
per cent of the population and 31 per cent of the area of the country. The total
annual transmission hours increased to about 100,000 and the number of licenses
crossed the one million marks.

During the second Five Year Plan (1956-1961) the outlay on broadcasting was Rs. 8
crores as against an expenditure of Rs. 2.1 crore during the first Plan period. During
this period, new stations were commissioned at Bhopal and Ranchi with short wave
transmitters. Early in 1957, an auxiliary studio at Chandigarh was opened and the
one at Shillong was strengthened following the introduction of programmes in a
large number of tribal languages of North-Eastern India.

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The most important event of the year 1957 was the inauguration in Bombay on
October 3, of an All-India variety programme - Vividh Bharati, which was being
radiated simultaneously from two hundred kilo watt short wave transmitters
located at Bombay and Madras. The service, based on a choice of light
entertainment items contributed by different stations of AIR and a liberal dose of
film music was AIR’s response to the growing popularity of Radio Ceylon’s
commercial service. To facilitate inter-state exchange of programmes, a Programme
Exchange Unit was established in Delhi on July 7, 1957, which was also given the
responsibility of looking after AIR’s sound archives.

Ten years later, commercials became an integral part of Vividh Bharati. Yuvavani or
the Voice of the Youth went on air on July 23, 1969 in New Delhi; other cities
followed suit in all major Indian languages.

In April 1976, Doordarshan was de-linked from All India Radio; this allowed radio in
India to take off on its own instead of being looked down upon as television’s ‘poor
cousin’. FM services were introduced, first from Madras on July 23, 1977 and from
Jalandhar on October 2, 1992. FM stations came about in other cities soon after. In
the mid-Eighties, AIR started setting up stations in places other than the big cities.
The first one of this kind was set up at Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu on October 30, 1984.
With this, hourly news bulletins were introduced by the mid-eighties. By the early
nineties, phone-in programmes in Delhi, Pune and other cities were experimented
with. A landmark achievement was the launch of the Sky Radio Channel on April 1,
1994 which enabled subscribers to receive 20 radio channels via satellite on their
FM receivers.

At present, AIR has a network of 229 broadcasting centres with 148 medium
frequency (MW), 54 high frequency (SW) and 168 FM transmitters. The area
coverage is 91.79%, and that of the population is .99.14%. In home services AIR
broadcasts programmes in as many as 24 Languages and 146 dialects while in
External Services it covers 27 languages including 17 national and 10 foreign
languages

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Objectives of AIR
Keeping in view the motto, "Bahujan Hitaya; Bahujan Sukhaya" i.e. to strive for the
benefit and happiness of large sections of the people, All India Radio, with its
stations all over the country provides information, education and entertainment to
the largest democracy of the world. Its underlying objectives are as follows:15
• To uphold the unity and integrity of the country and the values enshrined in
the Constitution which characterise a truly democratic country.
• To transmit information of national, regional, local and international interest
in an unbiased and impartial manner, including the contrasting views, without
advocating any opinion or ideology of its own.
• To design the programmes in such a way so as to reflect the rich and varied
cultural heritage of the country, with an aim to strive for the promotion of
issues related to national interest.
• To produce and broadcast programmes related to a host of issues in order to
have positive impact on all sections of the society, keeping in mind the fact
that the national broadcast audience consists of people from all walks of life.
• To produce and broadcast programmes related to the most important sectors
in a developing country, like Agriculture, Education, Health and Family
Welfare, Science and Technology.
• To lay special emphasis on the audience belonging to the rural, illiterate and
underprivileged population. The programmes should also serve the needs of
the young people, social and cultural minorities, the tribal population, and
those residing in border regions, backward or remote areas.
• To awaken the masses for social justice so as to remove social evils like
exploitation of the poor and the needy, inequality, untouchability and
parochial loyalties.
• To promote national integration.

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The prime concern of AIR has always been to perform social responsibility and the
smooth conduct of Public Service broadcasting. The primary channel of AIR including
local radio stations have become almost the part and parcel of the greater Indian
masses. The people are not only entertained but they also receive due education
and information required for their day-to-day activities. The ways in which AIR
enhances the people’s lives are as follows:
1. Provides information through news and various current affairs
programmes.
2. Entertains the audience through musical programmes – devotional,
classical (Indian & Western) Folk/ Pop/ Light, Film songs etc.
3. Provides education through extension programmes for specific class of
audience including farmers, women, children, youth and troops.
4. Provides formal and non-formal education,
5. Works for Adult education through programmes produced by IGNOU,
UGC etc.

The main components of AIR network are the National Channel, Regional Stations,
Local Radio Stations, Vividh Bharati Centres, FM Stereo Service, External Services
and North-Eastern Services.

The advancements in science and technology along with the changing trends in
interactive broadcasting have led the people to receive any programme of their
choice and music stored in a computer system. Moreover, the listeners can request
for the music they love to listen through the ‘Music on Demand’ system of AIR. AIR
has also started an interactive broadcasting service for providing News on phone to
make the news capsule handy. News can also be accessed on the internet through
the 24 hours Live Service of AIR round the clock (24 hrs a day and 365 days of the
year) at www.newsonair.nic.in. With the starting of this service, it has been possible
to extend the coverage of AIR programmes to all parts of the world including USA &
Canada, where signals of AIR External Service are not received adequately.

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