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News programmes constituted 22.49% of the total radio programme composition. All India Radio now under Prasar Bharati has the distinction of being one of the major broadcasting organizations in the world. The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio disseminates news and comments to listeners in India and abroad. From 27 news bulletins in 1939-40, AIR today puts more than 510 bulletins daily around 52 hours in 82 languages/dialects in the Home, Regional and External Services.
Out of these, 89 bulletins are broadcast daily from Delhi in the Home Service in English, Hindi and other Indian languages. The 44 Regional News Units (RNUs) putout 355 daily news bulletins in 67 languages. This includes news bulletins mounted exclusively on FM ‘Gold’ channel from 22 AIR Stations.
In addition to the daily news bulletins, the News Services Division also mounts everyday a number of news-based programmes on topical subjects from Delhi and some other Regional News Units.
Home Bulletins
The News Services Division broadcasts from Delhi 86 daily news bulletins in English, Hindi and 17 Indian languages for a duration of 12 hours and 20 minutes. In Hindi, 21 news bulletins are broadcast for a duration of two hours 30 minutes while 20 news bulletins are put out in English everyday for a duration of 2 hours and 25 minutes. These include two Sports news bulletins one each in Hindi and English. Apart from Hindi, forty-time news bulletins in 17 Indian languages for a duration of 7 hours and 45 minutes are broadcast everyday. The importance of language bulletins lies in the fact that they are the main source of national, international and regional news for the masses in small towns and villages. The evening bulletins in Dogri, Kashmiri and Urdu also include a commentary on topical subjects.
Regional Bulletins
Regional bulletins were introduced in the early fifties. The first news bulletins in regional languages were started in April, 1953 from Lucknow and Nagpur Stations. In 1954-55, Regional News Units were set up at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. This went on steadily and at present there are 45 Regional News Units functioning in different parts of the country. 146 news bulletins in 66 regional languages/dialects including English and Hindi are broadcast for a duration of 19 hours and 35 minutes.
External Bulletins
To start with, the External Services were part of the News Services Division. They were de-linked from the News Services Division on September 15, 1948. However, the responsibility of compiling the external news bulletins remains with the News Services Division. At present, a total of 66 news bulletins are broadcast daily in 26 languages (Indian and Foreign) for a duration of 9 hours and 13 minutes. Fifty six of these go on the air from Delhi while the ten bulletins of 1 hours 20 minutes duration are put out by our 56 RNUs – Mumbai (01), Kolkata (03), Hyderabad (01) and Chennai (2),Dharwad(11),Ahmedabad(2).
Bulletins on FM ‘Rainbow’ Channel
The News Services Division is putting out news headlines on FM ‘Rainbow’ channel from Delhi from May 28, 1995. Twenty four news headline bulletins on FM ‘Rainbow’ are broadcast round-the-clock from Delhi. The duration of each headline FM ‘Rainbow’ bulletin from Delhi is one minute approx. At present 22 AIR stations are broadcasting FM Headlines.
Bulletins on FM-Gold Channel
The then Information and Broadcasting Minister launched a news and entertainment channel called AIR FM-II (now called FM Gold) on September 1, 2001. The Channel is on the air for about 18 hours a day from 6 am to 10 minutes past 12 in the night. It is a composite blend of information and entertainment with one third of its contents devoted to news and current affairs. The Channel carries news on the hour originating from Delhi. Composite news programmes in Hindi and English originating from Delhi are exclusively broadcast every morning, midday and evening for a duration of 30 minutes each. These include ‘Samachar Savera’ ,’Dopahar Samachar’ in Hindi and ‘Breakfast News’ in English in the morning and ‘Samachar Sandhya’ in Hindi in the evening. The channel has also some specialized programmes like ‘Market Mantra’ (Business Magazine) and ‘Sports Scan’. Other news-based programmes mounted on FM Gold include ‘Vaad Samvaad’ and ‘Countrywide’ based on interviews with prominent personalities.
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