Ashok Sharma
The PM’s radio talk ’Man ki Baat’ on Sep 5,and Nov 2,this year highlighting his vision for a powerful and prosperous India has brought back the fond memories and reminiscences of the yesteryears when radio used to rule the world and people were addicted to listening to its various programmes.It was so popular that there used to be radio clubs in small towns and cities,especially in the late sixties, seventies and early eighties. Radio used to be a craze among the young and the old alike in those days and one could not simply imagine life without a transistor.Its popularity in those times as due to the factit was the only source of entertainment. We ,as students, were having the radio as our companion after doing our homework and taking a break from studies, going for a walk, grazing cattle, taking meals, doing farming activities etc and even at the time of going to bed.Radio also used to be a daylong companion for housewives, paanwalas,barber shops, roadside vendors, college students, lovers and everybody for its judicious mix of devotional songs, news, music, plays,discussions,cricket commentries and what not.In the early years of its introduction in India,radio used to be a big box as big as a television powered by vaccum tubes and it used to take some time before it could be started. It was mandatory to have a licence for using a radio which had to be renewed every year and the radio owner was obliged to pay a certain fee annually.Later the small transistors,especially of Phillips came into the market and it was considerd a luxury and pride to own a radio and the students and cricket lovers would flaunt their pocket- size radio sets proudly in their hands or tuned to the ears,listening to the cricket commentary or popular melodious songs sung by Mohd.Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar,Asha Bhonsle,.Kishore Kumar,Mohinder Kapoor etc.In those days, very few villages had been electrified and our own village didnot have electricity. So the radio set,which used to be the only source of entertainment ,especially for the middle and lower middle class families was powered by dry batteries and all the family members and even neighbours who were not rich enough to own radios, would sit around the big three band Phillips radio in our home to listen to the Dogri conversation of the characters of Patwari, Sevak,Numberdar,Master at 6.30 p.m. in ‘Des Suhana’,Dogri news at 6.15 p.m. and 9.20 in the morning,by K.S Jandraiya,Lajja Manhas and others and 7.15 p.m. and of course, Urdu news relayed from Radio Kashmir by Radio Kashmir Jammu at 7.40p.m. was eagerly awaited.The dominating voice of Moti Lal Khazanchi and other urdu news readers with the words’ Ye Radio Kashmir hai,Moti Lal Khazanchi se khabrein suniaye’(this is radio Kashmir, here is the news by Moti Lal Khazanchi) kept the listeners spellbound and ended the daylong wait to hear the most reliable news pertaining to the next day’s holiday, strike, bandh etc.The programme’ Sainik Bhaiyon ke Liye’ at 1.10 p.m. was eagerly waited and the anchors took a long time in reading the names of all the army men desirous of hearing a particular song, especially on every sunday. Similarly, the ‘Punjabi’ programme at 9.30 in the evening was much favourite with the youngsters.The feature programme ‘Dariche’ with the character ‘Chachu’- a hard of hearing person at 8.15 A.M.captivated one and all irrespective of age or sex and evoked laughter and excitement in the listeners.The radio version of dramas directed by C.Parvana and others were heard with great fun and charm.All these programmes were aired by Radio Kashmir Jammu.Even result of Board (and perhaps University exams too)was declared on radio).The shopkeepers selling and repairing radio sets did a brisk business and the owners had to wait for their turn for as long as a week to get even the minor fault in their sets rectified
In the same way, programmes such as ‘ Aap ki Farmaish’, Hawa Mahal,JayaMala ( a special programme presented for armymen by some celebrity), Chitralok( in which latest numbers were played) aired by Vividh Bharti Commercial service used to be very popular, especially with the youth.Vividh Bharati Service continued to dominate the hearts of people from India and Pakistan till the television serials’ Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ started telecasting on National TV. The programmes broadcast by the urdu service of All India Radio too were listened on both sides of the border with the same interest .Who can forget the programmes such as Tameel- i- Irshad’,Awaaz de kahan hai’ ‘Shayya geet’ playing old numbers from the forties, fifties,sixties etc which were so popular that people transcending the border that the anchors appeared to be the members of their own families.
But the most sought after programme was the ‘Binaca’(later Cibaca)Geet Mala on Radio Ceylon (which has the distinction of being the oldest radio station in Asia) and anchored by the most celebrated presenter Amin Sayani in his inimitable and articulate voice on wednesday every week at 8.p.m.It was was broadcast on Radio Ceylon from1952 to 1988 and then shifted to Vividh Bharti in 1989,where it continued till1994.It used to earn a lot of revenue from India for Sri Lanka. It rated songs on weekly and yearly basis(‘pahli,doosri paidan paidan par’ etc)and its appeal on the last day of the year was simply irresistible when it rated Bollywood songs on the basis of votes it got from the listeners, clubs and also on the basis of record sales.The Bollywood song ‘Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein ye khayal aata hai’ from the film’Kabhi kabhi’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh topped the list of most popular songs in 1976 whereas the number ‘ Papa kahte hain ‘ from the film Qayamat se Qayamat tak’, sung by Udit Narayan got the first position among the most popular songs in the year 1988 after which the programmme was abruply stopped on Radio Ceylon.The Hindi Service of BBC news and Voice of America were much relied on for authentic national and global news and the comments of anchors and experts were much valued.The voice,choice of words and correct pronunciation was simply breathtaking. Such was the craze and appeal of radio that when my elder brother- an army personnel- gifted me a transistor for passing my graduation with good marks, I was overjoyed and found myself on the seventh heaven. I kept that set as the most prized possession for many years.Though many FM channels are broadcasting interesting programmes in different languages,I feel nostalgic and wonder whether these popular programmes have the same attraction,appeal and fascination for the listeners in the wake of modern fast life and technoligical revolution.
The radio is losing its old charm with the growing influence of TV having various 24×7 news and entertainment channels,sophisticated music systems,devices such as memory cards, pendrives,etc which can store thousands of songs but it has an edge over the television in terms of incomparable reach ,be it the mountains, remote villages,islands, international borders, cars, buses etc. Moreover,one can continue with one’s work while doing work in the kitchen,offices , farms,etcwhich is not possible while watching television. Though radio’s popularity may have dwindled in recent times,some diehard devotees of radio still begin their day by tuning in the radio.But it is sad that the days gone by donot return and its old glory and sheen are conspicuous by their absence.The Prime Minister’s talk on radio is a great initiative to revive interest of the people in listening to the radio and it will certainly help in giving a new life to radio which dominated the scene in the years gone by.
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