To evoke nostalgia among its listeners at the time of lockdown, All India Radio (AIR) Jaipur has started broadcasting old dramas, skits, folk music from its archives.
Inspired by Doordarshan, that has recently started broadcasting Ramayana and Mahabharat for its viewers during lockdown, AIR has started broadcasting decades-old content from their archival library on radio as well as its YouTube channel. There are thousands of such tapes in the library of AIR, Jaipur, which are now being taken out and their sound quality being measured, which are then converted into digital form and uploaded on YouTube.
Additional director general (west zone), Neeraj Aggarwal explained, "We have more than 400 dramas in our archives in Jaipur. They are in Hindi, Urdu and Sindhi languages and broadcasting them at the time of lockdown, we are getting a good response. Folk songs of Manganiyars and Langa community are preserved in our archives. Radio has a vast reach, to every remote corner of the state, which is what we are now making use of. The response has been good from the present-day artistes and the older generation who had listened to these dramas at that time."
Jaipur radio started in 1955 and has evolved in all these years with change in technology. Dramas in earlier times were recorded by the artistes in the drama studio at the radio station. Reshma Khan, programme head of AIR Jaipur, who has been working for radio for the last 35 years, recalled the times when for special effects, the artistes used their creativity.
"For sound of water splashing, artistes would go to an actual pond. For horses tapping, they would go to MI Road, where many tongas used to run. We still have those recorded sounds in our archival library. Of course, times have changed and now we have special effects for everything. We are in the process of digitalizing the tapes. Amidst lockdown, CEO Prasar Bharti Shashi Shekhar in Delhi, asked us to search our records to be uploaded online, to make the present generation aware about our rich history," said Khan.
AIR Jaipur is also running a morning show from 9am to 10am everyday called, 'Hum Hongen Kamyab' in which they broadcast live the efforts made by health workers, struggle stories and success stories amidst the pandemic.
Source : झावेन्द्र कुमार ध्रुव