When Modi goes on AIR, TV follows him

When did you last tune into All India radio? When did you last check whether your transistor works perfectly? I do recollect how radio disappeared from our collective consciousness. For those who were born in 70’s and 80’s, radio was their first love. TV and more so color television came into our lives much later. Internet came much later, in late 1990s.

Gone are days when radio used to be our only source of breaking news. Our romance started with AIR and famously bloomed with BBC Hindi service. Every household could afford couple of radio sets. Radio reigned supreme. 

 We used to expect newsbreaks during bulletins in the morning and then for whole day, it used to be all quite on all fronts till noon. In the evening, it was a collective radio listening session. 

Who cared if radio will ever make a comeback? Till Prime Minister Narendra Modi discovered the power of radio.

I was reading BBC’s news site when I saw a proper report on Modi’s unique way of reaching out to the millions of people, who have no access to the television, no access to electricity.

The address titled as Mann ki baat (a talk from the heart), ran on state run AIR, FM channels and community stations. No other government in the past thought about exploiting AIR’s huge reach. What Modi plans to do is not original, US president reaches out to countrymen on weekly basis or whenever they wish. But unlike India, there is no noise.

It is not a secret that Modi wants to use government media to reach out to the citizens and he is exactly doing that.

All India radio claimed that Modi reached to 1.2 billion of population and broadcast covered 99 per cent of Indian territories.  

Why it didn’t occur to other leaders? Who nobody could think about the huge potential of radio?

Modi has given indication that he will work for the betterment of DD and Air. One would be surprised to see all private channels, which used to charge heftily from government for airing even social messages, are doing it free of cost. Media watchers say this is all about selling your ideas.

Naysayers would cast gloom and allege that Modi’s new ways will not solve country’s problems but he has reached out to a segment, whose needs were never catered to.