Indian radio is one of the great stories in broadcasting. It serves a country of more than a billion people, dozens of major languages, and a mix of crowded cities and remote villages. It does this with a mix of public service, private FM, and community stations that you won’t find anywhere else.
Akashvani: the public broadcaster
All India Radio, officially known by its Hindi name Akashvani (“voice from the sky”), is the backbone. It is run by Prasar Bharati, the public broadcasting body, and it reaches almost the whole population through a large network of medium wave, FM, and shortwave transmitters.
Akashvani broadcasts in a remarkable number of languages and dialects. Regional stations make programmes for farmers, students, and local communities. Its news bulletins are a national institution. It also runs Vividh Bharati, the entertainment service launched in 1957 that brought film songs, request shows, and radio plays to generations of listeners.
The film-song story: why Radio Ceylon mattered
Here is a twist most people don’t know. In the early 1950s, the information minister of the day considered Hindi film songs too lowbrow, and All India Radio cut them back sharply. Listeners simply turned their dials to Radio Ceylon in neighbouring Sri Lanka. Its Hindi service played exactly what they wanted.
Its countdown show Binaca Geetmala, presented by Ameen Sayani, became the most popular programme in South Asia. Ameen Sayani’s warm “Behno aur bhaiyo” (“sisters and brothers”) greeting is still remembered decades later. The episode is one reason AIR started Vividh Bharati: to win back its own audience.
If you love that music, our guide to Bollywood and Hindi radio covers the sounds of each era.
Private FM: the city sound
For most of its history, broadcasting in India was a government monopoly. That changed around the year 2000, when the government began auctioning FM licences to private companies in phases. Big brands followed, among them Radio Mirchi, Red FM, Radio City, and Big FM. They brought fast-talking RJs (radio jockeys, the Indian term for DJs), Bollywood hits, local humour, and traffic updates to city commuters.
There is one rule visitors find surprising. Private FM stations are not allowed to produce their own news. Since 2019 they may carry Akashvani news bulletins unchanged, but news-gathering on radio remains a public-broadcaster job. So Indian FM is mostly music, entertainment, and chat. Current affairs comes from AIR, television, and online.
Community radio: the village microphone
India allowed universities to run campus stations in the early 2000s and opened community radio to non-profit groups in 2006. Today there are hundreds of these low-power stations. They broadcast in local languages and dialects about farming, health, women’s rights, weather, and local culture. Often the presenters are the listeners themselves: farmers, schoolteachers, and self-help group members. For many rural communities, it is the only media made by people who sound like them.
A prime minister on the radio
Radio is still political in India. Since 2014, the prime minister has used a monthly radio address, Mann Ki Baat (“words from the heart”), carried by Akashvani across the country and in many languages. It is a reminder that in a country where not everyone has a smartphone or reliable data, radio still reaches people that other media miss.
How to listen today
- FM in cities: private stations and AIR FM channels.
- Medium wave: AIR’s long-range regional services, some now also using DRM digital transmission.
- Online: the official Akashvani app (NewsOnAir) streams hundreds of AIR stations, and the private networks have their own apps, which makes Indian radio easy to hear from abroad.
A good starting point is one Vividh Bharati session, one private FM breakfast show from Mumbai or Delhi, and one regional AIR station in a language you don’t speak. The music does the translating.