Lakhanda (Voice of Lanka) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n radio station. It was started on 15 November 1996, under the ownership of

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සංස්ථාව, ''Shrī Lankā Guvan Viduli Sansthāva'', ta, இலங்கை ஒலிபரப்புக் க� ...

. Eventually the channel was amalgamated to ITN (

Independent Television Network Independent Television Network Ltd ( si, ස්වාධීන රූපවාහිනී මාධ්‍ය ජාලය; ta, சுயாதீன தொலைக்காட்சி ஊடக வளையமைப்பு) also known a ...

) on 1997 April 1 on a government cabinet decision. The programmes were transmitted on 88.5 F.M. 87.9 F.M. and 97.6 F.M. from transmitting points at Yatiyanthota, Karagahatenna,

Bandarawela Bandarawela ( Sinhala : බණ්ඩාරවෙල, pronounced ; Tamil: பண்டாரவெல) is the second largest town in the Badulla District which is away from Badulla. Bandarawela is away from Colombo and about away from Kandy, ...

, Deniyaya and

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. Lakhanda was renamed as ITN FM by its main government body Independent Television Network Ltd (ITN) Lakhanda broadcasts programmes for Sinhala speaking audience in

. Its islandwide transmission opens daily at 04:30 hrs. and closes down at 00:15 hrs.

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

. Lakhanda is the radio wing of the Independent Television Network Ltd (ITN) the pioneer in Sri Lanka's television. The programme contents are news and

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

, politics, sports, education, cultural, health, women, economics and music.

History

Programmes were commenced at 0500 a.m. in the first instance and then at 4:30 a.m. currently, until 12 midnight. From the tenth anniversary, which falls on 15 November 2006, it is proposed to transmit programmes for 24 hours. One of the salient commemorative events anniversary held include the

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...

services via

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

channels rendered to villages. The first such event took place in 1997 November 15 at Mahavilacchi in Anuradhapura. The second anniversary carried some of the supportive development projects for the Army officers in Vanuniya. The third anniversary was the implementation of an

Intensive Care Unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

. In this Manner annually a series of community media oriented projects were implemented. The memorable event was the use of TV & Radio for

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

victims. At the outset there were four news broadcasts and gradually increased to 5 broadcasts per day apart from these news broadcasts an hourly

news bulletin Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

on National and international events were covered. The headlines of the main news bulletin were broadcast 15 minutes before the specified time. In this news bulletin covered business news, provincial news and news dispatches from abroad.

References

{{Reflist Sinhala-language radio stations in Sri Lanka Independent Television Network