All India Radio Srinagar (AIR Srinagar) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

radio station operating in

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

, Jammu and Kashmir, India. All India Radio Srinagar broadcasts in

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

, Urdu and

Hindi language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

s. Formerly known as Radio Kashmir Srinagar, it was renamed as AIR Srinagar following the

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is an act of the parliament of India containing provisions to reconstitute the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Indian-administered union territories (UTs) called Jammu and ...

. It is one of public stations in the union territory alongside '' AIR Jammu'' and '' AIR Leh''. All India Radio Jammu broadcasts in

Dogri Dogri ( Name Dogra Akkhar: ; Devanagari: डोगरी; Nastaliq: ; ) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in adjoining regions of western Himachal Prad ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (later rena ...

, the then Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, inaugurated the Radio Kashmir Srinagar station near the Tourist Reception Centre in

. Its broadcasting station is still located in Srinagar near Zero or Abdullah Bridge. J.N. Zutshi was the first Director General of Radio Kashmir. He was also the Secretary to Information & Broadcasting to J&K Government. Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din was the first head of the station. Radio Kashmir Srinagar became most popular when Pushkar Bhan's ''Zoon Dab'' was aired for more than nineteen years from the Radio Kashmir station, and became a usual medium of entertainment for the people who used to listen the Radio Kashmir 24/7.

Crisis

After 1953 when Kashmir's political power began to change, observers say that Radio Kashmir Srinagar, shortly after its establishment, came under the control of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

to counter the Radio Azad Kashmir. Observers also say that both these stations were used to counter programmes aired by each other. When the Azad Radio Kashmir used to air ', it was countered by Srinagar station's '.

Contribution

All India Radio Srinagar has contributed a lot towards the traditional music of Kashmir. It became home of people like

Ghulam Hassan Sofi Ghulam Hassan Sofi (1932, Srinagar - 2009, Srinagar) was a singer and harmonium player of traditional music of Kashmir, India. Sofi began his career from Radio Kashmir, local station of All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, ...

, who used to sing Kashmir's traditional songs which provided relief to the disturbed minds of Kashmiri people. All India Radio Srinagar also aired Kailash Mehra's collection which people liked most. Janbaaz Kishtwari (Ghulam Nabi Doolwal) was one of the noted artist who showed his talent through All India Radio Srinagar. Nowadays his daughter Jahan Ara Janbaz reaches her fans through All India Radio Srinagar. All India Radio Srinagar is believed to be the only medium which is broadcasting the audio of Kashmiri traditional songs, thus keeping Kashmiri musical tradition alive and contributing towards the Kashmiri society.

Floods of 2014

During floods in Srinagar in September 2014 All India Radio Srinagar (then Radio Kashmir Srinagar) station was only medium of communication between flood affected victims and the then Chief Minister of State

Omar Abdullah Omar Abdullah (; born 10 March 1970) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He became the 11th and the youngest Chief Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, after forming a governme ...

led government who also reached to affected through Radio Kashmir. Even after the flood wiped the Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar which led to wind up its broadcast, just next door to it, Radio Kashmir Station survived much more than any other radio or Internet service. Radio station in floods started Short Message Service so affected people could be rescued while its building was itself submerged. Finally the flood reached the first floor where in studios were affected and radio too closed its broadcast and announcer promised to restore the service as soon as possible. Later news and interaction programmes were aired from makeshift transmitting station on

Shankaracharya Hill Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , " Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi Shankara; te ...

.RKS started a Helpline on 4 September 2014 when south kashmir started submerging. It was initiated and started by Sayed Humayun Qaisar, Program Executive. Once RKS itself was under water the program staff climbed on to Shankracharya Hill and continued Helpline with bare minimum resources.

News

Radio Kashmir's news section holds a responsibility whenever political crisis appear, or some other violences appeared during

Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claim ...

. ''Shehar Been'' is among top of the news program broadcast by Radio Kashmir Srinagar. However, at peak of militancy inside Kashmir, the officials and newscasters of sister department of Prasar Bharti newsroom reportedly received death threats so for some time news was aired from Delhi for Radio Kashmir, it was like this "ye radio kashmir hai ab ap sunye nayi delhi se khabrein".

Religious contribution

AIR Srinagar also serves in the holy months of

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s by producing such programs related to particular holy months like

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...

and for

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

. AIR Srinagar aired in 1980's the voice of Mirza Abdul Ghani Beigh, the prominent Kashmiri

Noha A noha ( fa, نوحه, ur, نوحہ; translit. ''nūḥa/nawḥa''; az, Növhə/Нөвһә/نؤوحه), when interpreted in light of Shia views, is an elegy about the tragedy of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala. Marsiya and Noha have ...

reciter and writer. Shia people across the valley remained in waiting for the programme of such religious Noha chanter personalities. AIR Srinagar broadcasts necessary announcements related to different sects living in Kashmir.

References