All India Radio (AIR) Srinagar, formerly known as Radio Kashmir, is a pale shadow of itself. The raw talent pool which performed in its studios seems to have gone extinct. The station no longer produces the quality it used to produce two or three decades ago.
Even though the quality of broadcast was on life support two decades ago only but in the last decade in particular the quality has hit rock bottom. There were plenty of youth, sports and Western music programs to keep youth in good humour. An effort was made by program executives back then to take radio to playgrounds, streets, markets, picnic places, places of reverence and in general every where. Those efforts seem to far and few now.
The anchoring style adopted by the anchors is still the typical 20 century robotic intonated style which has been discarded by all other radio platforms. Radio Kashmir for some strange reasons has stopped airing Yuva Vani, a platform where young broadcasters honed and polished their talent. The youngsters would swarm the studios to present their written scripts, give voice overs , send reports from sports events and what not.
The Western music section was very popular in the city as well as in the country side. The general service produced three programs per week on Tuesday, Thursdays and Sundays. Out of these three only the Sunday’s program remains. The quality of the sports programs has degraded.
Radio Kashmir no longer attracts the young crowd it used to do a decade back. It could be shortage of funds. It could be the general lack of enterprise from the producers. Or it could be an unbridled love for the status quo.
We hope that the things change for good. It is the same station frok which we heard the dramas written by Akhtar Mohiuddin and Ali Mohammad Lone. The present breed of producers have huge shoes to fill. Let us hope they learn quickly.
