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Radio Development of sound broadcasting in Bengal follows a technological breakthrough that took place in the transmission of messages by electronic gears round the world. The history of broadcasting can be divided into four distinct phases: British, Pakistan, war of liberation, and Bangladesh. The British period can be called the formation phase of radio transmission in India. In 1926, the Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC), a private enterprise, obtained permission to broadcast radio programmes on commercial basis. The IBC was commissioned in July 1927 with two medium wave transmitters of 1.5 KW capacity each at Bombay and Calcutta. The coverage of these transmitters was very limited. There were hardly 4,000 licensed radio sets in whole of India which did not fetch enough fund to make the company financially viable, and in March 1930, the company was laid off. Subsequently, the government of India decided to take over broadcasting to run it by public funds on an experimental basis. The Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) with a station in Bombay was set up in April 1930 under the Department of Industries and Labour. After initial financial struggle, ISBS started making profits from 1932 as the number of sets gradually increased. ISBS was renamed All India Radio (AIR) in June 1936. With the outbreak of the World War II in 1939, six more stations at Peshawar, Lahore, Lucknow, Madras, Dhaka and Karachi were added. Principal stations at Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay were provided with short wave transmitters. During the World War II the activities were diversified. For countering German propaganda a centralised External Service and a News Service were started. In 1947, the primary coverage of All India Radio was limited to less than 10% of the country's area and the total number of licensed radio sets was about three hundred thousand. Dhaka station of All India Radio put its programmes on air from a rented house in Nazimuddin Road, now Seikh Borhanuddin College, on 16 December 1939. The station was opened by Sher-e-Bangla ak fazlul huq. The first item of its broadcast was a message in English by Poet rabindranath tagore. The transmission used to start at 5 p.m. and closed at 10 p.m. A Marconi 5-KW transmitter was installed at Kalyanpur. Its range was 20 to 25 miles by night and 30 to 45 miles by day. Bangladesh Betar now preserves this old transmitter as a memento in their museum. The first director of the Dhaka station was Dr. Amulya Chandra Sen who served here for two years (1939-41). Pakistan period After the creation of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, Pakistan Broadcasting Service, later renamed Radio Pakistan, was created with three former stations of All India Radio located at Dhaka, Lahore and Peshawar. A Technical Monitoring-cum-Research and Receiving Centre was set up to facilitate programme reception and exchange between East and West Pakistan at Board Bazar near Tongi. At Shahbagh a broadcasting house with six studios was built and brought into operation from 8 January 1960. In 1963, a 100-KW medium wave transmitter and another 100-KW short wave transmitter were installed at Savar. In 1963, two 10-KW medium wave transmitters were installed, one each at Chittagong and Rajshahi (replacing the old 1-KW medium wave transmitters previously installed in 1954) with full-fledged studios. In 1967, a 10-KW medium wave transmitter was installed at Rangpur and a 2-KW medium wave transmitter at Sylhet. In 1970, another 10-KW medium wave transmitter was set up at Khulna. One Central Store to stack and store spares and equipment was built at Pahartali, Chittagong on 24 January 1969. Period of the War of Liberation
Radio's glorious role in the Liberation War began with the call of independence from Radio Pakistan, Chittagong. After the formation of Mujibnagar government on 17 April 1971, swadhin bangla betar kendra (Radio Centre of Independent Bangladesh) started broadcasting from 25 May 1971, the birth date of poet kazi nazrul islam. It ceased broadcasting from 19 December 1971, when the Bangladesh government-in-exile moved to Dhaka from where it started broadcasting through transmitters of former Radio Pakistan. Bangladesh period Radio Bangladesh emerged as a national broadcasting organisation after the liberation of Bangladesh. Dhaka station was elevated to a national station overnight from its previous regional status. To cope with national demand intellectual work relating to programmes increased manifold against limited facilities. But slowly the situation improved with the expansion of broadcasting facilities. Six new central units - External service, Transcription Service, Monitoring Service, Farm Broadcast, Commercial Service, and Population Programme were created. These new units operated with the existing units for Radio Publications, Music, Education and Audience Research and Liaison. By 1998, five more regional stations at Thakurgaon, Comilla, Barisal, Cox's Bazar and Rangamati were set up each with a 10-KW medium wave transmitter. Radio Bangladesh was named Bangladesh Betar in 1972 and was renamed Radio Bangladesh again in 1975. Once again it was renamed Bangladesh Betar in 1996. At present, it has a constellation of 19 medium wave transmitters, five short wave and 14 FM transmitters and covers the whole of the country's territory. Bangladesh Betar broadcasts a total of about 95 hours of programmes a day (24 hours), which constitutes music (about 65%) and spoken-word items. The daily broadcasts include 14 national news bulletins, two news commentaries, and 8 overseas news bulletins. Its Monitoring Unit monitors 48 overseas radio stations and distributes 200 copies of news reports to concerned departments and agencies. The External Service broadcasts a total of six hours of programmes in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, English and Nepalese. Bangladesh Betar annually broadcasts about 570 radio dramas from all its stations, which make their weekly average at 11. The 1-hour commercial service of Dhaka Radio station was introduced on 1 March 1967 and at present, the programme earns annually about Tk 120 million. All regional stations now broadcast commercial programmes. Bangladesh Betar entered into bilateral contract with 39 broadcasting organisations for exchange of programmes. It is a member of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), Asian Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA), and Islamic States Broadcasting Organisation (ISBO). It is also an associate member of Broadcasting Organisation of the Non-Aligned Countries (BONAC).
Bangladesh Betar employs more than 2,600 employees, about 600 of whom are class I officers. Its annual expenditures range between Tk 250 to 300 million. Nearly half of the expenditures is met from its income from commercial broadcasts. The remaining expenditures are borne by allocations in the government's annual revenue and development budgets. [MN Mustafa]
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