In the historical Kalaburagi city in the north eastern part of Karnataka, the Akashavani Kendra, has crossed a major milestone by successfully completing the most eventful 50 years. Started on 11 November 1966, the erstwhile Gulbarga AIR station was dedicated to the nation by the then Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajbahadur in the presence of the then Karnataka PWD Minister Veerendra Patil who subsequently became the chief minister of the state.
It would be very difficult to measure the impact created by the powerful audio medium by any yardstick but one can safely say, from the day one the Akashvani has become an integral part of the common man in one of the admittedly most backward and deprived regions of India. One has yet come across a competitor to the AIR in preserving, promoting, and propagating the rich cultural heritage of the Hyderabad Karnataka region. In the last 50 years the station has created a treasure trove of archival material of art, music, folklore, culture, history, heritage, and what not. It was very befitting indeed, on the great occasion, a compact disc of vachanas rendered by the celebrated Hindustani vocalist of the region Pandit Siddaram Jambaldinni and selected from the Kalaburagi AIR archive was released.Inaugurating the celebrations at a glittering function at the S.M.Pandit Rangamandir on Monday 11th December 2016, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mr.Venkaiah Naidu lauded the role played by the Kalaburagi AIR in empowering the people of the region through a series of useful programmes. Some of the propgrammes creating lasting impact and becoming worthy emulation by others include providing a powerful platform for the effective implementation of MGNREGA, ` Yashaswi SSLC’ for improving the results of SSLC examinations, promoting Swachch Bharat Abhiyan through the high impact making jingles, Megha Sandesha, a unique weather forecast programme by combining scientific method and the time tested traditional almanac prediction, etc.
``In the times of undesirable trend of sensationalism, news corrupted with views, it is only the AIR which has maintained purity, integrity and credibility’’ Mr.Naidu said. Responding to the complaints of radio viewership drastically coming down, the minister was optimistic that the days will not be too far when people will fall back to radio for news and entertainment. He also promised to overcome the shortage of radio sets in the market in six months.MPs Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhagawanth Khuba and Basawaraj Patil Sedam underlined the need for radio expanding its horizons and continue to maintain sanctity in the days of private channels increasingly becoming commercial and abhorring the real public cause. Sri Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble minister for I&B released the souvenir `Kallarali Hovagi’ (Blossomming of a Stone). The inaugural attraction was a group dance on Swachch Bharat Theme by Omkar Nrutya Sadhana of Kalaburagi. The inauguration was followed by a number of cultural events.