Love is in the airwaves: Still ‘Radio Ga Ga’ in Nagaland

Despite its wide reach to listeners in all corners of the world, many believe that radio is also one of the fastest dying forms of communication media today. The radio has this unique ability to communicate with any section of people, irrespective of class, creed, colour, wealth or even educational qualifications. Across the globe, Feb. 13 is celebrated as World Radio Day.

In Nagaland, the All India Radio (AIR) still manages to play an active role in bridging communication gap in spite of sweeping changes wrought by technology. It still manages to find relevance. According to the news editor of AIR Kohima, Asonuo, even though the studios and machineries at the AIR centre in Nagaland are all digitised, many are not acquainted with the available technology. “The people should make use of these modern technologies; even the employees of AIR should adapt and accustom themselves in using them if we want to advance forward,” she said. The reach of the programmes from Kohima go as far as parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Manipur, and not just ‘the rural parts of Nagaland,’ she asserted. “I don’t think radio is dying; we reach up to the grassroots across the region and radio has many listeners in all parts of the country,” Asonuo said. Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio segment ‘Mann Ki Baat’ as the most popular as he interacts with the citizens of the country, she said that the emphasis is on local dialects since most listeners are from the rural areas of the state. “For the news segment we have 16 bulletins, out of which 14 are in local dialects and 2 regional bulletins in Nagamese and English,” she informed.

While acknowledging that AIR’s objective in Nagaland is to provide information and entertainment, Asonuo maintained that the team also tries to ‘keep intact the cultural identity and history of the state.’ Some programmes prove to be more popular than others, and especially after the introduction of FM Tragopan in 2017, the number of listeners are increasing by the day due to the clarity and reach, according to Asonuo. ‘The Bosti manuhar karne’ programme under the farm and home segment is mainly for rural listeners in primetime, which is very popular as it educates and informs rural Nagaland about central and state schemes, she informed. Even women and health issues are addressed during the programme, which is all done in Nagamese. “The reason why FM is different from any primary channel is because the content of the programme is varied and flexible,” she said.

Bendang Jamir, who has been working with AIR Mokokchung as an announcer for the past five- and-half years said that many in Nagaland still “rely on radio” for information. “During important issues (sic) such as the last ULB elections, it was the radio that reached to the corners of the state to make people aware about what was happening,” he said, and cited other examples about decimation of information on social issues. “We have the capability to reach out to certain listeners such as people who can’t read and by this medium we can educate and give a better idea about certain issues we are facing in the state,” Jamir maintained. He agreed that the age of radio as we know might appear to be dying; but also felt that with the upgrade in technology, platforms like internet radio and the likes can still help in sustaining this medium.

According to www.prasarbharati.gov.in, a public service broadcaster in the country, AIR is one of the largest broadcasting organisation in the world in terms of number of languages of broadcast and the spectrum of socio-economic and cultural diversity it serves. “AIR comprises of 470 broadcasting centres across the country, covering 92% of the countries area and 99.19% of the total population, terrestrially originating in 23 languages and 179 dialects across the country,” it informed.