Is Akashvani All India Radio? Or is it #NotJust Radio?

Reflections on the institutional identity and mission of Akashvani, public service broadcaster of the world's largest democracy

Hello Dear,

Being an officer of the Indian Information Service (IIS), I believe I have been quite interested in the operations of public service broadcasters, both of India and of other countries. Even if you are not in the IIS, as a citizen - either of India and / or of the world - I think you too would be or should be interested in and engage with how our public broadcasters should render and do render the crucial service they are called upon to perform. I hope you agree.

We will however come to the role of public service broadcasting later. I would like to reserve this post to share some reflections on the identity of one of India’s public broadcasters, namely Akashvani, which was until recently known also by its English name, All India Radio. In all likelihood, in fact almost surely, a lot many of the citizens like us might be continuing to refer to the organization as All India Radio as well (in addition to referring to it as Akashvani). However, offiically, the organization is now Akashvani, not All India Radio. The public broadcaster is said to have sought to implement this recently, through an internal order.

Be that as it may, this post is not about the two names Akashvani (“Voice from the Sky”) and All India Radio. In a sense, it is about both of them, since both names are associated with the medium of radio. For simplicity, let us stick with All India Radio. What does this name signify? What does it say (and do not say) and imply (and do not imply) about the identity of the institution? About its mission, its role? About how it may pursue its mission? These are some of the questions I hope to address in this post.

Sharing below two messages I shared with some of my fellow IIS officers in October 2022, reflecting on the above. Kindly note that these reflections were penned before the enforcement of the above decision of Prasar Bharati, whereby officials were directed to use only Akashvani and not All India Radio. Hence, it is the name All India Radio, with which I had concerned myself in my reflections.

[Given below is a piece of reflection I wrote on October 23 & 24, 2022]

Dear Officer, Just, simply, sharing one doubt which occurred to me a while ago.

Does All India Radio have / run a TV channel? If no, why not? If yes, how many, and why?

Dear Officer,

1) I got a handful of replies to the above question, mentioning that AIR is the Prasar Bharati sibling of Doordarshan and that AIR has a YouTube channel but no TV channel.

2) Yes, most of this I knew already, except I just wanted to confirm and be sure that AIR has no TV channel. So, was or am I totally stupid to have asked the original questions?

3) Well, I would not mind, I would even be happy if you think I am. (It is a singular delight, isn't it?) But let me explain my motivations behind the questions.

4) See, for one, AIR is on social media. It is on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and I suppose Instagram and maybe other platforms as well. AIR has a website too.

5) So what, one may ask. Should not AIR be on all these places? Well...

6) If we think of it, AIR is an organisation which has the word Radio in its very name. And radio is one particular type of medium, for mass communication. Isn't it? I mean, here is an organisation whose very identity is tied to and flows from a particular medium of communication. At least, that is how it started, I suppose, and yes, the name sticks, it has not been changed yet, to some other name which is medium-agnostic.

7) Now, what do we conclude from this? The straightforward - though not necessarily correct - conclusion is that AIR still is and wants to be and become people's friend and guide on radio. Not anywhere else. At least, not primarily anywhere else.

8) If that be so, then two kinds of questions arise. One, why enter any other media at all? If AIR is and should be radio, shouldn't AIR maintain unqualified fidelity to its origin and identity as a radio organization? Isn't entering any other medium a dilution of this identity? Isn't this not being true to its identity? In this sense, even a kind of philosophical and genetic corruption? A deviation from its core?

9) Of course, one could very well argue that other platforms such as social media are secondary or tertiary, these being a means to promote the same holy and original end of AIR as a radio organization.

10) If that be so, this question needs to be looked into. First of all, is this really the thinking which inspired AIR's foray and growth onto other platforms such as Twitter and YouTube? Or was it more an accident, a result of following the crowd?

11) Secondly, even if it was a conscious choice meant to bolster the radio arm, we need to answer whether the other platforms are really helping improve radio listenership and engagement. Or are they driving people away from radio? Is it that, on balance, people are abandoning radio to simply read some tweets or Facebook posts here and there? The analysis is necessary, isn't it? More so, if resources are finite - since finite resources mean that every ounce of energy spent on other platforms is at the cost of it being spent on radio.

12) Now, suppose here too we are clear. That is, yes, we entered on non-radio platforms consciously, we wanted these to strengthen our radio arm, and we have evidence that this is happening. Cool.

13) But this then raises the second set of questions we began speaking about in point 8. So, if entry into other platforms is conscious and helps radio arm, then why has AIR not entered into TV medium as well? Why does it not have a TV channel???

14) Now, don't tell me because Doordarshan is there. If that were the case, then, should not this argument have been applicable to social media as well? I mean, if this logic were to be applied, on social media too, we should have had only either of AIR or Doordarshan, and not both?

15) What say? Does this inquiry make any sense? Or is it still full of nonsense? Forgive me if it is so, but then, I am fine with it, in part because I believe nonsense is a necessary prelude, intimate companion and maybe even postscript to sense.

16) So what do I think? Apart from the questions, that is? For what it may be worth, to share briefly, I think that even as we honour the wisdom of our foreparents, even as we stand and climb on the shoulders of giants to see farther, to make progress, we need to escape the force of dogma and legacy.

17) In this spirit, we should examine our current organizational forms, structures and identities. As regards AIR and DD, we can see that technology was the dominant force at the time they originated. Hence they were - in a sense, rightly, as per prevailing wisdom of the time - named after the medium which they were founded on.

(Though interestingly, Doordarshan does not have TV in it, though the Darshan part signifies sight, but hey, sight can be of the mind as well, which is in fact the higher form of vision).

18) But now, we have entered an era where technologies have converged, making them indistinguishable, even overthrowing the very foundations of many of our legal frameworks. So, does it make sense to stay married to an identity defined by technology and medium in this age as well? A question we need to answer.

19) I believe there are tremendous opportunities for "rebranding" and redefining our organizations, in many cases involving a creative and meaningful change of the name as well. Names matter. Words matter. (Else, let us each calling each other by whatever names which come into our heads at the time.😉)

20) Of course, all this raises the crucial question of what should the relationship between AIR and Doordarshan be. I often wonder why these two even exist separately. Maybe we can keep this for another day.

21) Lastly, if technologies have converged, what remains? I think this is largely up for us to define. One way of putting it, in my humble opinion, is values and principles. Yes, I think this is what should be the differentiator for our public broadcasters.

Stopping here. Thank you for your (in)attention. Your thoughts, especially critiques, are most welcome. Of course. I hope to supplement this with another post another day, especially on point 20. Thank you.😊🙏

[End of the piece of reflection I wrote on October 23 & 24, 2022]

So, let us leave it here for today. Of course, there is a lot more which is to be said and thought about, and needs to be said and thought about, our public service broadcasters. Hope to come to it in the days to come. Thank you for your kind attention! - Dheep.