Prasar Bharati CEO bats for youth-savvy content

Jawhar Sircar, chief of India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati, on Tuesday urged Akashvani Kolkata to go for youth-targeted programmes to popularise All India Radio's services in West Bengal.

He also batted for crowd-sourcing to glean an idea of what listeners want from radio services.

"One of the suggestions that I have for Akashvani Kolkata is to go for crowd-sourcing. By putting out a few questions on social media, we can get an idea on what programmes are in demand and what listeners would like to be introduced. The trend can be known through this," Sircar said.

The Prasar Bharati chief commissioned the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) transmitter for the Kolkata-A radio service, one of the five channels of Akashvani Kolkata. The DRM transmitter allows the service to be broadcast in digital as well as analogue mode thereby enabling it to reach out to the south Bengal districts as well.

While launching the service, Sircar also stressed on the five channels maintaining a distinct identity and showcasing a mix of both Bengali and other language songs.

"Since it's not just Bengalis who reside here, we must also consider the other languages that are in use. Gradually, we must start thinking what listeners want," he said.

As an example, he said AIR FM Rainbow is intended for the youth and to lure in more listeners in that category, their views must be incorporated instead of being ignored.

"Get back the youth and use the internet," he said.