All India Radio (AIR), officially known since 1956 as Ākāshvāṇī, is India’s national public radio broadcaster.
Established in 1930, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan.
AIR covers almost 99% of the Indian population and is the largest radio network in the world.
The main competitor for AIR in programming has been the BBC World Service.
BBC World began broadcasting in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service that aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire.
In 1939, the Empire Service was renamed the BBC Overseas Service.
Today, it is the world's largest international broadcaster with radio and television news in 29 languages including Hindi (since 1940 as BBC Hindi).
BBC Worlds services’ style of broadcasting news and analysis has impacted national radio programming.
To know more about the impact of BBC World services on Hindi radio broadcasting in India, listen to Amit Sarwal’s conversation with Ashwini Tyagi, former broadcaster AIR and BBC, in SBS Hindi’s ‘Mann ka Radio’ series.
Ashwini Tyagi Source: SBS Hindi
