AIR fans across Pakistan

I WAS in Shoghi, a suburb of Shimla, during the summer of 2021. Being an ardent radio listener, I took one of my best radio receivers, a German Grundig Satellit 700, as my companion. I could pick up all Punjab-based AIR stations at this high-altitude location. The most popular programme was a phone-in show of AIR-Jalandhar in the morning slot, carried simultaneously by the external service of AIR-Amritsar.

The Amritsar transmitter being located close to the Pakistan border reaches satisfactorily in Lahore and its suburbs. I tried to listen to both stations. AIR-Amritsar transmitter was being blocked by the adjacent frequency of AIR-Shimla. But the frequency of AIR-Jalandhar was a standalone frequency, which was picked up well by the listeners in the Shimla hills.

Indian listeners make calls from their smartphones and give their locations and phone numbers and the host of the programme calls them back for a chat. The Pakistani listeners are allowed to send voice or written messages. I have heard some very emotional messages from listeners based across the border. This programme is in chaste Punjabi and Punjabi is shunned by the government-owned Radio Pakistan, so they appreciate this pure Punjabi programme more.

The Lahori dialect spoken by Pakistanis is very sweet and their messages are full of love and affection. Some send their messages from Murree, where this programme has its reach. One particular message came from the Peshawar area. The listener stated that the programme did not reach where he lived, and so he woke up at 6 am, walked all the way to a hill, taking one and a half hours. This hill received the programme and he enjoyed it thoroughly and sent messages. This proves how much love they have for AIR programmes in Pakistan.

A common demand from the Pakistanis is to increase the reach of this programme, which at present India can’t. The reason is that the tower designed for this transmitter is a 300-metre structure, which was started in 2006 and completed in 2013, but was not taken over by Prasar Bharati. In 2020, it was partially dismantled to rectify a minor tilt in its upper portion. But before it could be rebuilt, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted life.

Now the pandemic is almost over, but the work of reconstruction has not started, perhaps due to the over-cautious approach of the government. The location is an unpopulated area with no trace of Covid-19. In the absence of a full-height tower, the range gets reduced, hindering its optimum utility.