All India Radio (AIR), also known by its Sanskrit name Akashvani (“voice from the sky”), is India’s state‑owned public radio broadcaster. Established in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and forms one of the two divisions of Prasar Bharati. The organisation is headquartered at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi, which houses its National Service, FM operations and Drama Section. The complex also serves as the base for the public television broadcaster Doordarshan Kendra. AIR is one of the world’s largest radio networks, notable for the scale of its operations, the linguistic diversity of its programming and the breadth of its audience. Its domestic service comprises 420 stations, reaching nearly 92% of India’s land area and over 99% of its population. Broadcasts are produced in 23 languages and 179 dialects, reflecting the country’s cultural and regional diversity. The name Akashvani was popularised when the Indian State Broadcasting Service adopted the title All India Radio. Poet Rabindranath Tagore used the term in a poem written for the inauguration of Kolkata’s shortwave service, giving the broadcaster a symbolic identity associated with a “voice from the skies.” The term had earlier been used in 1936 by M. V. Gopalaswami, who established India’s first private radio station at his residence, Vittal Vihar, in Mysore—located close to the site of the present AIR station. In 1956, Akashvani was formally adopted as AIR’s on‑air identity. The suggestion to use the name came from scholar Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma, a Telugu and Kannada academic who later became known for his work in reviving and tuning the compositions of Annamacharya.
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