The presence of the All India Radio Center is evidence of the cultural prosperity of any city. From this point of view, our city Gorakhpur is also very rich. The history of the Akashvani center here is not more than five decades, not two-four.
Due to the increased trend of television and internet media, its influence on the media world has definitely reduced but the credibility of programs has not only preserved its existence but has also kept a place in the hearts of people. World Radio Day is the occasion when we can remember the golden phase of Akashvani Gorakhpur and currently consider its relevance. Presenting senior correspondent Dr. Rakesh Rai’s report ….
About 51 years ago, on October 2, 1974, the serious voice of senior announcer of Lucknow, Arun Srivastava from Gorakhpur Center of All India Radio, echoed, and in the world of communication, the electronic threat of Guru Goraksha’s city was not only felt but also accepted with immediate effect.
The paper scope of reaching the voice of this 100 kW radio station was 100 kilometers, but the surface of the experiment reached the entire northern region of the country. The importance of the Center can also be understood in such a way that in those days, the second Akashvani center of Gorakhpur state was 100 kW.
When the weather was clear, in many parts of Pakistan and Nepal, “this Akashvani Gorakhpur is” echoing on the radio. After that, the place made in the hearts of the audience through his interesting programs remained in permanent sense for three decades. First Doordarshan and then the private channels of TV came and reduced its popularity, but Radiopramal listeners still set up a Gorakhpur center of Akashvani to listen to their favorite program.
Awesome was the popularity of ‘rainbow’ and ‘Jharokha’
The programs through which Gorakhpur center of All India Radio were established in the hearts of the listeners, their number is not two to four but a dozen. Remembering the golden phase of the center, first of all the programs whose melodious sound echoes the ears is ‘rainbow’ and ‘Jharokha’.
The popularity of these two programs can also be gauged from the fact that their letters of praise came from all northern India. Udita Srivastava, the famous announcement of All India Radio, says that he received appreciation for both these programs and from many parts of Nepal, besides Punjab and Sindh province of Pakistan. The number of listeners of the ‘Sher Aapke Hamari Hamara’ program was also in millions.
Radio dramas were popular in countries like Mauritius and Fiji
Famous color workers and former AIR program Executive Hassan Abbas Rizvi discussed the popularity of radio plays. It is said that some of the plays broadcast from Akashvani became so popular that they demanded in countries like Mauritius and Fiji. Rizvi says that many listeners used to come to the center to see the characters of the drama in reality. The first drama to be broadcast from the center was “” in the park, which gained a lot of popularity. A dozen radio plays like ‘Author Kab Tak’, ‘Habdan’, ‘Karni Ka Fruit’ were quite popular.
Gorakhpur became a symbol of Akashvani ‘Jugani Bhai’
As soon as the name of Akashvani Garakhpur comes, the name that comes first on Juban is that of Ravindra Srivastava Jugani. It is a name that remains a symbol of the center with the inauguration. Even today people are eager to see and know about them.
Jugani explains that people considered him old for the broadcast of Akashvani, especially from the typical rustic name, while he was young in those days. On the demand of the audience, he had to be presented as old in a stage program of All India Radio as people were unable to accept them as youth. In the 90s, there were many crowds to see him that the police-administration had to arrange their security.
