DIBRUGARH (Assam): – Radio, someone still loves you. And there’s no doubt that All India Radio Dibrugarh is planning a great celebration on its Golden Birthday. Lohit Deka, head of programming says there will be some three thousand new programmes over AIR Dibrugarh this golden jubilee year!

All the programmes to be broadcast during the golden jubilee year will start and end with especially composed ‘Golden Jubilee Signature Tune’. The signature tune has been composed by Syed Sadulla, an eminent musician of Assam.

The All India Radio Dibrugarh is set for a year-long golden jubilee celebrations from February 15 as it marks the 50th year of its commissioning. The radio station, broadcasting programmes with a 300 kilo watt DRM transmitter, reportedly the most modern and powerful transmitting station in the north-eastern region, was commissioned on February 15, 1969.

The station has planned a series of programmes with a view to connect with more and more listeners during the golden jubilee year.
“We are planning to produce nearly 3000 new and innovative programmes during the golden jubilee year. These programmes will be broadcast from the month of March this year and there will be a special theme for each month,” stated Lohit Deka, Head of the Programme, AIR Dibrugarh in a press release.

Accordingly, coinciding with the ‘International Women’s Day’ the theme for March will be ‘Women’. All the programmes to be broadcast during March will deal with various issues related to women and there will be a sincere effort to sensitize the listeners on women issues. The theme for April will be ‘culture and tradition’, for May ‘Family and Societal Life’, for June ‘Environment Conservation’, for July ‘Development-Disaster and Sustainability’, for August ‘Senior Citizen’, for September ‘Sports’, for October ‘Health and Hygiene’, for November ‘Children’, for December ‘Agriculture and Livelihood’, for January (2019) ‘Youth’ and for the February 2019 ‘Science and Technology’.

Highlighting the services of All India Radio in general and All India Radio Dibrugarh in particular, six songs and two orchestras have been produced to colour every transmission with ‘golden tunes’ during the year. The songs have been written by Dr Karabi Deka Hazarika, Hiren Gohain and Syed Sadulla and composed by Rajen Gohain, Hiren Gohain and Syed Sadulla. The orchestras have been composed by Bhabesh Goswami and Budhin Gogoi.

The main objectives of the programmes, that have been designed to produce during the golden jubilee year, are to showcase the glorious services of the AIR station during the last five decades, to connect with more and more listeners with its programmes and to make All India Radio more visible among the new generation as a vibrant and effective medium of information, education and entertainment in the present scenario of media proliferation.

With a view to fulfil the objectives, the regular infotainment programmes ‘Surar Panchoi’ and ‘Antora’ have been designed with the content of ‘history of Assamese modern songs of AIR Dibrugarh and its lyrics’, ‘history of radio plays of AIR Dibrugarh’, ‘anecdotes from the history of AIR Dibrugarh’ and interviews with 52 personalities involved with AIR Dibrugarh in different ways.

Apart from these, with a view to compose a book on history of AIR Dibrugarh, interviews of 30 eminent personalities involved with the station will be broadcast in 104 episodes for a duration of 30 minutes per episode. These interviews will be broadcast at 9.30 pm on Sundays and Saturdays.

AIR Dibrugarh is also planning to organise one-act play competition, music and debate competitions, seminars, symposiums, awareness meetings on government development programmes, skill development camps, farmer-scientist exchange camps etc., involving youth clubs, NGOs, government organisations, tea gardens and autonomous councils in the nine districts of upper Assam.

It is planning to broadcast two more special programmes during the golden jubilee year. One of these is to broadcast nearly 350 popular Assamese modern songs recorded in AIR Dibrugarh during the last five decades, packaged with special compering in 52 episodes of 30 minutes duration with the title, ‘Akashbani Dibrugoror Sonali Sangeet’. The other one will be the expression of views and experiences with AIR Dibrugarh during one’s lifetime either as a listener or as a participant of any programme, with the title, ‘Moi Aru Akashvani Dibrugarh’. This will also be of 30 minutes duration and will be broadcast in 52 episodes.

Moreover, in ‘Ajir Dinto’ the morning information programme, it has been decided to broadcast golden jubilee greetings everyday during the year. “We hope that these year-long programmes will give a fillip to AIR Dibrugarh in disseminating services with desiring taste of listeners of this easternmost part of the country with a perfect spirit of public service broadcasting in the changing scenario of media world,” the release added.

This year-long celebration will formally be inaugurated on February 23 next with a day-long programme. On that day at 5.30 am, the programme will start with a “Run for Peace” from the Old High School Field, Dibrugarh to the studio premises of AIR Dibrugarh. Thereafter, at 7.30 am two significant personalities – Hiren Gohain, the first announcer of the station and N MA Khampti, one of the producers of Arunachalee dialect programmes and a retired Station Director will start the golden jubilee plantation programme at the studio premises of AIR Dibrugarh.

The main inaugural function will start at 5.30 in the evening on the same day at the studio premises of AIR Dibrugarh and Dr Nagen Saikia, eminent litterateur will formally inaugurate the year-long celebration. The prizes to the winners of the folk music reality show – ‘Lokasangeet Madhuri’ will also be given away at the jubilee inaugural function, the release informed.

  All India Radio, Media, radio