Pune: The local afternoon broadcast of All India Radio (AIR) Pune, which had been off the air for two years, is set to resume from Sunday, October 6.

This decision follows approval from Prasar Bharati, much to the delight of loyal listeners and local artists who had been urging for its return.

In 2019, due to a strategic decision by Prasar Bharati, all afternoon and evening local productions at AIR stations across Maharashtra, including Pune, were halted.

Instead, broadcasts from AIR Mumbai were relayed in their place. However, this led to considerable opposition from Pune’s listeners and artists, who felt a loss of local content.

After months of continuous effort, in April of this year, the evening local transmission from AIR Pune was restored.

Now, the long-awaited afternoon broadcast will also make a comeback. Speaking on the development, Indrajit Bagal, Director of AIR Pune, explained, “The local afternoon transmission was stopped two years ago as per higher orders, but after repeated appeals and proposals, we have finally received approval to restart it.”

With this revival, popular local programs such as Vanita Mandal, Sakhi Sandesh, and Bhavdhara are also set to return.

Bagal noted that AIR Pune has been operational since 1953 and continues to be one of the most listened-to AIR stations in the country.

Official data from Prasar Bharati confirms that Pune has the largest number of AIR listeners nationwide, further emphasizing the significance of resuming local broadcasts.

Call for Technological Upgrades

Listeners have also voiced a key demand for technological upgrades at AIR Pune. The station currently operates on medium wave (MW), which is considered outdated.

There have been calls for upgrading the station to FM, which would significantly enhance broadcast quality. Moreover, listeners have requested the launch of AIR’s FM Rainbow channel in Pune, a service already available in 25 cities across India.

Additionally, there had been previous announcements regarding the introduction of a new Akashvani Marathi channel focused on Marathi language content.

Now that Marathi has received classical language status, the push for this dedicated channel has gained momentum.