RADIO PAKISTAN IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY

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RADIO PAKISTAN IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY

· March 1926 The Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC)‚ a private Company‚ was formed

· 23rd July‚ 1927 IBC started a station at Bombay‚ thus beginning organized broadcasting in Indo-Pakistan‚ sub-continent

· 1928 A small transmitting station was set up at Lahore

· April 1930 Broadcasting was placed under the direct control of Government under the title 'Indian State Broadcasting Service' (ISBS)

· January 1934 The 'Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933)' came into force

· January 1935 NWFP Government set up a 250 watts transmitting station at Peshawar for community listening

· March 1935 Office of Controller of broadcasting created under the Department of Industries and Labour of the Government

· August 1935 Mr. Lionel Fielden assumed charge as the first Controller of Broadcasting

· January‚ 1936 Delhi radio station was opened . Mr A.S.Bukhari Station Director Delhi becomes deputy controller of broadcasting on July 9‚ 1936

· 8th June‚ 1936 The name of Indian State Broadcasting Service was changed as AIR

· July 16‚ 1936 A station was inaugurated at Peshawar. This station was taken over by the Government of India from the Government of NWFP on April 1‚ 1937

· July 1942 The Peshawar radio station shifted in a regular broadcasting house December 1937 The Lahore Station went on air

· March 1939 The Peshawar station was converted into a relay station

· September 1939 News bulletins were centralized in all languages at Delhi. The same year‚ a station was opened at Dhaka
Nov 12‚ 1939 Quaid-e-Azam's first radio broadcast from Bombay radio station on Eid day

· Oct 24‚ 1941 The Department of Information and Broadcasting was set up

· July 16‚ 1942 Peshawar radio station formally inaugurated

· February 1943 Controller broadcasting was designated as Director General

· 3 June 1947 Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah makes historic address on AIR and announces the creation of the newly independent state of PAKISTAN for the muslims of the sub-continent

· Aug 14‚1947 Pakistan comes into being and the announcement of its creation is made by the new organization‚ the Pakistan Broadcasting Service which comes into existence at the same time and later designated as Radio Pakistan

· Inaugurations of broadcasting stations and transmitters

· 1948 Rawalpindi-3 Radio Station with 500 Watt SW transmitter and Karachi Radio Station with 100 Watt SW transmitter were inaugurated

· 1949 Rawalpindi Station with 100-Watt MW transmitter was inaugurated

· 1950 Inauguration of a new broadcasting house at Karachi
1951 Foundation-stone of Hyderabad radio station with 1 kW MW transmitter was laid

· 17 Oct 1956 Quetta radio station and 1 kW MW transmitter was inaugurated

· 15 Oct. 1960 Inauguration of Rawalpindi-2 radio station with 1 kW SW transmitter and a receiving center at Peshawar

· 1970 A staff Training School & Technical Training School Islamabad and Multan radio station with 120 kW MW transmitter inaugurated

· Radio Pakistan was converted into a body corporate under an ordinance issued by the former President of Pakistan‚ Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1972.

· The foundation stone of PBC Headquarters‚ Islamabad building was laid by the former President Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on 27th April‚ 1972.

· After the new constitution had been framed and brought into effect in 1973‚ the parliament passed “PBC Act 1973”.

· 21 April 1973 World Service for overseas Pakistanis inaugurated

· 1974 Foundation-stone of 100 kW Transmitter‚ Khairpur laid

· 18 Aug 1975 Inauguration of Bahawalpur radio station with 10 kW MW

· 1977 The main broadcasting unit of PBC‚ the Islamabad Radio station in the new National Broadcasting house with 1‚000 kW MW transmitter was inaugurated

· 1977 Inauguration of Gilgit radio station with 250 Watt MW transmitter and Skardu radio station with 250 watt MW transmitter

· 1981 Turbat radio station with 250 Watt MW and D.I.Khan radio station with 10 kW MW transmitter and Khuzdar radio station with 250 Watt MW inaugurated

· 15 Sept. 1982 Faisalabad radio station with 250 Watt MW came on air

· 7 May 1986 A new broadcasting house‚ Khairpur was inaugurated

· 1989 Inauguration of Sibi relay station with 250 Watt transmitter and Abbottabad relay station with 250 Watt transmitter .

· Aug 1993 Chitral radio station with 1 kW FM transmitter was inaugurated

· Radio Pakistan Larkana was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on 24th September‚ 1995.

· 1996 Foundation stone of Loralai station and 10 kW MW transmitter and 10 kW MW transmitter at Zhob were laid .

· 1997 Federal minister of Information Mr. Mushahid Hussain Syed inaugurated the computerization of the PBC news processing system and availability of the news bulletins on the Internet in text and audio form.

· In October 1998 Radio Pakistan started FM transmission.

· Inauguration of FM101 Station at PBC Islamabad.

· 2005 new FM regular stations set up at Gawadar‚ Mianwali‚ Sargodha‚ Kohat‚ Bannu‚ Mithi

· The National Broadcasting Service was launched by the former Minister of Information & Broadcasting Sherry Rehman on 18th August‚ 2008.

· Presently Radio Pakistan is broadcasting programmes in 23 languages.


· In March 2014, 100 KW medium wave transmitter at Turbat Station was made operational and put on air.

· In May 2014,the 400 KW medium wave digital transmitter, newly installed at Peshawar under USAID program, was inaugurated. The transmitter is radiating 18 hours services daily on the frequency 1260 KHz, covering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and parts of Punjab.

· In July 2014, a new 100 KW medium wave digital transmitter was installed and put on air from Hyderabad station. The transmitter is radiating 148 hours services daily on the frequency 1008 KHz, covering major cities of Sindh.

· In August 2014, the 100 KW medium wave digital transmitter, newly installed at D.I Khan under USAID program, was inaugurated. The prime objective is to cover South and North Waziristan. In August, FM Varsa Channel was launched from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi on the frequency 94 MHz, for effective promotion of our cultural heritage including classical, semi-classical, folk and Sufi music.

· In August 2014, the face-lifting of the old and shabby buildings of Lahore and Peshawar radio stations were carried out and studios renovated.

· In August 2014, one studio each at Lahore and Peshawar radio stations were dedicated to Mustafa Ali Hamdani and Aftab Ahmed respectively, the first announcers announced creation of Pakistan from Radio Pakistan, at midnight, on 13th August 1947.

· In October 2014, the out of order 100 KW short wave transmitter, installed at Rawat Transmitting Station, was made operational and put on air. The services are available in AJK and Indian-held Kashmir.

· In November 2014, a group of PBC personnel comprising studio engineer, IT engineer and producer joined a training program held at Antalya, Turkey under the auspices of Turkish Radio & Television Corporation.

· In December 2014,a 100 KW MW digital transmitter, imported from Canada, was received for Multan station. After Installation, the transmitter will cover the Southern Punjab.

· In December 2014, a 10 KW medium wave digital transmitter, imported from Germany, was received for Karachi station. After its installation, MW services in Karachi and adjoining areas will be rehabilitated.

· In December 2014, FM Sautul Quran Channel is being launched from Islamabad on frequency 93.5 MHz. The Channel is broadcasting recitation from the Holy Quran and its Urdu translation for 18 hours daily. Similar services will also be broadcast from 19 other cities in near future.

· In December 2014, a ceremony was held in the PBC Headquarters, Islamabad to confer awards upon the PBC personnel belonging to Engineering, Program and News sections, in recognition to their excellent performance.


Karachi

 

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This museum in Islamabad is home to Pakistan's radio history. It has preserved the microhpone used by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan. Watch the video to get a glimpse of the museum

https://samaa-vod.scaleengine.net/samaa-vod-vod/play/mp4:sestore3/samaa/digital-library/2020/06/RADIO-MUSEUM-ISB-PKG-14-06.mp4

 

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Nasir producing a play for Studio Number 9

Tuning a radio set in the past needed some of the same skills required to crack a high security safe. One hand on the knob and the ear close to the box; as the knob played back and forth, so did the chances of hitting the right station... BBC, All India Radio and bingo “Yeh Radio Pakistan Hai!”


Radio Pakistan is an organisation that came into being the day Pakistan was created. On the night between August 14 and 15, 1947, the first announcement was made from Lahore by celebrated broadcaster, Mustafa Ali Hamdani, followed by a similar announcement in English by Zahoor Azar, a CSS officer who later became the Director General of Radio Pakistan.

Agha Nasir, one of the pioneers of this institution, gave us a brief history of how the Karachi station came to be set up. “At the time of partition, there were only three radio stations in Pakistan, in Dhaka, Lahore and Peshawar. The fact that there was no radio in the then capital Karachi was a major concern. This was addressed on a priority basis.

“Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari, brother of the famous writer Patras Bokhari, was a legendary broadcaster who worked with All India Radio. After Partition he opted to come to Pakistan and became the first Controller of Radio Pakistan. He can rightfully be credited with the concept, establishment and development of Radio Pakistan.

“A place in the Intelligence School, established by the British forces during the Second World War was borrowed to house the Karachi station. Studios were set up in a barrack; offices were set up in tents. There was no furniture; only darris and chatais on which producers and artistes sat and held discussions and meetings.

“The place allocated, the next step was how to set up the radio station. All factories which were in the business of making transmitters and broadcasting equipment were either destroyed in the Second World War or had closed down. So Bokhari sahib sent one person to Europe, another to the Far East and he himself went to India to buy equipment to set up a radio station. He literally bought spare parts and machines using his connections in Bombay, even from kabaris. All gathered in Karachi to set up the broadcasting station. The few engineers available at that time worked day and night and within a year a radio station was ready to go. In a couple of years the Broadcasting House, as it came to be known, was shifted to Bunder Road.

“During the mid 50s to the mid 60s, Radio Pakistan was at the zenith of its success and popularity, not just because there was no competitive medium or source of information, education and entertainment, but also because it ran in such a perfect manner that it was at par with many international radio services.”
Talking about his introduction to this organisation, Nasir tell us that “as a college student I wrote drama scripts and sent them to radio but none of them were broadcast. One day I came to know that the new drama producer Shamsuddin Butt wanted to see me. When I met Butt sahib, he started off by saying, ‘Maulana hum aap ka drama karna cha rahey hain.’

“It was not as simple as I had imagined; he made me revise the script five times. Finally he approved the script and the play was to be broadcast the following Sunday. A few days later, I got a call from the Administration Section to sign the contract. When I arrived at the station the next day, I was told that the Assistant Regional Director (ARD) wanted to meet me.

“Saleem Shahid, the ARD, better known by most as husband of TV artiste Khursheed Shahid and father of Salman Shahid, congratulated me and said, ‘You have been selected as a producer for Radio Pakistan and my advice would be to join today.’ The catch was that if I joined that day, a day prior to the broadcast of my play, I had to forego the 25 rupees, (which was a handsome amount in 1956) as being an employee of the organisation one is not entitled to any payment for one’s play. Well, I decided to join. My play was broadcast on my first day in office — and I didn’t get paid for it.”


Nasir firmly believes that the credit of developing and maintaining drama in Pakistan goes entirely to Radio Pakistan. The decade of 1955—1965 was the period considered to be the ‘golden era’ of drama in Pakistan. In fact if there had not been drama on radio there would have been no drama in Pakistan today.

This was made possible by the contribution of many playwrights like Nasrullah Khan, Saleem Ahmed, Syed Ahmed Riffat, Intesar Husain, etc. In those early days their literary achievements in drama gained them great fame and popularity. Likewise Fatima Khanum, Santosh Rassal, Humaira Naeem and Nuzhat Irshad became household names in the field of acting, as did their male partners namely S.M. Saleem, Zafar Siddique and Abdul Majid. They were all very talented people and had a commitment towards development of drama. Film producers and directors, recognising the value of radio artistes began to borrow the talent for the film industry. For example, Mohammad Ali who was a product of radio later became a super star in the film industry.
In addition to the drama authors and artistes, two more people can be credited for creating the golden age of drama.

Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari or ZAB as he was called was the Director General of Radio Pakistan. With his golden voice and deep passion for drama, he not only produced and penned plays for radio, but performed in them as well. He played Bahadur Shah Zafar in Saleem Ahmed’s play 1857 and Mark Antony in Shakespeare’s Urdu translation of Julius Caesar with equal aplomb; his rendition of both the father and the son in the play Light House key Muhafiz, an adaptation written by Nasrullah Khan, was remembered and talked about for months.

Shamsuddin Butt, a quiet, reserved person, was the first Pakistani selected by an American University for a master’s degree in radio drama.

The title of the incredibly popular drama series Studio Number 9, which was broadcast live from the Studio No 9 of BH, was his brainchild.

This play went on to become a legend; a piece of popular culture that still remains embedded in the memory of a certain generation.

Nasir assisted Butt in drama production and when Butt left after two years, Nasir was made the main drama producer for Studio No 9. He continued to produce one play every week. “The job was not easy,” he recalls. “One had to select the play. Get the script written, from whoever was available from the list of writers. Cast it, rehearse it and broadcast it. It was a seven-day drill without a single day off.

The play would go on air on Sunday evening and we would start working for the next drama from Monday.” For this gruelling work he received a princely salary of Rs 200 per month, but it was worth it. “It was a genuine privilege to be associated with Radio Pakistan; all the intellectuals, writers, and poets were keen to work for this institution as it not only ensured publicity but provided a serious medium for airing one’s views.”

Nasir produced one play every Sunday for almost six consecutive years — adding up to an impressive portfolio. Full of energy and enthusiasm his selection of scripts included several classics such as Anthology of Sophocles, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ibsen’s Doll House, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, Tolstoy’s Lower Depths and Chekov’s Three Sisters. From the local front he picked Rustam aur Sohrab by Agha Hashar and Anarkali by Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj. The quality he provided placed radio drama on very high pedestal.

“In addition to Studio Number 9, there were some very popular series and serials on radio. Hamid Mian key Haan, written by Intesar Hussain, was a weekly serial which became the longest running programme broadcast on Radio Pakistan — it ran for over four decades.

Another programme I produced was Damsaz Dambaz, again by Intesar Hussain. On the same pattern, we later produced Alif Noon for television. Another series, Muft ka Jhagra written by Saleem Ahmed, starred two great voices of radio: Arshey Muneer and Akhtari Begum.
Dekhta Chala Giya was a daily programme, a diary of a sailani (traveller), who would roam around the city and find interesting stories.

This was done by S.M. Saleem who came to be known as the Dilip Kumar of Radio Pakistan.

“Every so often we would run a drama festival called Jashne-Tamseel. A different play was broadcast every day for seven consecutive days and the plays were of such high standard that people made it a point to get home in time for the drama. Shops would shut down early and traffic would thin out, giving a curfew-type look to the bustling city. That was the power of drama in the hey-days of Radio Pakistan!”

 

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In 1950s, US Vice-President Richard Nixon signs a guestbook at Radio Pakistan, Karachi, as Z.A. Bukhari looks on.

 

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First address over Radio Pakistan

 

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At independence Pakistan possessed three radio stations at Dhaka (established in 1939), Lahore (1937) and Peshawar(1936). A major program of expansion saw new stations opened at Karachi and Rawalpindi in 1948, and a new broadcasting house at Karachi in 1950. This was followed by new stations at Hyderabad (1951), Quetta (1956), a second station at Rawalpindi (1960) and a Receiving Centre at Peshawar (1960).

In 1970, training facilities were opened in Islamabad and a station opened at Multan. A major step was the establishment of the Radio Pakistan World Service on 21 April 1973 for overseas Pakistanis followed by new stations at Khairpur (1974) andBahawalpur (1975).

The main broadcasting unit of PBC at Islamabad moved to the new National Broadcasting House in 1977 and the service reached the remotest parts of Pakistan with stations at Gilgit (1977) and Skardu (1977) in the far north and Turbat (1981) in the far southwest. From 1981 to 1982 stations and transmitters were also established at Dera Ismail Khan, Khuzdar and Faisalabad.

Radio Pakistan opened a new broadcasting house in Khairpur on 7 May 1986, followed by relay stations in 1989 at Sibi and Abbottabad. The remoter parts of the country began to receive coverage with new stations opened in the 1990s at Chitral, Loralai and Zhob.

In 1997, the Federal Minister of Information inaugurated the computerization of the PBC news processing system and availability of the news bulletins on the Internet in text and audio form.FM 101 Channel of PBC was launched on 1st oct 1998 having stations at islamabad,lahore and karachi and now this channel have nine stations throughout Pakistan and is the biggest FM Radio network of Pakistan.

In October 1998, Radio Pakistan started FM transmission and over the period 2002–2005, new FM stations were opened at Islamabad, Gwadar, Mianwali,Sargodha, Kohat, Bannu and Mithi. In last two and a half years three new networks have been launched by PBC.

On August 28, 2008 PBC launched National Broadcasting Service (NBS) the first dedicated Current Affairs Channel. It is a combination of 5 (100 KW) AM transmitters permanently linked together to broadcast a single national program beamed across Pakistan. Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta and Karachi are the main stations generating the national programming. It is a 17 hours programming on major national and international issues, target audience and literary and cultural programs. PBC launched a new Community FM channel after February 2009 Station Director Conference.

The network is called FM-93 Network with 22 stations across Pakistan. Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Abbottabad, Chitral, Bannu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Sargodha, Mianwali, Faislabad, Lahore, Multan, Larkana, Khairpur,Bhit Shah, Hyderabad, Mithi, Karachi and Gwadar transmit the FM 93 network. On November 14 PBC launched its first English Music Channel in Islamabad called Planet 94. The network operates on FM 94. The second and third stations of the English channel are soon to start their transmissions from Lahore and Karachi.


Legal basis

The PBC Act of 1973 contains inter alia provisions concerning management (chapter III, ss. 4–9) and finance (chapter VI, ss. 13–20). According to the act it is among the corporation's functions (chapter IV) "to broadcast such programmes as may promote Islamic ideology, national unity and principles of democracy, freedom equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam, discourage parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian, linguistic and provincial prejudices and reflect the urges and aspirations of the people of Pakistan".



PBC Services

The PBC provides several services including:

• 
  
• Home Service (domestic network)
• World Service (for overseas Pakistanis)
• External Service
• PBC News
  • 
    
  • News & Current Affairs Channel (NBS = National Broadcasting Service; launched August 28, 2008)
• Sautul Qur'an (religious broadcasting; launched January 26, 1998)
• FM – 101 (service in major towns and cities; launched October 1, 1998)
• FM – 93 (service in major towns and cities)
• FM – 94 (Pakistan First Awaz Khazana Chanel called Varsa run from Islamabad Karachi.Lahore
• National Sound Archives

PBC News

The PBC News service broadcasts 149 news bulletins in 31 languages daily, covering world, national and regional news as well as sports, business and weather reports.


External Service

Radio Pakistan is the official international broadcasting station of Pakistan.

Radio Pakistan was able to start its external services on regular basis on 1949. As Pakistan is strategically located and is a close neighbour of China, India, Middle Eastern countries and Central Asia, it is necessary to use Radio Pakistan and its external services as an instrument to project the country's policies in true perspective so that a message of peace and friendship is disseminated to the world specially to its neighbours.

The programmes of External Services are so designed as to project Pakistan's view point on domestic and foreign policy issues. Another special aim of these services is to disseminate knowledge about the art, culture, history, values and way of life of its people among foreign listeners in order to generate feelings of friendship, goodwill and mutual understanding which help create an environment of peace and tranquility and make co-existence possible in the region.

They broadcast in 34 languages: Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Seraiki, Potowari, Pashto, Hindko, Kohistani, Khowar, Kashmiri, Dhatki, Gojri, Pahari, Burushaski, Balti,Shina, Wakhi, Hazargi, Brahvi, English, Chinese, Dari, Persian, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Sinhala, Nepali, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Bengali.