The radio continues to be relevant even today, and it has changed from a broadcast to an interactive medium, which is constantly alive to the needs and tastes of its listeners.
Helping the digitisation of the radio stations of the Prasar Bharati, customised computer software has been developed in-house by Sivakumar Mahadevan of AIR, Trivandrum.
Secured network
The software package – AIR Studio Automation Software – Virtual Studio ver 2.0 can handle various tasks such as recording, editing/dubbing, storage of archives, scheduling of programmes, commercials management, on-air playback, transmission logging, reports and royalty payments, among others, in a highly secured networked environment such as LAN or WAN, Director (Engineering) Prasar Bharati Staff Training Institute, New Delhi, Murugan, has explained.
The announcers, programme executives, and transmission executives, attending a four-day workshop on Virtual Studio 2.0 at the All India Radio station in the city, were all fired up by the features of the package.
The software has made it easier for us, giving us more time to plan our programmes to suit the aspirations of the listeners, Station Director AIR-Visakhapatnam V. Venkata Rani has explained.
The AIR-Visakhapatnam has been using the package for over a year now, she adds.
The delegates also interacted with the end-users of the software at the city’s Radio Station.
A virtual studio was created for the participants for hands-on training.
Virtual Studio is already in use in 100 radio stations of the AIR and would be extended to all the 220 radio stations of the AIR.
All transmission of the AIR would be going digital by 2017, Mr. Murugan said.
The customised package requires 15 different metadata to be entered at the time of saving it in the library, which makes it very easy to search, Deputy Director, AIR Visakhapatnam, R. Harsha Latha, explained.
The package is light and enables the radio jockey to track a song even as a listener is requesting it during an interactive programme, Deputy Director Rathna Prasad has said.
Some 20 programme executives, transmission executives, and announcers from Ahmedabad, Chaibasa, Hubli, Mangalore, and Jammu, among others, participated in the workshop.
