The Platinum Jubilee celebrations of All India Radio, Mysore, was held in the city in September and was an occasion to cherish. For, it was in Mysore that broadcasting history was made in the country thanks to the efforts of M.V. Gopalaswamy, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Mysore, on September 10, 1935. He is credited with starting a private radio broadcasting from his “Vittal Vihar” residence in Vontikoppal at a time when radio was still in its nascent stages and is reckoned to be a pioneer in the field.
The Station Director, M.S. Vijaya Haran, pointed out that a little bit of cultural history was made on the day when poet laureate Kuvempu inaugurated the broadcasting station and the first music broadcast was by Mysore Vasudevacharya.
In a detailed note released on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Mr. Vijaya Haran recalled that the accompanying artistes of the first music broadcast were H.V. Rama Rao on the violin and Venkatesh Devar on the mridangam.
For Gopalaswamy, the passion for radio broadcasting was such that he spent money from his own pocket for six years to keep the show going after which it was handed over to the Mysore Municipality until the provincial Government of the Maharaja assumed the responsibility with effect from January 1, 1942 and Gopalaswamy continued as its Director till 1943. He was succeeded by N. Kasturi and it was during his time that AIR was baptised as ‘Akashvani.'
Akashvani
“The radio station flaunted with aplomb the title ‘Akashvani Mysore' on its façade and later on when AlR came under the administrative fold of the Indian Government, the radio stations continued to use the name ‘Akashvani' and hence the credit for lending this beautiful name to all the AIR stations in the country goes to Mysore Akashvani”, said Dr.Vijaya Haran in a detailed note circulated along with the souvenir that was released on the occasion.
But despite the start provided by Mysore, the station equipment was shifted in 1950 to Bangalore which was the State Capital and AIR Mysore continued to broadcast from the capital city from November 2, 1955. It was as if the cultural life of Mysore had eclipsed, noted Dr. Vijaya Haran.
However, there were some efforts to recommence the broadcasting from Mysore and it was on November 14, 1974, that the Mysore AIR started broadcasting programmes again after a gap of 19 years. Since then the station has gone from strength to strength. “The credit for restarting Mysore Akashvani goes to Venkatramaiah, an engineer from Yedatore”, according to Dr. Vijaya Haran.
Listing out other “firsts” to the credit of Akashvani Mysore, he notes that it was the first to broadcast from 5.55 a.m. to 11.05 p.m; first to broadcast educational programmes for high school students; broadcast Hindi lessons; introduce Gana Vihara, a music lesson programme; begin Sugama Sangeetha; and, apart from Delhi, the only station to broadcast news in Kannada four times a day – at 9 a.m., 2.30 p.m.; 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
So, at a time when private broadcasting by all and sundry with focus on music is the norm, Mysore with people like Gopalaswamy, Kasturi and other Station Directors like A.N. Murthy Rao was far ahead of the time 75 years ago. The focus of AIR Mysore was on art, culture and current events and there was no “dumbing down” of the programmes and those featured include gifted people of the State who enriched literature, music, science, technology, polity, economics etc.
R. Krishna Kumar
Started in 1935, it has many firsts to its credit
