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Repair works disrupt FM radio
People fond of listening to their favourite programmes on FM channels — AIR’s FM Gold and Rainbow, and some private radio channels — missed them on Friday as transmission remained disrupted for a major part of the day due to maintenance works going on at Pitampura tower.
The broadcast was affected since early morning till about 4 pm, though some officials claimed that it was restored around 2.30 pm. Much confusion prevailed during the day with listeners complaining about not being able to enjoy their favourite programmes.
“My mother is a big fan of devotional music that comes on FM Gold in the morning. She woke me up saying there is some fault in her radio set. I tried setting the frequency but it was of no avail. Then I realised that FM channels are not working. I even missed listening to the songs while driving,” said Avik Dutta an avid listener of FM Gold.
AIR DG Leeladhar Mandloi, who was in Pune, told The Pioneer that the shutdown was pre-planned and even court’s permission was taken in this regard.
According to Engineering Incharge at AIR of RK Jain, “There is possibility of similar disruption once again in the next few days as an additional antenna is being put up by the Doordarshan in connection with its digitalisation work on the Pitampura tower — which has both Doordarshan and AIR transmitters along with some private channels’.”
He said that for the next few days the transmission services will be shut from midnight till 6 am and on one day the disruption will be caused even during daytime since some work is such that it cannot be carried out during the night due to risk to maintenance staff.
In fact, FM Gold even made an announcement in this regard in its 6 pm bulletin saying the broadcast between midnight till 6 am from Friday night to September 15 will not be there as strengthening of transmission tower is going on.
However, AIR Delhi incharge Laxmi Shankar Bajpai later said that the repair work has been postponed due to weather conditions so the broadcast will continue during the night.
Despite the disruption, FM Gold and Rainbow programmes were relayed to 22 centres and could be heard on DTH, he pointed out but admitted that since majority of listeners are in Delhi they faced inconvenience.
People fond of listening to their favourite programmes on FM channels — AIR’s FM Gold and Rainbow, and some private radio channels — missed them on Friday as transmission remained disrupted for a major part of the day due to maintenance works going on at Pitampura tower.
The broadcast was affected since early morning till about 4 pm, though some officials claimed that it was restored around 2.30 pm. Much confusion prevailed during the day with listeners complaining about not being able to enjoy their favourite programmes.
“My mother is a big fan of devotional music that comes on FM Gold in the morning. She woke me up saying there is some fault in her radio set. I tried setting the frequency but it was of no avail. Then I realised that FM channels are not working. I even missed listening to the songs while driving,” said Avik Dutta an avid listener of FM Gold.
AIR DG Leeladhar Mandloi, who was in Pune, told The Pioneer that the shutdown was pre-planned and even court’s permission was taken in this regard.
According to Engineering Incharge at AIR of RK Jain, “There is possibility of similar disruption once again in the next few days as an additional antenna is being put up by the Doordarshan in connection with its digitalisation work on the Pitampura tower — which has both Doordarshan and AIR transmitters along with some private channels’.”
He said that for the next few days the transmission services will be shut from midnight till 6 am and on one day the disruption will be caused even during daytime since some work is such that it cannot be carried out during the night due to risk to maintenance staff.
In fact, FM Gold even made an announcement in this regard in its 6 pm bulletin saying the broadcast between midnight till 6 am from Friday night to September 15 will not be there as strengthening of transmission tower is going on.
However, AIR Delhi incharge Laxmi Shankar Bajpai later said that the repair work has been postponed due to weather conditions so the broadcast will continue during the night.
Despite the disruption, FM Gold and Rainbow programmes were relayed to 22 centres and could be heard on DTH, he pointed out but admitted that since majority of listeners are in Delhi they faced inconvenience.
