Akashvani Bhavan

Welcome To All India Radio Kolkata (Un-Official Site)

Akashvani Bhavan. This building was completed in the year 1958. The same year All India Radio Kolkata(then Calcutta) shifted to this building. The building has Rah Bhavan on the North, famous Eden Gardens on the West & The State Assembly house on the North. There are fourteen studios plus three FM Stereo studios. Many famous National and International Artists have performed here. Their 'Live' and recorded performances habe been broadcast by All India Radio Kolkata for million of it's listeners. The studios are well equiped and are updated regularly keeping up with the latest trends in broadcasting round the world.

1, Garstin Place. Illustration by Gautam Sengupta. On 26th August, 1927, the Centre was shifted to 1, Garstin Place, with two studies. In 1940, the number of studios increased to six. In 1958, the center was transferred to Eden Gardens. The organization was then headed by Mr. Nripen Majumdar, Mr. Raichand Boral, Mr. Jogesh Chandra Bose, Mr. Rajen Sen, Mr. R.C. Dey, Mr. Pankaj Mallick, etc.
Rabindranath Tagore’s songs were first called “Rabindra Sangeet” by Pankaj Mallick. In 1931, Smt. Basanteswari, Banikumar joined the organization. In 1932, Raichand Boral conducted the Bengali programme “Mahishasur Mardini” on the day of “Shashti”, which was extremely popular.

1930, the Indian Broadcasting Co. was liquidated. The Government of India then decided to take over. In 1935, under the Viceroy ship of Lord Linlithglow, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became the “All India Radio”. 2 new stations were set up at Peshwar (N.W. Frontier) and Allahabad (U.P.), to conduct programmes for the rural audience. In 1937, a central news organization (News Service Division) was founded. In 1939, broadcasting was started for foreign audiences. In the year 1940, Professor A.S. Bokhari became the controller of Broadcasting and became the D.G. in 1943. In 1947, there were 6 stations in India – Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Lucknow, Trivendrum; and five principle stations at Baroda, Mysore, Trivendrum, Hyderabad & Aurangabad.

The Marconi Company from England conducted several test broadcasts from different locations in Calcutta. The first concert program was heard at a distance of three miles, and subsequently a discourse from the local gulf club was heard at a distance of 72 miles. This same transmitter was made available on loan to the Calcutta Radio Club, who launched their own radio station in November 1923 under the callsign 2BZ. The Marconi company made another transmitter available to the government in West Bengal who operated their station as 5AF. Both stations in Calcutta, 2BZ and 5AF, were closed when the national government established its own station, 7CA-VUC, in 1927.