AIR FM Gold
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AIR FM Gold is a FM radio channel in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, India. It is run by the All India Radio, a government owned enterprise, a division of Prasar Bharati . In Mumbai, it features Hindi songs, and occasionally English songs along with hourly news in English and Hindi. It operates on 100.7 Megahertz.In Delhi it was started on 15 August 2001 by the then Minister of Information & Broadcasting.
The late Rajiv Saxena, Vijay Deepak Chhibber and Danish Iqbal were some of the broadcasters who were involved with devising the channel's initial content and presentation style. At that time this channel was just called FM-2. FM-1 was the previous channel which is now known as FM Rainbow. Anil Baijal, then CEO of Prasar Bharti wanted to call this as FM Classic but FM-2 name became popular by default.There was acute scarcity of voices for the new channel, hence daily auditions were conducted and a big number of new RJs were added. Initial team of FM Gold consisted of persons like Ujjawal Maitra, Sujata Rath and Danish Iqbal who devised the inaugural Programming. Later others like Rajiv Saxena and V D Chibber also joined FM Gold. Programmes like Gaate Gungunate, Arpan and Dopaher FM were part of the initial repertoire. Another notable feature of the early days was the daily broadcast of Helpline series where various kinds of counselling was provided involving notable experts of different fields. In those days this Channel used to be of 18 hours only. Now it is a 24 hours Channel.
FM-1, now FN Rainbow used to be a metro channel using Hinglish and a mix of Hindi film music and western pop but this channel was designed to broadcast only classics of music, drama and literature. Another specialty of that period was the daily Phone-in counselling shows involving educational, psychiatric, legal, marriage, home decor, interior decoration, hobbies like music, painting, photography, dance and many more very innovative subjects. FM-2 became very popular among discerning audience within a short time due to its eclectic programming and old Hindi songs. In recent times it has surpassed all other Private FM Channels in its popularity. According to recent[when?] surveys its morning, evening and late night shows are more popular than any other channel. It is the only channel which has 30 percent News and Current Affairs in its programming. In Chennai, it broadcasts Tamil songs and occasional English songs with news in English and Tamil operating in 102.3 MHz.In Delhi it operates Hindi older songs with news/special reports commentary and its frequency is 106.40 MHz.It is airing live commentary for cricket matches also.
News bulletins on FM-Gold Channel
The then Information and Broadcasting Minister launched a news and entertainment channel called AIR FM-II (now called FM Gold) on September 1, 2001. The Channel is on the air for about 18 hours a day from 6 am to 10 minutes past 12 in the night. It is a composite blend of information and entertainment with one third of its contents devoted to news and current affairs. The Channel carries news on the hour originating from Delhi. Composite news programmes in Hindi and English originating from Delhi are exclusively broadcast every morning, midday and evening for a duration of 30 minutes each. These include ‘Samachar Prabhat’, ’Dopahar Samachar’ in Hindi and ‘Breakfast News’ in English in the morning and ‘Samachar Sandhya’ in Hindi in the evening and 'News at 9' at 9 p.m. . The channel has also some specialized programmes like ‘Market Mantra’ (Business Magazine) and ‘Sports Scan’(Sports related programme) . Other news-based programmes mounted on FM Gold include ‘Vaad Samvaad’ and ‘Countrywide’ based on interviews with prominent personalities. It also broadcasts news at every hour.
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