Friday, October 05, 2007

FM service to go on air in Dharmapuri


Good news for music lovers in Dharmapuri district. All India Radio (AIR) is all set to launch FM radio service from October 2 here. AIR sources pointed out that the station will relay FM rainbow programmes from Chennai between 6 a.m. to 12 noon.
The frequency of FM channel Dharmapuri is 102.5 Megahertz. The stereo transmission would operate on a frequency of 100.2 MHZ with a power of 10 Kilowatt. The station has been provided with a full-fledged studio for producing programmes for local transmission. The station would cater to a radius of 60 km.
The State Government acquired a total of 7 acres during 1997 for establishment of AIR station at Adhiyamnkottai near Dharmapuri. Though construction of a high power TV transmitter, studio and staff quarters were completed in 1999 there was an inordinate delay in commissioning the station.
Barring a few test transmissions in October 1, 2002 the station did not relay any full-fledged programmes. Though the station was fully equipped with State-of-the-art facilities it was not staffed to resume transmission, sources said. Comprehensive plan
According to Dharmapuri MP Dr. R. Senthil the main objective of opening FM stations in rural areas was to bring out the native talent and broadcast local issues. Though 14 FM radio stations were built under rural stations scheme none of them are under utilisation.
A comprehensive plan should be developed to make the station fully functional and telecast local programmes.
The advent of the station especially with facilities to produce programmes is expected to largely cater to the farming community and students.

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