[cr-india] is IGNOUrance bliss?

[sajan venniyoor]

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On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 mahesh acharya wrote :
>what the *%$#! no 18 says shifting of IGNOU broadcast to MW? thats >crazy...i dont think that we have paucity of frequencies between 88.5->108 Mhz.

There may well be excellent reasons for broadcasting IGNOU programmes on Medium Wave, but grabbing IGNOU’s FM frequencies for commercial use is probably not the best one. 

>
>IGNOU broadcast on MW will have two problems.
>
>1. The signal strength on radio will dampen as the distance from the transmitter increases. This means that students will not be able hear 'clearly', the further they are from the transmitter.

It is a fact that ‘spoken word’ programmes don’t really need the kind of FM / stereo quality that music needs. And since the IGNOU syllabus is fairly uniform across the country, it would make sense to put them on AIR’s Medium Wave transmitters, some of which are awfully powerful. AIR’s 100 and 200 kW MW transmitters have a range of several hundred kilometers, and the signals bounce comfortably over hill and dale, while FM is fairly limited in that sense. 

>2. On MW, if the radio set is local (in most cases)there is a >possibility of intereferrence from frequency that is very close to the >broadcast frequency.

I don’t think there is much danger of interference on the MW band. Since AIR has no more than two or three MW stations broadcasting from any location, the possibility of interference is more likely from foreign stations. Medium Wave is pretty well regulated (unlike SW), and the probability of interference would be more due to the poor quality of receivers than otherwise, as Mahesh has pointed out.

However, the Committee’s sage observation that “on account of paucity of spectrum, it is not advisable to allocate FM frequencies for educational broadcasts” is slightly staggering. They could just as well argue that, on account of the paucity of spectrum, it is not advisable to allocate frequencies to anyone except commercial broadcasters. (The battle raging in the US between Community / LPFM stations on the one hand and the FCC and NAB on the other stem from similar concerns about the ‘paucity of spectrum’). Vickram reacted quite strongly to the peculiar insensitivity of this recommendation, too. The Committee’s views are a wonderful echo of Groucho Marx’s comment on their Public Broadcasting Service’s decision to broadcast educational programmes from 7.00am in the United States. “They wouldn’t be able to educate America even if they started at 6.30,” he said. 

>In addition point 13...Niche Channels Through Fiscal >Incentives...there is strong possibility of 'capacity building' for >community radio in future. 

Amen. In spite of the FM Task-force's jaundiced view of smaller cities and villages, Mahesh is absolutely right in insisting that here is "an opportunity that SHOULD be explored even if it is remotely related to community radio."

>
>Is there a committee memeber in this list or do we lsit of the members with their email ids or corresponding address?

If there is a Committee Member on this list, he/she is lying pretty low. However, they are well known people whose names I am appending below – it shouldn’t be very difficult to contact them. But since their Recommendations have already been submitted to the Ministry, their role in influencing policy is largely over. The Ministry will be asking for the comments of the public very soon: the ball is in the Ministry’s court now and the rest of the game will no doubt be played out in Shastri Bhavan. 

Sajan.

Radio Broadcast Policy Committee

1.Amit Mitra (Chair Person)		- FICCI 
2.Dilip Chennoy				- CII 
3.Kiran Karnik    			- NASCOM 
4.Ameen Sayani  			- Radio Personality 
5.P.K. Garg, Wireless Adviser		- WPC 
6.K.M.Paul, E-in-C 			- AIR 
7.KRP Verma, CMD 			- BECIL 
8.Shardul Shroff, Legal Expert		- Amirchand Mangaldas 
9.Ms Noreen Naqvi, DDG (Prog)		- AIR 
10.Ms Mahua Pal, Director		- Ministry of I & B