The radio business has flourished in India the last few years. Just a few years ago FM stations were granted license in order to send out signals across India. FM radio stations have flourished into many Indian cities. According to an article on the BBC
“since they were given the green light in 2000, music based FM radio stations have proliferated in the cities”.
Before that there was one of the biggest radio networks called All India Radio (AIR). All India Radio is stated owned and has more then 230 broadcasting centers across the country. They were established in 1936 and don’t really have to follow regulations like FM stations do.
FM stations are not allowed to talk about current affairs, sports and weather bulletins. According to India Knowledge at Wharton
“Broadcasting news, weather bulletins and live sports are all also off limits to these stations”.
FM stations are only allowed to own one license in a single city. They are not allowed to apply for more then one license per city. FM stations are only allowed to cover one type of programming. For example if the radio station decides to do classical music they are only permitted to play and discuss classical music. According to a recent article in The Economic Times,
private FM stations may be given permission soon to broadcast news as long as its sources come from All India Radio.
Also the government is working on different modules, including designing two minutes news capsules for the private FM channels, in case they are unable to carry fifteen minutes bulletin broadcast by AIR.
All India Radio is the dominant station in India. It is located in New Delhi. They are the only one allowed to give news and weather bulletins. According to the All India Radio website
“AIR today has a network of 237 broadcasting centers with 149 medium frequency. They also cover 92% of India with 24 languages and 146 dialects."