HISTORY In Pakistan, the public broadcaster is the state owned PBC which is short for "Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation." It consists of PTV (Pakistan Television) and Radio Pakistan. In the past PBC was funded publicly through money obtained from television, radio and VCR licensing. Radio Pakistan has stations covering all the major cities; it covers 80% of the country serving 95.5 Million listeners. It has world service in 07 languages daily. Radio Pakistan is the official international broadcasting station of Pakistan. Radio Pakistan was able to start its external services on regular basis on 1949. As Pakistan is strategically located and is a close neighbor of China, India, Middle Eastern countries and Central Asia, it is necessary to use Radio Pakistan and its external services as an instrument to project the country's policies in true perspective so that a message of peace and friendship is disseminated to the world specially to its neighbors. The programmes of External Services are so designed as to project Pakistan's view point on domestic and foreign policy issues. Another special aim of these services is to disseminate knowledge about the art, culture, history, values and way of life of its people among foreign listeners in order to generate feelings of friendship, goodwill and mutual understanding which help create an environment of peace and tranquility and make co-existence possible in the region. They broadcast in 16 languages: English, Chinese, Dari, Pushto, Hazaragi, Persian, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Sinhala, Nepali, Turki, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Bangla. Radio Pakistan continues to broadcast programmes which promote relations between Pakistan and organizations of which Pakistan is the member. By the end of WWII, 95% of all homes had radios, but by the early 1950s television already had begun to erode its popularity. Radio stations began to shift their programming focus from news and story segments to mostly music. The introduction of the transistor radio was able to positively impact radio growth in the face of the threat of television by allowing for the production of cheap, portable radios that could be used in cars or outdoors. The 1970s and '80s saw the increasing popularity of FM stations because of better sound quality and innovative music programming. With FM's success, AM stations focused more on talk and news radio, and saw a continuing decline in listenership. RADIO BRAODCASTING Radio broadcasting is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both. Audio broadcasting also can be done via cable FM, local wire networks, satellite and the Internet. TYPE OF RADIO STATIONS The best known type of radio station is the ones that broadcast via radio waves. These include foremost AM and FM stations. There are several subtypes * namely commercial * public and nonprofit varieties * student-run campus radio stations * Hospital radio stations can be found throughout the developed world. Although now being eclipsed by internet-distributed radio, there are many stations that broadcast on shortwave bands using AM technology that can be received over thousands of miles (especially at night). For example, the BBC has a full schedule transmitted via shortwave. These broadcasts are very sensitive to atmospheric conditions and solar activity. Also, many other non-broadcast types of radio stations exist. These include base stations for police, fire and ambulance networks, military base stations, dispatch base stations for taxis, trucks, and couriers, emergency broadcast systems, and amateur radio stations. PROGRAM'S ON RADIO PAKISTAN Radio Pakistan through its 31 stations located at as many places in the country as on air for more than 300 hours daily in the Home Service using 21 languages and reaches 80% of the area and 96.5% of the population of the country. Nearly half the time is devoted to information and education and remaining half to entertainment. In its programmed-fare PBC makes use of all the formats in order to reach its listeners by catering to their interests. Programme fare is a balanced combination of information entertainment specially music and education. General programme categories are music (48%), religious (12.5%), News and current affairs (25%), Women Children and Labor (5%), Youth-Students (3%), Forces (2%), Rural & Farm (10%), Drama/Features (2%), Publicity Campaigns (2%) and Science, Technology, Health (2%) and Sports (2.5%). Radio gives special attention to sports because in games like Cricket and Squash, Pakistan produced players whose international records cannot be easily broken. Jehangir Khan and Jan Sher Khan are such players who won all the international Squash matches for years together. FM BOOM In October 1998 Radio Pakistan started FM transmission from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore under the title of FM-101 exclusively for entertainment. FM 101 service is also available on:- * Internet * Thaicom FM-101 NETWORK * Islamabad * Faisalabad * Hyderabad * Quetta * Lahore * Karachi * Sialkot * Peshawar REGULAR FM NETWORK * Sargodha * Mianwali * Bannu * Mithi * Gawadar * Kohat Video has not quite killed the radio star. Not even private cable television has managed to do that. In fact in Pakistan, new radio stars are cropping up daily, thanks to the FM boom. Radio always had a far greater reach than television in this country, But the surge in FM stations has contributed to a new revival, with over 80 such stations holding licenses. Everyone seems to want to get in on the act: as many as 171 private sector companies applied for licenses in the first half of this year. In May, PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) invited 82 to a bidding in Islamabad, where 32 licenses (in addition to the existing 50) were granted. There were biddings from around the country , Karachi, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Raiwind, Sadiqabad, Gujar Khan, Bhurban, Toba Tek Singh, Dadu, Kalar Kahar, and DI Khan.

Most FM stations just dish out 'ear candy' - easy listening, music hits, recipes, chit chat... including callers (and their driver, cook, and neighbor) ringing up to make inane conversation. Just more commercialization and encouragement of 'the burger culture', right? Maybe, but only to an extent.

FM is also providing valuable information through talk shows by experts on legal, psychological and health matters

Efforts to introduce a more professional, journalistic element to FM will also make an impact. Peshawar University's Journalism department has developed the country's first university-based community radio station and broadcast journalism curriculum, helped by the international media-training organization Inter news. Inter news also trained women journalists through the women and media NGO Uks, which produced a syndicated radio series called "Meri Awaz Suno" ("Hear My Voice"), focusing on issues such as health and education

The FM scene is becoming more interesting with the introduction of news and current programming - as in Mast 103 FM, which, besides the usual ear candy, broadcasts a live five-minute news bulletin hourly from BBC Urdu in London. Many BBC Urdu reporters and producers started out with the English print media in Pakistan.

The Indian participants - well-known journalist Gautam Navlakha from Delhi and activist Neera Adarkar from Mumbai - were amazed that FM radio in Pakistan was going beyond entertainment and music. "Our FM stations just dish out the usual chat masala," they said wistfully. "We could really learn from this."

By providing such platforms for free and frank discussion, FM radio will make a valuable contribution to developing a culture of rational dialogue - it is this that will give real meaning to this new window to free expression in Pakistan. FUTURE OF RADIO IN PAKISTAN: In my point of view I think that radio have a bright future. Many people in rural areas are stuck to radio as there are no cable channels available. Many people in our country are illiterate and they can't even write their names. For such people radio is the best source of information. As they just listen to it! If we see the below example: PAKISTAN: Radio offers hope to quake survivors MUZAFFARABAD, 11 September (IRIN) - Radio programmes that target the needs of quake survivors are gaining in popularity in displaced persons camps like the one in Upper Bab-e-Neelum in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "This radio is useful for me and my family," Mohammad Abdullah told IRIN outside his tent. Mohammad, along with other survivors, is using the radio to get information updates on the government's ongoing compensation scheme to home owners (approximately US $3,000 for each home damaged or destroyed), reconstruction and recovery efforts, as well as programming on hygiene promotion and camp safety. "Hearing about what is happening gives me a sense of hope. That there is a community out there that cares about what is happening to me and my family," 70-year-old Mohammad maintained. Eight-year-old camp resident Nadia Hussain is also a fan of the programmes. "I like this radio," she said, tucking the multi-powered set, running on solar, battery or electric power, close to her ear. "It gives us a lot of valuable information about health and hygiene. Now we listen to it as a family," she said, "and we talk about the future" PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) The surge in FM stations has contributed to a new revival, with over 80 such stations holding licenses. Everyone seems to want to get in on the act: as many as 171 private sector companies applied for licenses in the first half of this year. In May, PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) invited 82 to a bidding in Islamabad, where 32 licenses (in addition to the existing 50) were granted. There were biddings from around the country , NEW TRENDS: CAMPUS RADIO: Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the station is based. Sometimes campus stations are operated for the purpose of training professional radio personnel, sometimes with the aim of broadcasting educational programming, while other stations exist to provide an alternative to commercial or government broadcasters. In Pakistan campus radio are working in * LUMS * KARACHI UNIVERSITY * LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN (IN PROGRESS) HOSPITAL RADIO: is a form of audio broadcasting produced specifically for the in-patients of hospitals. It is primarily found in the United Kingdom. The first hospital radio station in the UK was installed at York County Hospital, England, in 1925. Headphones were provided beside 200 beds, and 70 loudspeakers were installed, with patients being able to listen to sports commentaries and church services. Each hospital radio station was founded independently and they are not centrally organized or managed. Almost all are members of the Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA), which was set up by stations for their mutual benefit and does not govern or run them. Hospital radio stations are staffed and managed by volunteers (more than 2,500 in the UK alone), and each volunteer is commonly attached to a particular weekly programme. MOBILE PHONES If on other hand we talk about our mobile phones so it's for sure that people do listen to radio on their cell's that why every cell phone have radio in it now a days. Today, we can get our Radio via satellite, the Internet, through cable, even in our PDAs and cell phones. Oh yeah and even through those old "AM/FM Radio things". So, where is all this going? My gut tells me your cell phone is vehicle of natural portability - and the heir to the transistor radio which revolutionized Radio's portability in the 1960's. The convergence of wireless technology, content and size make the cell phone the perfect host for taking your favorite sounds to the beach, a doctor's waiting room or the park near your home. Many higher-end cell phones have already incorporated the ability to receive FM signals. This ability will only continue to increase as new generations of lower-end phones become even less expensive to manufacture and providers strive to offer more options to new users. Facts and figures for mobile phones: * Phone words trigger more qualified leads. * 79% of all 15 sec radio commercials use phone words. * Advertisers use phone word in at least 50% of advertising. * A memorable phone word can increase advertising effectiveness by 300%, and boost sales by between 30 - 200%. * Phone words can generate 14times more response in radio advertising. * 90% of Americans say they use phone words frequently, 60 or more times a year. * 71% of adults have purchased after dialing a phone word. * More than 600 million radios in use in the U.S. * Average U.S. household has 5.6 radio receivers * Radio reaches 96% of people 12 and older weekly * People 12 and older listen more than 3.2 hours daily * Over 13,500 registered radio stations in the U.S. TRENDS FOR INTERNET RADIO INDUSTRY: Internet radio is gaining listeners, and its exposing new artists in the process. Though these internet radio concepts are a bit new in our country but in abroad people are enjoying it from the past few 2-3 years. CNN, FOX news and BBC are proving these facilities to their audience. Online radio station audiences in 2005.FACTS: In April of that year, 24.8% said that broadcast radio was leading them to new music. And, of these online radio station listeners - two years ago - 54.1% reported internet radio was where they found "new music." All other choices (satellite radio, file swapping, legal music service, and other) also dropped in the percentage of people using them to find new music between 2005 and 2007. This is a strong argument for internet radio stations to take to their next meeting with the people who decide royalty rates for music. If "new music" is being discovered by online radio listeners by such a vast margin, it means that the internet radio industry is effectively promoting that music. RADIO COMPARISON WITH TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPER: I hadn't thought about it in quite that way. Yes, the methods of content delivery are merging into a single stream. But more profoundly for people working in the various media professions, three formerly distinct skill sets are coming together. It's true that radio and TV people have always had to be competent writers, but print folk have not traditionally had to be competent editors of audio and video, or competent performers. News paper is time consuming sitting in a room at spending your time while reading it but no doubt the people who read newspaper can never quit it for the sake of radio. While the news on newspaper are updated after every printing. So as watching TV you have to stop doing anything else and have to bind yourself to watch a movie or a drama serial. But the information or any news is updated on television after every minute. As the media of our country is becoming more and stronger these days. Radio is the only medium that never bound u in any case. Effectiveness of Radio * Mobile medium * Captive audience * Highly Targetable * Great source of news information for listeners SUGGESTIONS: Radio is the only cheap entertainment thing which can be easily afforded by every person. you can buy a small radio cost 100 rupees and take it with yourself anywhere any time it will provide you with song's, drama's, news, music all time favorites ,latest music and program's for youngsters and adults. No panic that is the important element. I think that radio is the prefect thing for entertainment. But yes we do need some betterment in radio programs. New concept of programming should be introduced. Their should be some difference in night and morning programming. CONCLUSION: According to my opinion I think that radio have a very bright future in Pakistan. As it have a lot more listeners. My self love to listen to radio when ever I get free time. Radio is the only medium which gives information to the people who lives in rural and mountainous areas. Radio has its own specific audience who loves to listen it, and those audiences can never stop listening to radio. Radio is the only entertainment and information box which you can carry anytime to anywhere.

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