NEW DELHI: The Government has been told by Prasar Bharati that there have been no reports of shortage of radio sets in the market.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told Parliament that emphasis was being laid on ‘FM-ization’ - expansion of FM Transmission - to ensure superior stereophonic sound having, to ensure that old Medium Wave programmes are also available on FM mode to become available for wider reception even over hand held mobile sets for public convenience.

He said All India Radio had 419 Radio Stations and 608 Transmitters across the country. AIR does not have the data of number of users. AIR covers 92% of the area and 99.2% of the population of the country.

In order to increase the number of listeners, the popularity, content and quality of programmes broadcast by AIR are monitored regularly, with the help of a wide network of Audience Research Units across the country, which regularly provide feedback on the programmes broadcast on each channel to the programme producers to plan, design and modify the programmes according to the evolving needs, tastes and aspirations of the target audience while focusing on the role of Public Service Broadcaster.

While continuing to carry out the mandate for public service broadcasting, AIR has marched with the times embracing new content themes, presentation styles, programme formats and technological innovations. AIR has laid special emphasis on interactive programmes including SMS-based services, registered its presence on various new and social media platforms and has also commenced live streaming of some channels/services.