MUMBAI: Citing lack of manpower, Jungad Janvani (91.2 FM), the Junagadh-based community station finally commenced its broadcast on 24 June, 2015, after being inaugurated in May this year. The community radio station (CRS) is the first to cater to the agricultural community in Gujarat and was started by Junagadh Agricultural University.

Dr. VN Bhatt, who is a scientist with Junagadh Agricultural University, also shares the responsibility of station director, and looks after the on-air content. The University applied for the setting up the community radio station in the year 2011, but only obtained the license early this year.

Currently, the station has only one show, which is broadcast every day at 7.30 am, with repeat telecasts at 1.30 pm and 5.30 pm. “The sole purpose of setting up the community radio station was to bring awareness about various issues related to health, agriculture, education, research, literature, culture. Out of 60 minutes of programming, for 20 minutes we talk about crops of the current season, while the rest of the air time is reserved for various other topics,” said Bhatt.

Junagadh Agricultural University also has a lot agricultural centers in various parts of the district and it intends to set up more CRSs to cater to as many people as possible. The station is also planning to increase its broadcast duration to two hours instead of one. Bhatt along with a 20 member advisory committee decides the content that goes on air, and experts from their respective fields are invited to speak on various topics.

Jungadh Janvani caters to total number of 7 lakh people and has got some great responses, and has also attracted a few advertisers. “For now we are not getting into the commercial aspects as it is not in our policy,” Bhatt revealed. Additionally, the community radio station also gets queries from Government officials to contribute to its on-air content.