NEW DELHI: All India Radio Director-General F Sheheryar today regretted that certain elements were attempting to convey erroneous impressions about radio jockeys and felt this should be stopped as the government had already made its stand clear.

Speaking on AIR FM Gold on the occasion of its 13th birthday today, he said that the channel's popularity had grown year on year and shown that even the younger generation fancied old songs.

AIR FM Gold – runs in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai – is an entertainment radio channel that broadcasts features and talks besides music, with hourly news in English and Hindi. It operates on 106.4 Megahertz.

Initially it was called FM-2 and FM-1 was the previous channel which is now known as FM Rainbow. In those days this channel used to be of 18 hours only but runs for 24 hours now. It also has a programme on ghazals every afternoon.

FM-2 became very popular among discerning audience within a short time due to its eclectic programming and old Hindi songs. In recent times it has surpassed all other Private FM Channels in its popularity. According to recent surveys its morning; evening and late night shows are more popular than any other channel. It is the only channel which has 30 percent News and Current affairs.

The news programmes include 'Samachar Prabhat', 'Dopahar Samachar' in Hindi and 'Breakfast News' in English in the morning and 'Samachar Sandhya' in Hindi in the evening and 'News at 9' at 9 pm. The channel has also some specialised programmes like 'Market Mantra' (Business Magazine) and 'Sports Scan'(Sports related programme) . Other news-based programmes mounted on FM Gold include 'Vaad Samvaad' and 'Countrywide' based on interviews with prominent personalities. It also broadcasts news at every hour.