It is wrong to say that advent of TV has overshadowed Radio. The noted program billed as Today broadcast daily from BBC Radio from London upstages all programmes telecast by England’s TV channels and is the most widely listened to program in England Its ranking is number one.
As far as Radio Pakistan is concerned it has a chequered history.
In 1930s Radio was introduced in the subcontinent. After partition broadcasters like ZA Bukhari and Patras Bokhari popularly known as Bokhari brothers played a prominent part in laying strong foundations of Radio Pakistan. Till the advent of TV in 1964 it was Radio Pakistan which was the primary electronic media in the country and its programme broadcast in Urdu and regional languages were listened to with pleasure by a big population living in rural and urban areas of the country.
Many drama artists groomed by Radio Pakistan were to become leading film stars of Lollywood later on like Mohammad Ali, Ibrahim Nafees and Agha Talish, to mention a few. The cricket fans used to sit glued to their radio sets listening to the running commentary of Omar Qureshi and Jamshed Marker on test matches as their pronunciation was very captivating Urdu mushairas used to be broadcast live.
Radio dramas and musical programmes of leading classical and folk songs singer were also broadcast regularly. To cut a long story short the broadcasts of Radio Pakistan catered to the taste of every type of listener.
A monthly magazine billed as Ahang was regularly published by Radio Pakistan spotlighting various programmes of Radio Pakistan.
Many Radio lovers believe that it would have been better if instead of starting FM Radio, focus should have been made on strengthening external service programmes in Persian Darri, Bangla and Chinese and Russian languages as well in languages spoken in central Asian countries in order to counter poisonous propaganda against Pakistan by enemies of this country. More over instead of winding up Radio stations like that of DIK more such Radio stations should have been set up.
