By Syed Mazhar Ali shah
It is a pity that step motherly treatment is being meted out to Radio Pakistan by the powers that be after the advent of idiot box in this country. This is a far cry from England’s electronic media where BBC radio was not pushed to the corner after BBC television got underway. Many people don’t know that Brits who listen BBC radio program titled Today outnumber Brits viewing all TV programs telecast by TV stations of England.
The outreach of Radio broadcasts is much wider than that of TV. Time was when its external service program did a very effective diplomatic job too. It should have been widened now as Pakistan has made great strides in international affairs and made many friends to the chagrin of our enemies who are unleashing poisonous propaganda against us which needs to be nailed by broadcasting radio programs in the languages spoken in central Asian countries, Russia, China, and Persian to mention a few.
Additionally radio programs aimed at promoting and forging close links among the people living in the country is also need of the hour. The concerned authorities should strengthen the transmitters so that Radio Pakistan broadcast could be beamed far and wide and radio listeners living at a far off distances could have an access to them easily. We need persons having a vision like Z A Bokhari to head Radio Pakistan today.
