Not So Outdated As You Think: Why The Economic Survey 2023 Paid A Tribute To The Humble Radio

The radio has not only withstood the social media wave and the swell of technological transformation but has even carved a separate identity for itself in this age, says the Economic Survey 2023.

Not only is radio the most affordable medium of mass communication, it also remains to be amongst the most popular.

The reasons for this, according to the Survey are:

• accessibility,

• wide coverage,

• variety of programmes,

• mobility and,

• vernacularity

The Survey also lauds Prasar Bharti for how it adapted to technological changes. For example, the All India Radio livestreams 240 radio services on NewsOnAir, Prasar Bharati’s official app.

Apart from this, private commercial radio stations have also grown and flourished in the last few years, as shown in the graph below.

FM radio, along with Community Radio Stations (CRS) were instrumental in spreading awareness during the pandemic months, says the Survey.

"While FM increased its outreach to even far-flung rural areas, CRS targeted local and well-defined communities. The daunting task of spreading awareness on the pandemic, and that too in vernacular, with innumerable dialects, was made possible, as CRS channelized the community partnerships", says the document.