End of an Era

An article in the EYE weekly of Indian Express informs me that the coveted BBC Hindi goes off the air on April 1 due to shortage of funding. The nostalgic write-up covers how BBC Hindi came to India before independence and evolved in this nation which transcended from controlled media to a free one which is it today. Ms. Achala Sharma's article has been plagiarized by me. I have lifted the caption of her article to decorate my blog out here.

By the way, the article further informs me that FM channels are not allowed to broadcast news. So what the evolution was all about in India?

However, central idea to my blog is this - how many of us will miss the services. I think hardly anyone in metros and Tier I cities. People who will miss it will be mostly from small towns and villages. FM has not reached them but the TV has. DTH has made deep inroads. The radio is out of the window. So the possible outcomes after April 1 (no offences intended) :

1. People will go into deep slumber listening to monotonous voices of radio jockeys or hosts, hosting programs / fillers on "jaccha-baccha care", polio "teeka" mission, "jaago grahak jaago" campaigns, bollywood music, classical music, folk music, farmers' educative sessions (as if the farmer farmed only when they guided him) etc.

2. Misguided news coverage will supplement mind-polluting broadcast on TV and sub-standard coverage by local newspapers.

3. Demand for all cocky news channels on TV goes up, TRP rating shoots up, but market plunges, inflation takes India growth story down the gutter and young minds are full of weird ideas worth nothing for them.

4. Laid off correspondents at BBC Hindi are forced to join headless media houses, do translation jobs for MEA, teach at corporate sponsored journo programs and only linger in their past memories of a vibrant service they were into.

5. I hope the only positive thing would be to continue the services under an FM channel and our city brethren shall listen to thee, my BBC Hindi dear!

An honourable salute to the BBC Hindi team and I wish them a contended life for they never became part of the sensationalized news services that pervades the media today.