MALAPPURAM: The All India Radio (AIR) will elevate its FM station at Manjeri to a 12-hour transmission station soon. Union minister for external affairs E Ahamed who represents the Malappuram constituency has discussed the matter with information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari and an official decision on the matter is expected soon.

At present, the Manjeri station, which comes under the category of primary stations of AIR, transmits programmes for six hours every day. "Once the 12-hour transmission comes into effect, programmes will be aired from 5am onwards and the first session of transmission will end at 3pm," said programme head of the station M Balakrishnan. "The evening transmission of Malayalam programmes will start at 5pm and will continue till 11pm."

The FM station at Manjeri was commissioned in 2006 as a six-hour transmission station. But no further steps were taken to develop it. Following strong demands from the station authorities, E Ahamed had promised to pressurize Prasar Bharati for an independent budgetary allocation for the station. "Development-based programmes will get priority in the new list of programmes," said Balakrishnan. "As majority of our listeners are from rural areas, most programmes will be based on news, agriculture and health. Entertainment programmes targeting the new generation will also be introduced." The station will also present new schemes and flagship programmes of the government.

At the frequency of 102.7 MHz the Manjeri FM station covers nearly the entire district of Malappuram as well as parts of Kozhikode, Wayanad and Palakkad.
 

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