BBC lifeline keeps Hindi radio service alive

The Popular BBC Hindi radio news service has got a lifeline. The BBC management had announced that the service would be discontinued from April 1. The management has, however, allowed one radio broadcast every day for another year following the massive support in favour of the continuation of the service.

In a statement issued on Monday, the BBC said it had announced the closure of its news and current affairs radio broadcast in Hindi, as a cost- cutting measure, part of its Spending Review 2010 settlement.

However, since the announcement, the statement said: “ There has been much public discussion of the potential for retaining some of this service and the BBC has been approached by a number of commercial parties with alternative funding proposals”. “ In order to explore these proposals further, BBC World Service has decided to retain an evening news and current affairs radio broadcast (one hour) in Hindi for our Indian audiences for an interim period.” Now there are four one- hour broadcasts in a day, three of which will be shut down from April 1.

BBC sources said the evening one- hour broadcast, scheduled to continue for a year, is the most popular in India. According to a count in 2009, the BBC Hindi service had over 9.7 million listeners.

This broadcast will be available on all platforms — via short- wave, online and mobile. The BBC added that if sustainable commercial funding for this service cannot be found during the 2011- 12 financial year, this service will be shut down by March 2012.