Radio Days, Listening to music in the 50's & 60's Options

[unni]

Today there are numerous private radio stations including FM broadcast. Listeners have the freedom to choose to listen to whichever they prefer.

But till perhaps a decade ago, we had in India only All India Radio/Aakashvani. Moreover, in the early days of their broadcasting, film songs were not played over their waves, only classical and folk, and light songs recorded in their studios.

Prior to Independence, the first Prime Minister had written about his dislike for the sound of the harmonium, and jokingly wrote that his first act upon attaining Independence would be to ban the harmonium from All India Radio. Well, he didn't do that, but something quite similar happened. The appointed chief of AIR was an expert on Indian classical music, and he considered it "in poor taste" to broadcast film songs. Perhaps it was not till the early sixties that they finally relented, starting with an hour's worth of film songs "Fauji bhaiyyon ke liye" in the evening, then adding an hour between 2 and 3 in the afternoon (when we were away at school!).

So, how did we listen to popular music? Radio Ceylon, of course. Their Hindi programs with commercials were taped in Bombay and broadcast from Colombo.

The Hindi program commenced at 7 A.M.with 15 minutes of instrumental tunes from Hindi films. That's where we first heard the names of Van Shipley and Enoch Daniels. Followed by 15 minutes of "Ek hi film ke geet". That's where we heard for the first time songs that are now considered classics (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Suraj, Guide). From 7.30 to 8 was "Puraani filmon ke geet", during which time we kids went away for breakfast! In a tribute to him, every day the last song on that program would feature K. L. Saigal. We would return eagerly for the highlight at 8 --- 45 minutes of "Aap hi ke geet" --- songs played in response to listeners' requests. Of course, a lot of broadcast time was wasted in the reading of names of "requested by", but their numbers was an indication of the popularity of the song. Then, as we went off to school, the very considerate Radio Ceylon would feature less-heard programs between from 8:45 and 9.30, such as "Ek aur anek" (one singer in duet/group song with other singers).

Their evening Hindi programs would start at 7 and continue till 10 (maybe 11, but by then we were fast asleep). The weekly highlight was Wednesday at 8'o'clock when virtually a whole nation of listeners would tune in to "Binaca Geet Mala", to listen to the most popular songs and to find out which song topped the chart (the announcement was heralded with the sound of trumpets/bugles!).

And next day, in school, we would discuss/argue about the merits of the songs.

I remember two songs that I once heard broadcast three times during the same day (Radio Ceylon in the morning and evening, Aakashvani in the afternoon ) --- a sure indication of their popularity:

Lata-ji's "Pankh hotey tho ood aati re" and the Rafi/Lata duet "Jo waada kiya).

[Chitralekha]

The Hindi program commenced at 7 A.M.with 15 minutes of instrumental tunes from Hindi films. That's where we first heard the names of Van Shipley and Enoch Daniels. Followed by 15 minutes of "Ek hi film ke geet". That's where we heard for the first time songs that are now considered classics (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Suraj, Guide). From 7.30 to 8 was "Puraani filmon ke geet", during which time we kids went away for breakfast! In a tribute to him, every day the last song on that program would feature K. L. Saigal. We would return eagerly for the highlight at 8 --- 45 minutes of "Aap hi ke geet" --- songs played in response to listeners' requests. Of course, a lot of broadcast time was wasted in the reading of names of "requested by", but their numbers was an indication of the popularity of the song. Then, as we went off to school, the very considerate Radio Ceylon would feature less-heard programs between from 8:45 and 9.30, such as "Ek aur anek" (one singer in duet/group song with other singers).

Their evening Hindi programs would start at 7 and continue till 10 (maybe 11, but by then we were fast asleep). The weekly highlight was Wednesday at 8'o'clock when virtually a whole nation of listeners would tune in to "Binaca Geet Mala", to listen to the most popular songs and to find out which song topped the chart (the announcement was heralded with the sound of trumpets/bugles!).

And next day, in school, we would discuss/argue about the merits of the songs.

I remember two songs that I once heard broadcast three times during the same day (Radio Ceylon in the morning and evening, Aakashvani in the afternoon ) --- a sure indication of their popularity:

Lata-ji's "Pankh hotey tho ood aati re" and the Rafi/Lata duet "Jo waada kiya).

Just over the weekend while I was watching songs of Taj Mahal and my dad mentioned how he had never watched this song but only heard it like a million times on radio. And there has been many more of these songs that he grew up listening to but never actually got to watch them. Aap ki parchhaiyan, Anpadh, are a couple of b/w oldies that we watched together for the first time a few years back. It's such wonderful to read about the radio days. Phir wohi dil laya hoon is one of my fav movies also... specially the songs! picturization of aanchal mein sajhaa lena is just fabulous!! keep the radio stories coming. I remember listening to Binaca geetmala at 8pm on Mondays on my pocket radio that my uncle had given me as a gift... I was too young and didnt care as much about songs as I do today... but I am glad I was once a part of radio audience.