ThePakistan Broadcasting Corporation(Urdu:شرکت نشریات پاکستان); formerly known asRadio Pakistan,serves as the nationalpublic broadcasterforradioin Pakistan.[1]Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in Pakistan. Originally the network was established on 14 August 1947, following Pakistan's independence from Britain but on December 20‚ 1972 it was changed to a statutory body governed by the board of directors and a Director General. Radio is broadcast through FM, AM and shortwave radio frequencies.[2]Select programming is also available throughWRN.[3]
 The current logo of PBC | |
Native name | شرکت نشریات پاکستان |
|---|---|
| Company type | Statutory corporation |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | Radio Pakistan:14 August 1947inLahore,Punjab,Pakistan PBC:December 20, 1972inIslamabad,Pakistan |
| Headquarters | National Broadcasting House G-5/2,Islamabad Capital Territory,Pakistan44000 |
Area served |
|
Key people | Saeed Ahmed Shaikh (Director General) |
| Products | |
| Services | |
| Owner | Government of Pakistan (MoIB) |
| Website | radio |
PBC offers programming inUrduandEnglishon its national radio broadcasts, while offering programming in 23 differentregional languageson its domestic radio service.[4]Its external services are broadcast eight hours daily in 10 different foreign languages, covering theMiddle East,Central Asia,South Asia,theFar East Asiaand parts ofEastern Europe.[4][5]PBC has employed commercial advertising on its broadcasts to supplement its federal funding since its inception.
Mandate
editThePakistan Broadcasting Corporation Act, 1973.[6]was enacted...
...to provide for the establishment of a broadcasting corporation, to ensure effective operation and growth of broadcasting as a function-oriented public service medium, general improvement in the quality of programmes, speedy, implementation of projects and better utilisation of talent, and for matters connected therewith;
The functions of the corporation as outlined in the act are:
- to be made available throughout Pakistan for the purposes of disseminating information, education and entertainment,
- to reflect Pakistan and its regions to national and regional audiences,
- to actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression and Islamic Ideology,
- to be in alllanguages,reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community,
- to strive for national unity, principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice.
Management
editIn accordance with PBC's Act subsequent amendment through a Presidential Ordinance in 2024, a board of directors is responsible for the management of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. The general management of PBC is in the hands of a director general, who now is appointed by the Federal Government on the recommendation of Board. In total, the board is made up of 18 members, out of which 11 are Independent Directors hailing from private sector and 7 ex-officio members including the director general. The composition of the Board is as follows:
- SecretaryMinistry of Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage
- One eminent media personality from each province, one each from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan and two others appointed by the Government of Pakistan (4).
- Additional Foreign Secretary
- Additional Secretary Finance
- Director General, ISPR
- Managing Director, PTVC
- Director General, PBC
- Representative of the Interior Division
History
editRadio Pakistan was originally known as thePakistan Broadcasting Serviceat the time of its inception on 14 August 1947. It had the honour of publicly announcing Pakistan'sindependence from Britainon 13 August 1947 at 11:59 pm. Mustafa Ali Hamdani made the announcement fromLahoreinUrduandEnglish,[7]while Abdullah Jan Maghmoom made the announcement fromPeshawarinPashto.[8]
The announcement was heard as follows:[9]
السلام علیکم
پاکستان براڈ کاسٹنگ سروس ۔ ہم لاہور سے بول رہے ہیں ۔تیرا اور چودہ اگست ، سنہ سینتالیس عیسوی کی درمیانی رات ۔ بارہ بجے ہیں ۔ طلوع صبح آزادی ۔
The English translation of this announcement is as follows:
Greetings Pakistan Broadcasting Service. We are speaking from Lahore. The night between the thirteenth and fourteenth of August, year forty-seven. It is twelve o'clock. Dawn of Freedom.
Overview
editAccording to one of the pioneers of Radio Pakistan,Agha Nasir(9 February 1937 – 12 July 2016), three radio stations atDhaka(established in 1939),Lahore(1937) andPeshawar Radio Station(1935) existed at the time ofindependence of Pakistanon 14 August 1947. There was no radio station in the capital of Pakistan,Karachiin 1947.[7][10]On a high priority basis, a major program of expansion saw new stations opened atKarachiandRawalpindiin 1948, and a new broadcasting house at Karachi in 1950. This was followed by new stations atHyderabad(1951),Quetta(1956), a second station at Rawalpindi (1960) and a Receiving Centre at Peshawar (1960). In 1970, training facilities were opened inIslamabadand a station opened atMultan.[10]
A 1973 law, signed byZulfikar Ali Bhutto(Presidentand laterPrime minister) regulatedPakistan Broadcasting Corporation(PBC) as "to publish, circulate, distribute and regulate (reliable and trusted) news and information in any part of the world in any manner that may be deemed fit".[11]
Its one core mission states: "education, news and information to be brought to public awareness the whole range of significant activity.".[12]It was converted into Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation on 20 December 1972 as a statutory body governed by the board of directors and Director General. The Radio Pakistan World Service was established on 21 April 1973. The service reached the remotest parts of Pakistan with stations atGilgit(1977) andSkardu(1977) in the far north andTurbat(1981) in the far southwest. From 1981 to 1982 stations and transmitters were also established atDera Ismail Khan,KhuzdarandFaisalabad.Radio Pakistan opened a new broadcasting house inKhairpuron 7 May 1986, followed by relay stations in 1989 atSibiand on 21 March 1991 inAbbottabad.[10]
The remoter parts of the country began to receive coverage with new stations opened in the 1990s atChitral,LoralaiandZhob.In 1997, the Federal Minister of Information inaugurated the computerisation of the PBC news processing system and availability of the news bulletins on the Internet in text and audio form. FM 101 Channel of PBC was launched on 1 October 1998 having stations at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and now this channel have nine stations throughout Pakistan and is the biggest FM Radio network of Pakistan. In October 1998, Radio Pakistan startedFM transmissionand over the period 2002–2005, new FM stations were opened atIslamabad,Gwadar,Mianwali,Sargodha,Kohat,Bannuand Mithi.[13]
In the last two and a half years, three new networks have been launched by PBC. On 28 August 2008, PBC launched National Broadcasting Service (NBS) the first dedicated Current Affairs Channel. It is a combination of 5 (100 KW) AM transmitters permanently linked together to broadcast a single national program beamed across Pakistan. Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta and Karachi are the main stations generating the national programming. It is a 17 hours programming on major national and international issues, target audience and literary and cultural programs. PBC launched a new Community FM channel after February 2009 Station Directors Conference. The network is called FM-93 Network with 22 stations across Pakistan. Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Abbottabad, Chitral, Bannu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Sargodha, Mianwali, Faisalabad, Lahore, Multan, Larkana, Khairpur, Bhit Shah, Hyderabad, Mithi, Karachi and Gwadar transmit the FM 93 network. On 14 November, PBC launched its first English Music Channel in Islamabad called Planet 94. The network operates on FM 94. The second and third stations of the English channel are soon to start their transmissions from Lahore and Karachi.
Languages
editRadio Pakistan broadcasts are in 34 languages:Urdu,Punjabi,Sindhi,Balochi,Seraiki,Potowari,Pashto,Hindko,Kohistani,Khowar,Kashmiri,Gojri,Burushaski,Balti,Shina,Wakhi,Hazargi,Brahvi,English, Chinese,Dari,Persian,Hindi,Gujarati,Tamil,Sinhala,Nepali,Russian,Turkish,Arabic,andBengali.[10]
Radio Channels
editNews & Current Affairs Channel
editNews and Current Affairs Channel was launched byPakistan Broadcasting Corporationin November 2000 and was converted into National Broadcasting Service in 2008. It broadcasts 16 hours of programmes from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM (PKT) daily from Islamabad and 8 hours daily from the Provincial Headquarters.[14] Frequencies:
- Islamabad – 1152 kHz
- Lahore – 1332 kHz
- Karachi – 639 kHz
- Quetta – 756 kHz
- Peshawar 1170 kHz
- 3999.75 MHz on Satellite Pak Sat1R
FM 107 (Apna Karachi)
editFM-107 / Ballay Ballay FM (Roshan Media) was established in 2002
Other
edit- FM 107 (Apna Karachi)
- Ballay Ballay FM (Roshan Media)
- FM 93
- Central Production Unit
- Dhanak FM 94
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Ministry of Information, PBC".Ministry of Information and Mass-media Broadcasting.Government of Pakistan. Archived fromthe originalon 20 July 2005.Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^E-Govt."Frequency Map of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan)".Data Collection. Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2011.Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^"Radio Pakistan on World Radio Network".World Radio Network. Archived fromthe originalon 9 August 2012.Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^ab"Programming of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation".Directorate for Public Relations and International Press Release (Programming).Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^"External Services of Radio Pakistan".External Services. Archived fromthe originalon 13 May 2012.Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^"Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation Act, 1973 (XXXII of 1973)".Radio Pakistan (Archived website). 17 March 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 17 May 2012.Retrieved10 June2019.
- ^ab"Flashback: Voices from the past".Dawn (newspaper). 16 June 2012.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^"Abdullah Jan Maghmoom on weebly.com website".Archived fromthe originalon 10 March 2019.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^"YouTube".youtube.com.[dead YouTube link]
- ^abcd"Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation Stations and their Dates of Inauguration".Archived fromthe originalon 1 July 2010.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^E-Government."The PBC Act of 1973".Government of Pakistan website.Directorate for Public Relations and International Press Release (PBC Law Ordnance). Archived fromthe originalon 17 May 2012.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^"Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation: Mission and Purpose".Radio Pakistan website (Archived).Our Mission. Archived fromthe originalon 17 May 2012.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^"FM-101 NETWORK of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation launched in October 1998".Archived fromthe originalon 2 March 2010.Retrieved14 March2019.
- ^"News & Current Affairs Channel".radio.gov.pk website.Retrieved14 March2019.