FM station for visually-impaired seeks to expand reach

An ambitious FM channel which was launched in Dehradun to showcase the broadcasting talents of visually-impaired people may soon spread its wings to Himachal Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.
An initiative of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the FM channel, 'Hello Doon', became operational about two years ago.
The institute, which functions under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is now mulling an expansion of its services in the rest of the country as part of efforts to open the doors of the world of broadcasting to more visually- impaired persons.
"My first priority would be to set up something similar in either Tamil Nadu or Himachal Pradesh, where we have our regional centres, so that the message goes out about the excellent broadcasting talents of blind people," NIVH Director Anuradha Mohit told PTI here.

Noting that the Dehradun-based 'Hello Doon' channel was an experiment to showcase the talents of visually-impaired people, she said there are plans to launch new FM channels in 2015-16.
"That will be some time in 2015-16... It takes a long time to start a radio station. There are so many formalities to be completed... I have included it in my programme for 2015-16," she added.

'Hello Doon', available on 91.2 MHZ, has completed two years. Programmes on this station are largely created by visually-impaired students.
That apart, the institute is also offering a one-year training course in radio journalism for visually-impaired persons.

"Our morning transmission is looked after by a visually impaired candidate who qualified for the one-year course. Two of our programmes are completely made by visually-impaired artistes. One of the programmes, 'Sangeet Shiksha', has completed almost 300 episodes on Hindustani Classical Music," Mohit said.
She stated that steps are being taken to make the FM channel self-sustainable by getting sponsors.