CHENNAI, June 14, 2013

All India Radio (AIR), Chennai will celebrate its platinum jubilee on Tuesday next.

Giving details about the celebrations, K. P. Srinivasan, Additional Director General, AIR, Chennai, said the station in Chennai was started in June, 1938.

When it was started, the station was functioning from Marshalls Road, Egmore and it moved to its present location in July 1954.

The AIR station is in the process of converting some of its old spool tapes containing speeches by political leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sathyamoorthy, Kamaraj and Indira Gandhi, musical discourses by stalwarts such as Anantharama Dikshithar, T.N. Balakrishna Shastrigal, Kribanandha Variar, Pulavar Keeran; Carnatic songs of stalwarts such as Tiger Varadhachariar, M.S. Subbulakshmi, T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai, interviews of film actors such as Kannadasan, Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and Sowcar Janaki, light music concerts were all being converted into digital format.

Carnatic music concerts of some of the stalwarts, converted into digital format, have been recorded in compact discs, Mr Srinivasan said. The platinum jubilee celebrations will be held at Vani Mahal, T.Nagar on June 18, in which public can participate, he added.