NEW DELHI: In a major leap forward in information dissemination, the All India Radio (AIR) on Wednesday made its news accessible on telephone and went live on internet. Launched at the broadcasting house here by air director general O P Kejriwal the `AIR news on phone' service, provides to the listeners a capsule of the latest news highlights, both in Hindi and English, 24 hours a day, on specified telephone numbers.Listeners will have to pay only for the call charges to avail of the 90 second news service, updated every hour. The second service, `Air live on internet' would make available to millions of listeners on the internet, the world over, AIR programmes as they are broadcast. Describing them as "two major steps", Kejriwal said he expected the two services to be very popular, particularly when the election results were announced.
He hoped that with its rich fare of music, plays, news and other programmes, the internet service would be a big hit with non-resident Indians.
To be free of chargeintitially, the service will be a paid one with nominal subscription from April one, 1998, he said.While the news on phone service will be available on (011) 335 - 4643/4649/4680/4682, the internet service will be available on http://www.Allindiaradio.Com and http://Air.Kode.Net.
Copyright(c)1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
