The Government has already spent over Rs 20 crore to install the FM and SW transmitter and it was ready for commissioning since 1994. In September 1994, the then Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, K P Singh Deo, announced that the FM station would be exclusively a music channel while SW would relay Malayalam programme to foreign countries. In January 1997, the then Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Information and Broadcasting, C M Ibrahim, at a press conference held in connection with the 28th International Film Festival, said he would announce a date for the commissioning of FM and SW transmission from Thiruvananthapuram within three days.

Moreover, he said,``My next visit here would be to commission the two facilities, especially short wave which would help Malayalees in West Asia hear broadcast from their home-State.'' However, as of date, nothing has materialised. The FM transmitter was installed at Thiruvananthapuram Doordarshan Kendra and SW transmitter at Bhimapally. The studio transmitter link (STL), the communication channel between the main station and FM station, was also set up and several trial runs were successfully conducted. However, a final decision regarding the programme transmission on FM was not taken.

``The FM station commissioning was delayed for want of an engineer, an assistant engineer and a couple of technicians required to man the station,'' said an AIR official. AIR station director, N S Issac said that the ball was now in the court of chief engineer, AIR Southern Region. As the staff deployment comes from the Centre, the person who can pursue it is the chief engineer.

The SW transmitter was ready for commissioning in 1992 itself.However, it could not be commissioned owing to low voltage and installment of a low voltage regulator. Finally, it was decided that morning transmission will be started on an experimental basis. This still continues. The evening transmission is, however, yet to begin.