This is from the Facebook memories of 2014.
2-3 days ago I was listening to AIR FM Gold channel and there was a letter from someone from some remote place in Kashmir. The gentleman insisted in the letter that DO read the name of the place from where I am writing.
I couldn’t stop myself from noticing the difference. On one side we in the metros are living this always-on-run life and on the other side there was someone who wanted his place’s name to be read loudly so that people know about it ! How simple life must be at that place !
Folks who have been radio fans before this FM channels attack era came would be able to relate to it.
If you have been a radio fan in those days, you would be able to relate to it so much. The happiness when names from the letters you sent were read on radio; it was so blissful. Such simple joys. It was TV that killed the radio listening in India. As TV kept coming to more and more households, Radio started getting ignored. TV was more entertaining and “new”. Only the older generation tuned to BBC News & All India Radio for news. Then came the FM era. The FM channels in small cities were more like an extension of AM/SW channels, covering local stuff etc. But this burst of FM channels in Metros spoiled it all. Almost all of them broadcast trash day and night. They can’t really be called radio channels. 
(Image from here)
With the number of listeners going down many radio channels all over the world have started shutting down their services. Also the companies stopped making Radios. At least in India, if you go to market to buy a radio, there are very very few options available. Phillips is making one or two models & same thing Sony is doing. Then there could be some low quality stuff made locally. Western countries especially USA is going good in this area. You search for a radio on Amazon.com and you have hundreds of options to choose from. Also if you YouTube for a DIY radio antenna, you will see thousands of videos posted by people from Western counties describing how to make you own antenna for AM or SW. It is so beautiful and nostalgic stuff.
This fast paced life and new means of entertainment and getting information has replaced this simple part of our lives called radio. I don’t think that era is gonna come back but we at least can cherish those memories.
Re-plugging a post i did few years ago – Best of online Ghazal radio stations.
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