![]() ![]() Listeners had a bond of emotional ties with the Announcers of Radio and would at times treat them like their family members or family friends. Those were the nostalgic days last over for over Four Decades. In-spite of all these things, there was no fall in the listenership of Radio Ceylon. ![]() In the later years, due to increased popularity of Hindi Film Music, Irani restaurants introduced a Juke Box, a machine that would play 3 records of 78rpm wherein songs of your choice can be played by paying a nominal charge by way of inserting a coin in the Juke box and pressing buttons of record numbers, that they were wanting to listen to. Ek Special Chai, Bun Maska with an egg omelet with a newspaper and a background music of Radio Ceylon would be the typical scene one would see in an Irani Restaurant those days. Places like Irani restaurants in the city of Bombay used to tune-on to Radio Ceylon Station on Shortwave, every morning and evening catering to the dedicated customers of the restaurants who were also dedicated listeners of Radio Ceylon. The programmes like "Ek Aur Anek", "Purani Filmonke Geet", "Ekhi Filmke Geet", "Apphi Ke Geet" based on Farmaish and the Binaca Geetmala, were the most popular programmes catching-up the attention of Indian listeners. The Radio Ceylon is estimated to have 5 Crores of Hindi listeners from across globe even today. During the airing of Binaca Geetmala programme, on every Wednesday evening, one would observe a self-proclaimed curfew on the Indian streets. It was truly, the Golden Age of Hindi Film Music in the 40s, 50s, 60s & 70s when great lyricists, composers and singers came up together with their outstanding creative talent to produce a song that will have an ever lasting impact. It was for Four Decades that Hindi film Music was at its peak. This led to increase in listenership for radio programmes aired from Radio Ceylon, such as Binaca Geetmala that had a captive audience and had attracted millions of Indians. Truly, the treasure of Indian Film Music has been preserved by the Radio Ceylon who was also the pioneer in broadcasting the same. It is most unfortunate, that many of the records even today, All India Radio do not have in their collection. Radio Ceylon and every Recording Company like His Master's Voice (HMV) or Columbia Records, started sending complimentary copies of its new records to Radio Ceylon. Thousands of record of Hindi Film Music had just one place for broadcast, i.e. It was a brilliant move by Radio Ceylon as the Hindi Film Music was banned by the All India Radio. #Muhammad rafi special on radio ceylone movieThe Radio Station popularised the movie songs, including the talents of playback singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi and of-course, K L Saigal. Radio Ceylon was at the right place at the right time to reach out to the target audience of millions of listeners from India, Pakistan & Gulf. What captured the Indian listener were the film songs, that were composed in the Golden Era of Hindi Film Music in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and to some what extend in 1970s. It was then Radio Ceylon, who first gave an opportunity to Ameenbhai to start a programme and the rest is history. ![]() Ironically, Ameenbhai's voice was rejected by the All India Radio just as Amitabh Bachhan's. ![]() Ameen Sayani the most popular Radio announcer by using Radio Ceylon for broadcasting programmes like Binaca Geetmala from 1952 to 1988. Gopal Sharma, Shiv Kumar Saroj the actor turned Sunil Dutt, who started his career as an announcer of Radio Ceylon and of-course, no one can forget Mr. Some of the most popular announcers were engaged by Vijay Kishore Dubey. The station employed some of the most popular Indian announcers who played a vital role in shaping up the fortunes of Radio Ceylon as the 'King of the Airwaves' in South Asia. The Hindi Broadcasting Service of the station was launched in the early 1950s. Radio Ceylon has a legacy of over Six decades. ![]()
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