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Tamil rules the airwaves
 It is now more than 60 years since BBC's Tamil service, Tamizhosai, was launched. The programme began May 3, 1941. Tamil was one of the first BBC South Asian languages to be broadcast. It grew from a once-a-week newsletter to a bi-weekly programme in the 1980s to a daily transmission in the 1990s. The programme broadcasts to Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and the vast Tamil diaspora in North America, western Europe and Australia.
BBC Tamizhosai has become a family programme. There are many examples for it. Mostly all Tamilians living within and outside India listen to Tamizhosai. A listener once said, "I feel that the day is not complete without listening to
Tamizhosai."
It may be surprising to many people to know that sandalwood brigand Veerappan is a regular listener of
Tamizhosai.
T Manivannan, editor of BBC Tamizhosai, says, "Tamizhosai is one of the leading language services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service. Tamizhosai is primarily a news and current affairs programme with a 30-minute slot in BBC World Service."
BBC is known for credibility and authenticity, and Tamizhosai being a part of it, gets that advantage. Tamizhosai has become a part of life of people in various countries, especially Sri Lanka and the middle-eastern countries. "Sri Lankans listen to Tamizhosai daily. They believe our news. We have numerous correspondents in Sri Lanka, so we can satisfy the listeners' requirements."
 The people who worked here are also an added advantage for Tamizhosai. For example, Shankarmoorthy, former head of Tamizhosai, has worked a lot for the development of Tamizhosai. His voice was also good. He translated Shakespeare's plays into Tamil for Tamizhosai listeners. Tamil features were also given more importance.
Speaking about re-broadcasters, the editor said Tamizhosai programmes were being re-broadcast in countries such as Sri Lanka (through the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation [SLBC]) and Australia (through a local FM station).
Until a few years ago, SLBC was re-broadcasting Tamizhosai through a Medium Wave (MW) transmitter which enabled transmission to be heard better in some parts of Tamil Nadu, but the rebroadcast is now only through FM and hence limited.
Manivannan states that efforts were being taken to start the re-braodcast in MW, through which people in most parts of Tamil Nadu and Chennai can listen to
Tamizhosai.
Asked when BBC programmes and Tamizhosai will be broadcasted from India, Manivannan said that depends a lot on the opening up of the FM and broadcast industry in India. There are some legal constraints in BBC broadcasting from India.
Last year, nine Tamizhosai listeners were awarded prizes for the World Cup quiz contest conducted by Tamizhosai. It was also a get-together function for the listeners. Manivannan says efforts would be taken to arrange more such get-togethers in future.
"The September 11 attack of the World Trade Centre (WTC) at New York was one of the events that we covered extensively. I spoke to a Tamil journalist who was there in New York when the disaster took place. We spoke to many Tamilians working at WTC, and their relatives in Chennai were interviewed in the programme," Manivannan pointed out.
 When asked why cinema is not given due preference in the programme, he says "whenever any event of importance takes place in the cinema industry, we broadcast news about it".
Citing the example of the Sandiyar (Virumaandi) issue between Kamal Haasan and politician, Dr Krishnaswamy, he said, "We had an interviews with Kamal and Krishnaswamy. When A R Rehman was in London, we broadcast an interview with him. So I cannot agree to the question."
Many listeners have formed clubs in their locality for Tamizhosai and have been doing yeoman service to the people in their locality. Rani
Maindan, Relationship Marketing officer, BBC Marketing, communication & audience
Department, Chennai, says, "All listeners treat us as their relatives. They even send their marriage invitations and invitations for other occasions. We acknowledge this affection by sending them a greeting card for the occasion."
Uthama Seelan of Parasalur has sent almost 8,100 letters to Tamizhosai, and for this year, he has sent 1,100 letters. There are many listeners like Uthama Seelan who constantly write to us, he added.
According Rani Maindan, BBC is the leader in providing news to the entire world. People in various countries tune into BBC for the latest news. BBC was the first to broadcast the news that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. Such is the authenticity and speed of BBC, he says.
In the Gulf countries, many employees from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka listen to Tamizhosai, which has become the life line for them to communicate with their near and dear ones.
Annamalai, Relationship Marketing officer, BBC Marketing, communication & audience
Department, said once a prisoner in a Gulf country had asked for a radio to listen to Tamizhosai, and the jail authorities had said if he wanted a radio, then he would have to sacrifice some of his basic needs. The prisoner actually sacrificed his other basic needs for a radio to listen to
Tamizhosai!
 In another incident, an employee's increment was cut for listening to Tamizhosai during work. But he said he did not mind sacrificing his increment for listening to
Tamizhosai.
Many people in countries where it is night time when Tamizhosai is broadcast, set alarm clocks to listen to the broadcast.
BBC Tamizhosai has a customer relations office in
Chennai.
"Earlier, we used to receive lot of letters, but due to advancements in technology, now we receive a lot of e-mails. On an average, we receive 1,000 letters and e-mails from our listeners," Rani Maindan pointed out.
No other broadcaster gives world news in just 30 minutes. There are no advertisements to break the flow of news. "Tamizhosai brings the world to your drawing room," he said.
There are lot of correspondents for BBC World Service. The news they send are also featured in Tamizhosai. So, if you want to know the happenings all over the world, just tune in to BBC
Tamizhosai.
The wide range of programmes on BBC Tamizhosai are:
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Monday - Sports roundup (Vilayattarangam)
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Tuesday - Science for all (Anaivarkkum
Ariviyal)
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Wednesday - Focus (Palagani)
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Thursday - Letters from Sri Lanka
(llangai Madal)
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Friday - Listeners' letters
(Neyar Neram)
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Saturday - Problem words (Sollum Porulum), a BBC English education programme
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Sunday - Letters from Tamil Nadu
(Thamizhaga Madal)
Radio Information
 BBC broadcasts daily to Tamils worldwide, offering global news, in-depth coverage of events in Sri Lanka and Tamil
Nadu.
The service is available in shortwave in Sri Lanka, India, Burma, Singapore, Malaysia and the Gulf, and via subscription services in other continents.
Independent audience research has shown that the Tamil Service has more than one million listeners in India alone.
The key frequencies in which BBC Tamzhosai can be heard are 6140 (49m), 7205 (41m), 9510 (31m) khz. The timings according to various time zones are 1545-1615 (GMT), 2115-2145 (IST), 2145-2215
(SLST).
Tamil listeners in Australia (Perth, Sydney and Darwin) can also tune in to Tamizhosai through some local stations.
BBC has two parts in it, BBC World (the TV wing) and BBC World Service (the radio) under which Tamizhosai and 42 other language divisions come, including English and Tamil.
For more information, please contact:
BBC Tamizhosai,
PO Box No 6222,
Greams Road,
Chennai - 600 006.
e-mail: bbctamil@xlweb.com
Web site: www.bbctamil.com
N Arun Kumar
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