By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The transmissions of Radio Pakistan Chitral have come a closure since December 24 last when it FM transmitter broke down which was in dilapidated condition whose output had decreased from 2000 watt to only 200 watts.
An official of the radio station told Chitral Times that the FM transmitter of the station needed repair or replacement as it had totally fell down bringing the six hours daily transmissions to stop.
He said that the repaired (second hand) transmitter of the medium wave had been installed in October 2016 with 2 kilowatt (2000 watt) power but soon after it dropped to 0.2kilo watt (200 watt) with that its reception had been decreased to a few kilometers.
The radio station broadcasted program spanning over six hours duration daily in three languages of Khowar (Chitrali), Urdu and Pushto apart from relaying the news bulletins and discussions on the national hook up.
The closure of the city radio station by the government due to the negligence of the high-ups has received flaks from the listeners who complained that they had lost an important source of entertainment.
They said that the local people were fond of the programs presented by the station and the cessation will lead them to tune the knob of their radio sets on the stations of some other countries which broadcasted programs in Urdu.
Dr. Inayatullah Faizi, former president of Anjuman-e-Taraqi Khowar, said that Chitral has a large common border with our hostile neighbor of Afghanistan and there needed a strong border publicity apparatus in the form of radio station.
He said that the people residing in the border areas have only a radio set for their entertainment and keeping abreast of the current affairs and the cessation of the local radio transmissions has created a vacuum for them.
Regarding the loss inflicted by the closure of the radio station, he said that Chitral district had a rich diversity of culture and languages where there fourteen languages were spoken and the transmissions of the local radio was indispensable for their promotion as well their preservations.
“There are a number of cultural traits in different valleys which are set to die including that of Kalash, Wakhi, Gobori, Ursooni, Goleni and many others and the radio was the most useful and effective medium to preserve them”, he said.
