“Get active with Radio Active, get proactive with Radio Active” goes the jingle for Bangalore’s first Community Radio Station (CRS) — Radio Active FM 107.8 MHz. Set up at a cost of Rs 10 lakh, the station was launched by the Jain Group of institutions (JGI) at Shri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College — Centre for Management Studies, on Monday.

 Inaugurated by Director, Commonwealth of Learning, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, Dr reedhar, Radio Active covers a radius of 15-20 km, being the second CRS in Karnataka.

The programming in Kannada and English will include topics on women, health, traffic updates, weather, environment, developmental issues and academics.  Students from other colleges have been invited to participate in the community radio station. VOICES, an NGO, will also make programmes for the station. It is kickstarting with ‘Science for women’ with grants from the Department of Science and Technology.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sreedhar said the CMR station is like a neighbourhood newspaper with a strong local flavour, covering local issues which the mainstream media does not cover. Commercial music will soon be allowed on CRS, after the associations represented by Performing Arts Society have made the slabs more reasonable, he said.

There are currently 28 CRS in the country, which the government hopes to boost to 5,000 in a period of time, he revealed. National Law School, Bangalore University and Shree Ramana Maharishi School for the Blind have been issued licences but have not set up stations, he added.

RADIO STATIONS

*Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry: 11
*Maharashtra: 2
*Karnataka: 2
*Kerala: 1
*Andhra Pradesh: 1
*Rajasthan: 2
*Delhi: 4
*Uttar Pradesh: 4