Radio Silvercity @ 89.6 FM

Contact Person: RJ Amar Chavan  

Broadcast Hours: 6 AM to 9 AM & repeat 6 PM to 9 PM  for 06 hours a day

Genesis: Khamgaon had no radio network access prior to the launch of Radio Silvercity in 2022 by Dnyangangana Shikshan Prasarak Mandal. The CRS was established with the goal of educating the local population about agriculture and its technical facets. Additionally, Radio Silvercity also educates the local population on health-related topics. 

Thematic Focus: Radio Silvercity works on educating young people about career, educational, and self-employment opportunities that will help them develop their careers.  Since health-related issues are also a matter of concern these days, the CRS also produces a variety of programmes related to diet, primary care, health improvement, etc. that will eventually help raise awareness and improve health standards in the community.. 

Sustainable Development Goals: The SDGs that Radio Silvercity focuses on are listed below

SDG 4: Quality Education

SDG 5: Gender Equality

SDG 15: Life on Land

Primetime Programmes: On Radio Silvercity, the primetime programming includes shows like Kitabwala, which adopts a storytelling method to cover the primary and pre-primary curriculum. A programme called Career Guidance concentrates on assisting students in passing entrance exams. The CRS hosts a talk show called “Hello, Doctor!” where they invite medical experts. Dhawantri is another health-related programme based on Ayurveda.    A programme called Yashogatha features the success stories of entrepreneurs and other accomplished people. The show Kichan Katta is about nutrition. 

Innovations in format or any other way: In 1969, Hon. Late Vasantrao Bappurao Deshmukh established the Dnyanganga Shikshan Prasarak Mandal in the rural district of Akola. Since then, the organisation has carried out its initiatives and interventions in accordance with the ideals of its late founder and president, Mr. Vasantrao Bappurao Deshmukh. Akola and Buldhana districts’ high school programme for students from rural areas has been a significant initiative. Other social initiatives include tree planting, blood donation, health camps, mask distribution, and awareness campaigns about the importance of social distancing.

Core Team: The station manager, an agricultural scientist, and two radio jockeys make up the current team of four.  The station incharge is a doctor and is responsible for health-related programmes and the agricultural scientist is in charge of the agricultural programmes.  The educational programmes’ content is created by the Radio Jockeys.

Major Projects Undertaken: Radio Silvercity is collaborating with the state government to raise awareness on various schemes such as those pertaining to agriculture, health, and education.

Sustainable Strategies: The parent organisation contributes about 30% of the annual budget in terms of both technical and financial support. In addition, the sustainable strategy of the CRS aims to be self-sufficient and to obtain the remaining 70% of the budget through joint ventures with top NGOs and other government agencies.   

Number of listeners and Potential Outreach: Around ten villages and a large city fall in Radio Silvercity’s coverage area. Though the number of active listeners has not yet been determined, the potential outreach is thought to be around 1,90,000.

Major concerns in the Community: Educating young people about career, educational, and self-employment opportunities will help them develop their careers. 

The community lacks tools but has a lot of latent artistic potential. The mobile network hasn’t spread widely yet, there aren’t any radio stations within 70 km, the roads aren’t adequate, and the farmers don’t have access to cutting-edge technology. In general, this field is still in a very early stage of development. 

 The majority of the population relies primarily on agriculture as a source of income, but the area experiences low productivity, which is primarily due to a lack of technical knowledge regarding production technology and post-harvest management.