Radio's glorious role in the
Liberation War began with the call of independence from Radio Pakistan,
Chittagong. After the formation of Mujibnagar government on 17 April 1971,
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (Radio Centre of Independent Bangladesh) started
broadcasting from 25 May 1971, the birth date of poet kazi nazrul islam.
It
ceased broadcasting from 19 December 1971, when the Bangladesh
government-in-exile moved to Dhaka from where it started broadcasting through
transmitters of former Radio Pakistan.
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
The Swadhin Bangla Betar
Kendra (Begening it was Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendro as a Clandestine
Radio ) from where today's Bangladesh Betar born, in fact, evolved from the
Kalurghat in Chittagong transmission centre from where the declaration of
independence was made by Ziaur Rahman under the learship of Shaikh Mujibur
Rahman. The Kalurghat radio centre was abandoned when it was heavily shelled by
the Pakistan Air Force on March 30. The centre, however, resumed its second
phase of activities from 3 April 1971 at Bagafa (Tripura State) with a short
wave transmitter. The centre was later shifted to Shalbagan and Bagafa-Belonia
Forest Hills Road, Agartala. The key person in organising the centre in its
early stage was Balal Muhammad, a scriptwriter and artiste of Radio Pakistan.
Several other liberation activists who joined later included
Abdullah-Al-Faruque (Presently The head of Bangla Dept. of Radio Deutsche
welle, Germany), Abul Kashem Sandwip, Kazi Habibuddin Ahmed Moni, Aminur
Rahman, Rashidul Hussain, A M Sharfuzzaman, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Syed Abdus
Shaker, and Mustafa Monwar. The damaged transmitter that they brought with them
from Kalurghat was made operative by engineer Syed Abdus Shaker. The daily
programme in this phase consisted of a morning transmission between 8.30 and 9
and an afternoon session between 5 and 7.
On May 25, the centre was
shifted to Calcutta where it started functioning on the same day. With the
arrival of new and experienced radio personnel from Dhaka, the centre became
fully operative technically. From May 26, it was named Swadhin Bangla Betar
Kendra. In August, appointment letters were issued for various positions with
effect from June 1971.
New Name Radio Bangladesh
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
was renamed Radio Bangladesh on 6 December 1971, when India gave formal
recognition to independent Bangladesh and its provisional government.
Radio Bangladesh was named
Bangladesh Betar in 1972 and was renamed Radio Bangladesh again in 1975. Once
again it was renamed Bangladesh Betar in 1996. At present, it has a
constellation of 19 medium wave transmitters, five short wave(only one is
active) and 14 FM transmitters (use as a feeder) and covers the whole of the
country's territory.
