Indian farmers tune Pakistani FM radio stations: Times of India

ISLAMABAD: Owing to the low frequency range of Indian national radio broadcasters and the absence of any local FM station, the farmers living in the villages of Indian Punjab along the border with Pakistan still tune into Pakistani FM, according to a report carried by Times of India.

"For more than three decades now Puran Singh Madhre's paddy farm, stowed in one of the tiny villages of Ferozepur, Punjab, has resonated with soulful melodies broadcast from a township located 70-odd km across the tall barbed fences on Hussainiwala border."

"Low frequency range of national radio broadcasters and the absence of any local FM station have kept radio service from Pakistan the most popular source of entertainment, say the farmer families on the fringes of Ferozepur," a report published in the Times of India said.

"Every morning as the 56-year-old Madhre sets off for work in his fields, the twist of a dial on his 4-inches long radio-receiver gives him bursts of joy even as he sweats out in the blistering heat. He cheerfully hums along the lyrics of famous songs sung by Pakistan's Ahmed Rushdi, Naheed Akhtar and Masood Rana," the report said.

"Despite the service by Prasar Bharti, we have never had the opportunity to regularly listen to any of the famous Punjab singers. But the Punjabi and Urdu songs on the Pakistan radio stations has given the feeling of an imaginary world where people of similar culture live," the report quoted Madhre as saying.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011