AIR Chennai’s glorious 80-year journey

Recently, All-India Radio, Chennai, celebrated the completion of 80 years of service as a public broadcaster. 

The AIR station, located on Marshall’s Road, Egmore, was inaugurated by Lord Erskine, the then Governor of Madras Province. Established in 1938, it has the distinction of being one of the six AIR stations operational at the time of Independence. 

Nagaswara maestro Tiruvengadu Subramania Pillai gave the inaugural concert.  AIR had an audition system in place as early as the 1940s. Music supervisors were appointed ‘to assist the station directors in auditions, rehearsals and training of artistes’. The organisation was shifted to its newly constructed building on South Beach Road (now Kamarajar Salai) near Santhome on July 11, 1954.