THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The national broadcasters All India Radio and Doordarshan went off the air in the State from Tuesday morning as part of the national strike called by the National Federation of Akashavani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE), an umbrella body of 21 service organisations of Prasar Bharati.
All the Doordarshan transmitters in the State, except the one in Alappuzha, stopped telecasting. The five FM stations Kannur, Thrissur, Devikulam (Spice FM), Manjeri (Dreams FM) and Thiruvananthapuram (Ananthapuri FM) also went off the air from 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The transmitter in Alappuzha broadcast instrumental music while it failed to air any scheduled programme.
At the national level, around 38,000 employees of the two broadcast agencies took part in the strike. The NFADE has been organising a series of agitation programmes demanding repeal of the Prasar Bharati Act. The Federation officebearers said that the day for the strike was chosen as November 23 as it was the foundationday of Prasar Bharati. The AIR has 336 broadcasting centres while the Doordarshan has a network of 1,404 transmitters across the country.