WORLDSPACE launches India’s first national 24-hour Urdu radio station – Falak

Media News

MUMBAI, September 8

WORLDSPACE® Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: WRSP), one of the world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, today launched India’s first exclusive 24-hour Urdu radio station – Falak. Named after the Urdu word for ‘sky’, the channel aims to showcase the vast repertoire of Urdu music and celebrate the rich cultural heritage associated with the language of the imperial Mughal courts.

Channel No. 109 on the WORLDSPACE Satellite Radio Network, Falak captures the nuances of Urdu through a range of innovative programming that brings to life the romance of more than just the language. The channel revives memories of a whole tradition of impeccable style and etiquette, prose and poetry, and a rapidly vanishing set of traditional values.

Speaking on the launch of the new channel, Mr. Shishir Lall, managing director, WORLDSPACE India said, “We are delighted to launch the country’s first exclusive Urdu radio station and look forward to celebrating the mystery and beauty of the language of a bygone era with listeners across the country. It is our endeavour at WORLDSPACE to showcase the rich musical diversity of the world in a refreshing advertising-free format, which can be accessed in virtually any part of the country. WORLDSPACE is home to the widest variety of musical genres on radio with music ranging from contemporary forms such as Hip-hop and Pop to classic selections like Jazz, Hindustani, and Bengali. Falak will now enable music lovers to go back in time and indulge in the lyrical sounds of Urdu.”

” Falak is the only 24-hour radio station in the country which brings to its listeners an extensive range of special programs, which focuses on Urdu music. It is structured keeping with our commitment to offer our subscribers the widest range of programming mix across categories and music genres,” said Harshad Jain, Chief Marketing Officer, WORLDSPACE India.

Falak showcases the widest collection of Urdu music on radio in the form of ghazals, qawalis and film songs, broadcasting rare songs that are not even available in music stores today. The carefully structured programming highlights the various forms of Urdu music ranging from evocative poetry readings or Mushairas, exclusive interviews with singers and poets of a bygone era, special live recordings, trivia on historical events, celebrating the lives of legends from Urdu literature and music, sharing social messages contained in ancient Urdu literature, in addition to a host of other exclusive programming.

Some Programs on Falak:

Taareekh Key Jharokhey Sey – An interesting peep into the times gone by, Radio Falak takes a look into the history of various important cities, places of interest, monuments etc., sharing interesting and unknown anecdotes.

Filmy Saughaat – The show showcases film songs featuring Urdu lyrics, from India and Pakistan. Sabiha Fazal, a specialist presenter who excels in his knowledge of Hindustani and Pakistani film music, shares anecdotes about singers, composers, songwriters, and film producers on this entertaining show.

Aqwaal-E-Zareen – Catch social messages by great philosophers from all over the globe that have been translated and adapted in Urdu to imbibe modesty, humility and good human values.

Bazm-E-Khanam – A special program for the ladies, the show features tips on good health, house keeping, family relations, culinary delights from Indian, Mughlai, Irani, Uzbeki, Arabic and Afghani platter – their history, the little known tricks and techniques of their preparation.

Sufiyana Kalaam – A special program featuring Sufi Qawalis, Mersias, Nohas and Baints

Ghazal Usne Chhedi – Tune in for a fascinating program featuring theme based shows on Urdu poetry

Sham-E-Farozan – Catch the very best ghazals by renowned Urdu poets on this enchanting show.

If you are looking at recapture the culture and ethos of a bygone era, tune in to Radio Falak and revel in the soothing yet powerful voices of legends like Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Iqbal Bano, Tahira Saiyad, Farida Khanam, Reshma, Abida Parveen and the legendry Nusrat Saheb.

About WORLDSPACE® Satellite Radio

Based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, WORLDSPACE® (NASDAQ: WRSP) is the world’s only global media and entertainment company positioned to offer a satellite radio experience to consumers in more than 130 countries with five billion people, driving 300 million cars. WORLDSPACE delivers the latest tunes, trends and information from around the world and around the corner.

WORLDSPACE subscribers benefit from a unique combination of local programming, original WORLDSPACE content and content from leading brands around the globe including the BBC, CNN, Virgin Radio UK, NDTV and RFI. WORLDSPACE’s satellites cover two-thirds of the earth’s population with six

beams. Each beam is capable of delivering up to 80 channels of high quality digital audio and multimedia programming directly to WORLDSPACE Satellite Radios anytime and virtually anywhere in its coverage areas. WORLDSPACE is a pioneer of satellite-based digital radio services (DARS) and was instrumental in the development of the technology infrastructure used today by XM Satellite Radio. For more information, visit www.WORLDSPACE.com

About WORLDSPACE India

WORLDSPACE boasts a range of over 40 radio stations across genres – from Jazz to Classical, to Old Hindi Film Music and Rock. Its Indian programming includes two Indian classical stations – Shruti (Carnatic) and Gandharv (Hindustani), as well as regional Indian stations, viz. Tara (Bengali), KL Radio (Tamil), Sparsha (Kannada), RM Radio (Malayalam), Spandana (Telugu) and Tunak Punjabi (Punjabi), a Spiritual and Wellness station, Moksha and Art of Living Radio among others. For more information, visit www.worldspace.in.