MUMBAI: Thane Central Jail radio station is just short of a few wires which should be right in their places in a couple of days and so should their RJs.
Thane Central Jail has been working on starting a radio station that would keep the prisoners entertained from 6:30 am to 6 pm every day. For the same, the jail authorities have created a seperate studio and also brought in all the equipment required for the smooth functioning of the station. According to Jail Superintendent, Hiralal Jadhav, everything is in place except for a few formalities to be put into place and some RJ training.
The prisoners themselves will be hosting in Hindi, English and Marathi. “We have some well-educated prisoners who can speak in these languages. Thus, they will be seen anchoring the shows. We will take some help from established RJs to train them for a while,” said Jadhav.
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They will also try roping in well-known RJs occasionally to motivate the prisoners to do better, added the Jail Superintendent.
The songs to be played on this station too will be a mix of Hindi and Marathi. There will be more Bollywood and spiritual songs. So, will there also be royalty charges applicable on these Bollywood songs? “I don’t think so,” quipped Jadhav.
A lot of things still have to be worked out with the jail authorities lacking experience in running a radio station. They are open to suggestions and learning more about it to ensure the best is delivered to the jail inmates, Jadhav said.
The radio station at the moment is being funded by an NGO and an MLA whose names weren’t disclosed. And in all probability, the station will begin functioning between 18 to 30 July 2016.
Everyone at the Thane jail is expecting superstar Amitabh Bachchan to inaugurate the radio station, but they haven’t managed to get his dates yet. “We are waiting for Amitabh Bachchan’s nod and trying to get our higher officers’ dates to inaugurate the station,” ended Jadhav.
Yerwada Central Prision, Pune and Tihar Jail, Delhi already have radio stations that are hosted by inmates. Well-known Bollywood face Sanjay Dutt hosted a show for Yerwada radio station, that turned out to be a hit during his stay there.
