On July 9th the Pakistani Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, inaugurated at Radio Pakistan Lahore several cultural projects aimed at effectively promoting the soft image of the country.
Among the projects mentioned were cinema, a Digital Broadcast Training Lab and Podcast Studio. The Minister also made direct reference to digital radio DRM.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said she would also soon introduce the groundbreaking Radio Pakistan’s Digital Radio Mondiale project, which has been approved by the government. Radio Pakistan’s Digital Migration would take the state broadcaster’s transmissions in clear sound not only across the length and breadth of the country but also beyond its borders, added the Minister. This follows the June official announcement that the Federal Ministry for Planning Development and Special Initiatives had approved the upgrade of the HPT Rawat transmitting station with the acquisition of a 1000 KW DRM enabled medium wave transmitter. This is part of phase 1 of a three-phase DRM digitisation plan of the public Pakistani broadcaster; in effect, this signifies that Pakistan has embraced the DRM standard in all bands for the whole country.
Earlier, Director General Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), Muhammad Tahir Hassan had said in his welcome remarks that the Information Minister and Radio Pakistan are following the digital broadcasting trends and that all PBC transmissions are being digitised, including the rich audio archives, for the benefit of future generations.
