NEW DELHI: A new radio channel, Ragam, has been made operational on Doordarshan’s free-to-air DD Direct Plus direct-to-home service to cater exclusively to fans of Carnatic music.

This channel can be reached all over the country except Andaman and Nicobar Islands through the DD Direct Plus on Ku-band.

Other than this, only the Amruthavarshini FM channel in Bangalore exclusively broadcasts both Hindustani and Carnatic music.

Under the first two phases currently in existence, 242 FM channels are operational covering 86 cities, each with a population of over 300,000 or more.

FM Phase-III Policy will extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities, in addition to the present 86 cities, with a total of 839 new FM radio Channels in 294 cities.

Of the 86 cities and towns which have private FM Radio channels, 67 are to get additional channels.

The sources said a total of 216 cities and towns are to get private FM radio for the first time in Phase III, out of the 302 identified by the Government and split into four categories.