The first radio stations in the UAE were Arabic FM’s which had started as news information providers. English FM service followed to join the airwaves in the mid 70s, mainly in Dubai as news channels as well. However, in the late 90s stations slowly started to move into the entertainment field and made more choices available to the listeners. "A professionally-managed entertainment radio channel offers around 70 per cent music, 20 per cent advertisements and 10 per cent talk from presenters," said Dhar.
The FM band is currently crowded with a new station every 2 or 3 MHz apart, some are clashed from neighboring Emirates and countries in the Persian Gulf.
At the time radio industry started in the region, the only way people could listen is either on transistor radios or in cars which was infrequently found. But nowadays, so many media platforms started to play a vital role, MP3 players, iPods, smart phones and most importantly internet radio. Louisa Sandra, a regular listener to Radio1 said: “Despite listening to radio in the car, I find it very useful to tune in through my smart phone or through my laptop. I feel that radio stations are now following me everywhere I go.”
Radio stations used to operate on vinyl records and complicated systems; it was not easy for a businessman to establish such a business. Today, a sophisticated technology has come up to facilitate the overall standards of radio stations. Therefore, don't be surprised to see an empty radio studio with a couple of buttons but still do the same job. Steven Simon, head of Radio1 programming said: "It's all been programmed; there is no need for someone to man it full time anymore."“Radio stations have matured in the UAE due to several reasons - the biggest factor is the diversity of stations we have today, ranging from languages spoken in the country (Arabic, English, Hindi, Filipino, Russian, etc.) to different genres of music (Arabic, Hip-Hop, Rock, Classical and Oldies, etc.)," Simon said. This development is due to the fact that UAE houses around 200 nationalities with each speaking a different language and enjoys different types of music.
English stations used to acquire the latest pop hits from BBC in London on a weekly basis, which was costly; CDs had to be physically sent overseas. Whereas today, certain music sources are cheaply available online and licensed to be played on air. This advancement facilitated to enhance the radio industry in the UAE and around the world in general.
The general standards of radio stations in the UAE have improved greatly in the past few years and many stations are now at par with leading stations in major cities in the world. However, according to Mr. Dhar: “Gulf News Broadcasting is constantly triggering new revolution on the airwaves.”
