Quiz on radio broadcasting

In 2011, during their 36th annual conference, Unesco delegates decided that World Radio Day will be celebrated on February 13 each year. This is a quiz about the world of radio broadcasting.

Radio gaga

1 An explanation offered for this three-letter term was one of the first wireless radio stations started by Albert Hyman, Robert Almy and Reginald Murray. Which is the term, often used to refer to amateur radio stations or operators?

2 Which iconic radio brand, in India and around the world, was associated with a chubby toddler with a finger placed near the lips? If it helps, it inspired the name of a popular Hindi film released in 2012?

3 The Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio was launched on October 3, 1957, primarily to combat the popularity of another Asian radio station. Name it.

4 Radio Londres was a French-language radio station from the days of World War II and was operated by Frenchmen who had escaped from occupied France. One of its two major objectives was to counter Nazi propaganda. What was the other?

5 Guglielmo Marconi patented the radio in 1896 and was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909 for his work in the field. For which nation did he personally set up a radio station in 1931?

6 The BBC is often known in the UK as ‘the Beeb’. Which former radio star and later film actor coined the term in his iconic radio programme The Goon Show?

7 The BBC was the first broadcaster to offer ball-by-ball radio coverage of a cricket Test match. The first Test match special was launched in May 1957 during an England-West Indies series. The commentary team comprised Rex Alston, EW Swanton, Ken Ablack, Norman Yardley, Freddie Brown and another legendary commentator. Name the sixth person.

8 One of the biggest rivals to the BBC in the ’60s were pirate radio stations operating out of ships which were unlicensed. Which was the most popular of the pirate radio stations, featuring famous jockeys such as Tony Blackburn and Simon Dee?

9 Which small hamlet became nationally famous, thanks to the efforts of businessman Rameshwar Prasad Barnwal and shop owners Ganga Prasad Magadhiya and Nandlal Sinha?

10 What was created by Walter Kaufmann who fled Europe to escape the Nazis and took up a position in India in the ’30s?

Answers

1 Ham radios, from the first letters of their surnames. There are other theories about its origin.

2 Murphy, the film Barfi! gets its name from the mispronunciation of Murphy.

3 Radio Ceylon, which was hugely popular at the time.

4 To send coded messages to the French resistance, especially before the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

5 Vatican City. He was specially invited by the Pope for the purpose. Radio Vaticana turned 90 yesterday.

6 Peter Sellers. The Goon Show also featured legendary comedians Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

7 John Arlott.

8 Radio Caroline.

9 Jhumri Telaiya in Jharkhand; the trio started the trend of sending regular song requests to Radio Ceylon and Vividh Bharati, which made Jhumri Telaiya a familiar name for most listeners.

10 The signature tune of All India Radio, which he created in 1936. Kaufmann later emigrated to the US and became a music professor at Indiana University.

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster;

Twitter: @joybhattacharj