Ameen Sayani’s Archive of South Asian Commercial Radio Broadcasting

Ameen Sayani, arguably South Asia’s best known radio voice, led the Hindi-language commercial broadcasting industry for four decades (1950s-1980s), producing programs from Bombay for audiences across South Asia and the diaspora. This archive preserves and makes accessible recordings (and related textual material) that formed a crucial aspect of South Asians’ daily lives and traces the evolution of the craft and business of commercial radio. Moreover, since Sayani worked closely with the Hindi film industry and most of his programs featured film songs and/or referenced films, the collection is also an archive of the aural cinematic cultures that thrived in the region.