AIR's domestic service includes 420 stations nationwide, covering nearly 92% of India's geographic area and 99.19% of its population, with programming available in 23 languages and 179 dialects.

[citation needed] In December 1940, the Standing Finance Committee sanctioned a sum of Rupees 9,30,000 for the establishment of a new headquarters of the All India Radio in Delhi.

Television broadcasting commenced in Delhi in 1959 under the aegis of AIR, but was split off from the radio network as Doordarshan on 1 April 1976.

It was launched by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, boasting of a transmitting power of 200 Watts.

Some programmes broadcast on Vividh Bharati are: The Central Sales Unit (CSU), located in Mumbai, handles the commercial affairs of AIR.

[17] The headquarters of the Regional Deputy Directors General are located in Delhi and Chandigarh (NR), Lucknow and Bhopal (CR), Guwahati (NER), Kolkata (ER), Mumbai and Ahmedabad (WR), and Chennai and Bangalore (SR)[20] All frequencies are in kHz, unless otherwise specified.

The external broadcasts began on October 1, 1939, initiated by the British government to counter Nazi propaganda directed at the Afghan people.

Over time, broadcasts expanded to include languages such as Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay, and French.

Two high-powered FM stations of All India Radio are being installed in Amritsar and Fazilka, Punjab, to complement the programs broadcast from transmitters in Jalandhar, New Delhi, Chandigarh, and Mumbai.

Today, the External Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts 57 transmissions daily, offering nearly 72 hours of programming that reaches over 108 countries in 27 languages.

The foreign languages include Arabic, Baluchi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, French, Indonesian, Persian, Pushtu, Russian, Sinhala, Swahili, Thai, Tibetan, and English (General Overseas Service).

The Indian languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Kashmiri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

The longest daily broadcast is the Urdu Service to Pakistan, which airs around the clock on DTH (direct-broadcast satellite) and on short- and medium-wave for 12¼ hours.

These transmissions are delivered via high-power transmitters located in Aligarh, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Mumbai, and Panaji on shortwave, and from Jalandhar, Kolkata, Nagpur, Rajkot, and Tuticorin on mediumwave.

Each language service includes news, commentary, press reviews, talks on general or cultural topics, feature programs, documentaries, and music from India and the target region.

QSL cards, which are highly sought after by international radio hobbyists, are issued by AIR in New Delhi in response to reception reports of their broadcasts.

Plans are in place to expand the service to 11 additional cities, including Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ranchi, and Shimla.

This format has been revived by AIR producers across India due to its flexibility, relatively low production cost, messaging potential, and creative possibilities.

Additionally, the CDU produces Chain Plays, which are half-hour dramas broadcast in succession by a network of stations.