Chicago Radio

Under Gianchand's son Nanik the company began a close association with the Congress, providing public address systems at numerous meetings and speeches.

The Eastern Electric & Trading Company was founded in the city of Sukkur in Sindh (now in Pakistan) in 1909 by Gianchand Chandumal Motwane, a former telegraphy engineer for the North Western State Railway.

[1][3] Gandhi said after the meeting that "the cheers that punctuated my remarks on some of the most important amendments showed that the listeners were following my exposition with the utmost attention.

[1] Chicago Radio became closely associated with Congress thereafter and, indeed, initially offered public address services only to the party.

He typically arrived the day before the meeting to set up the system, with loudspeakers on bamboo poles, and to make sure all the batteries were charged.

[3] Eventually Chicago Radio amassed 100 public address systems which were stationed across India to minimise haulage distances.

[1][3] The company developed the Chicago Radio Conference Interpretation System to simultaneously translate speech into other languages before rebroadcast.

[3] Chicago Radio equipment was used for Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's 1947 "Tryst with Destiny" speech on India's first Independence Day.

[2] A Chicago Radio system was used during the landmark 1963 performance of "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" by singer Lata Mangeshkar in the aftermath of the Indian defeat in the Sino-Indian War, on Republic Day (26 January) at the National Stadium in New Delhi in the presence of President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.