KOHAT, May 17: The transmissions of Kohat FM radio station could hardly be received clearly beyond two kilometre radius, as arrangements could not be made to repair or replace its faulty transmitter since 2010.

Once popular among ordinary citizens and farmers in the district due to its broadcasts in local dialects the number of the radio listeners has dropped sharply because of reach problem.

The FM radio in Kohat was launched in 2005 by then Pervez Musharraf government, which had installed a 3-kilowatt transmitter with a promise to upgrade it up to 100-kilowatt for a wider coverage.

Sources said that the transmitter in Kohat was lying useless for the last two years, as it had developed serious faults.

They said that programmes of Kohat FM radio could once be listened as far as in Orakzai Agency, Thall, Hangu and Karak besides Darya Khan and Bakkhar areas of Punjab.

However, now its transmissions were hardly audible in Kohat city and had been reduced to two kilometre radius.

The transmission has deteriorated to such an extent that even people in Miankhel and district courts areas of the city just turn it off due unbearable noise and whistling in broadcasts.

When contacted, officials said on condition of anonymity that timings of the radio transmission were curtailed by an hour when attacks on government installations by Darra Adamkhel-based Taliban were at peak soon after its inauguration in 2005.

However, after return of normalcy the timings from 8am to 8pm remained unchanged and all requests to the headquarters for increase in transmission hours had been turned down.

They regretted that about 35 people were working at the FM station, but the government was not able to repair the transmitter or install a new one, which would cost Rs3 million. They said that Kohat FM radio could serve a purpose of countering militants’ propaganda in the nearby tribal areas.

The officials said that they had made repeated appeals during last two years to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and federal broadcasting ministry to order repair of the faulty transmitter, but they still awaited a response.

Unlike staff of big radio stations whose services had been regularised by the federal government 11 members of Kohat radio station were working on contract since 2005.