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“Radio Quarantine” was not one station. In late March 2020, two separate, similarly named web radio projects started in Bengaluru and Kolkata, within about a day of each other, to keep people connected while India’s 21-day national lockdown kept them at home. Bengaluru’s was a nightly thematic music show begun by sound artist Yashas Shetty on March 26, 2020. Kolkata’s was a broader community station that began the day before, on March 25, 2020. Both were organised independently, and the reporting describes them as activities of the lockdown period rather than as continuing networks.
The two projects at a glance
The two stations shared a name and a moment, but their structure and reported aims differed. The table below sets out what contemporaneous coverage establishes for each. Where a detail was not reported, the cell says so.
| Aspect | Radio Quarantine (Bengaluru) | Radio Quarantine Kolkata |
|---|---|---|
| Organisers | Yashas Shetty, a sound artist and musician, broadcasting from a home studio. He was associated with the Indian Sonic Research Organisation, a Bengaluru network of independent composers and instrument builders. | A group of friends including professors, researchers and filmmakers, as reported by The Indian Express. Darshana Mitra is named among the people behind it; Kasturi Basu is associated with it in contemporaneous reporting. |
| Launch | March 26, 2020, about 48 hours into the 21-day lockdown. | March 25, 2020, the day before the Bengaluru launch. |
| Schedule and format | A nightly music programme built around themes such as isolation, taking a break and dancing alone, with guest conversations. | A wider station schedule with music, a children’s show, storytelling, interviews, readings and civic discussion, including an evening slot and a late-night music segment hosted by Sudipto Sanyal. |
| Listener participation | Friends and family gathered around music and song requests, as described by collaborator Savita Vijaykumar. | Invited home recordings, monologues, poetry and short-story readings from listeners. Health recommendations from doctors were planned. |
| Balance of music, culture and civic talk | Mostly music, with guests discussing exile, isolation and the migrant-worker crisis. | Music and community contributions alongside interviews and civic commentary, including the “Quarantine Diaries” segment. |
| Status after the lockdown | Not stated in the reporting. | Not stated in the reporting; see the availability section below. |
Bengaluru: a nightly show built around themes
Shetty’s programme was a music show with a clear thematic frame. Each night centred on a mood the lockdown had made familiar. The selection, as described in the Scroll.in feature of April 7, 2020, moved across classical composers, experimental sound artists, contemporary Japanese music and popular songs. Guests were brought in for conversation, and the show was shaped by people around it, not only by the host.
The programme’s reported purpose was communal. Savita Vijaykumar, who helped bring guests to the show, described it as “community driven,” with friends and family gathering around the music and sending song requests. The coverage presents this as the intended character of the show, not as a measured result.
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Kolkata: a station schedule with listeners in it
The Kolkata project was closer to a small radio station than a single show. The Indian Express reported that its founders wanted to connect people confined to their homes, and the station invited listeners to send in their own material: home recordings, monologues, poetry and short stories. Doctors were expected to contribute health advice. The Scroll.in feature describes an evening schedule that included a children’s show, storytelling, music, interviews and discussion.
Because it ran across more formats, Kolkata’s station also carried more of the civic conversation. Its “Quarantine Diaries” included commentary on the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Sudipto Sanyal, a writer and music enthusiast, hosted a late-night music segment.
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Civic conversation during the lockdown
Both stations treated the lockdown as more than a private pause. In Bengaluru, guests spoke about exile, isolation and the plight of migrant workers. In Kolkata, the programming returned to questions of citizenship and rights that were already contested before the lockdown.
Darshana Mitra, one of the people behind the Kolkata station and a teacher at the National University of Juridical Sciences, put the point directly in the Scroll.in feature: “The physical spaces are absent, but the issues still exist.” Her remark explains why the Kolkata schedule did not drop political questions for lighter material.
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What the reporting can and cannot show
The coverage establishes the aims, the formats and the activities of both stations. It does not measure their effect. Descriptions of listeners gathering around songs or sending in recordings are participant accounts and reported intentions. They are not controlled evidence that listening reduced anxiety or loneliness, and they should not be read as proof that the stations did so. The reporting also does not rank one station as more successful than the other, and it gives no audience figures that could support such a comparison.
People to identify carefully
- Yashas Shetty: sound artist and musician who launched The Radio Quarantine in Bengaluru.
- Indian Sonic Research Organisation: a Bengaluru network of independent composers and instrument builders associated with the Bengaluru programme.
- Savita Vijaykumar: collaborator who helped bring guests to the Bengaluru show and described its community character.
- Darshana Mitra: one of the people behind Radio Quarantine Kolkata and a participant in its civic discussions.
- Kasturi Basu: filmmaker associated with the Kolkata initiative in contemporaneous reporting.
- Sudipto Sanyal: writer and music enthusiast who hosted a late-night music segment for the Kolkata station.
Listening to them today
Both stations belong to the spring of 2020, and nothing in the reporting shows that either still broadcasts. A Zeno.FM directory page lists Radio Quarantine Kolkata, and an Apple Podcasts listing describes its podcast feed. Neither listing establishes that live broadcasts continue, that the episode archive is complete, or that older links still resolve. The reporting cited here does not describe a current listing for the Bengaluru show. Treat any listing as a record of what was once available, and check the directory page directly before sending readers to it.
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