S. Gopan Nair Biography 
S. Gopan Nair, better known as Gopan was a senior journalist and legendary news reader of Akashvani Malayalam with more than 4 decades of experience in this field since 1960s. He has reported and presented many iconic news to Malayalis since 1960s when Doordarshan and television was not so popular in rural areas and people depend on radio mostly to hear news. Death of Jawaharlal Nehru and launch of Aryabhatta were presented to Malayalis by Gopan, who started his career as a news reader at Delhi AIR at the age of 21. Over many decades he also presented several election bulletins. New generation is quite familiar to his voice through Malayalam version of anti-smoking ad, “Swasakosham Sponge Polullathaanu”. He passed away on 29th April, 2019. He was survived by his wife and son.
S. Gopan Nair was born into an influential family of Thiruvananthapuram as the grandson of C. V. Raman Pillai. Adoor Bhasi and E. V. Krishna Pillai were his relatives. He studied at University college, Thiruvananthapuram and wanted to become a history professor. But later he became a familiar voice to millions of Malayalis as a presenter of news, apart from numerous ads of different ministries of central government. He was also a show host, and has presented many shows for Akashvani and Doordarshan post retirement too.
After studies, to become a history professor, he moved to Kashmir. Sardar K. M. Paniker who served as the VC of Kashmir University had then promised him to give a job of a history professor on a vacancy. But when he reached there, Paniker got transferred to Mysore University, and Gopan couldn’t get the job. He worked in ‘Mainstream’ magazine of Delhi as a journalist before joining Akashvani at the age of 21 in the post of a news reader.
Published: May 03, 2019
Updated: May 03, 2019
