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www.radioduniya.in March 2008 | Vol: I | Issue: 5 Rs. 50/-
India’s first first radio radio monthly India’s
Radio Duniya Conference 2008
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Radio Duniya Magazine, G-4 Sector 39, Noida Tel: +91-120-250 2180-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 www.radioduniya.in
Editorial Celebrating Excellence in Radio! We tried something unique in February 2008, when we organised the first ever Radio Conference, titled Radio Duniya 2008. The conference was our attempt to bring together, all the stakeholders of the radio industry at a single platform and encourage them to discuss and debate, the most pressing issues that need attention for the betterment of industry. In the course of deliberations we realised that manpower crunch, copyright issues, increasing listenership and revenue generation were certain issues that needed urgent attention. Our endeavour was to provide the impetus for the radio industry to come together and realise the power it has in its hands, the power of masses who fuel the industry. We are glad that the industry sat together to discuss the issues which were of immense value to them, sought suggestions, gave their comments and feedback to the authorities. And then decided to celebrate the achievements made in the year gone by!!! Celebrating excellence in Radio!, that is what Radio Duniya Awards 2008 were all about. We got the chance to salute some of the best work of most dedicated radio professionals for the year 2007 and appreciate their efforts to constantly engage, entertain and enthrall the masses. The masses who religiously tune into radio, every day and night and live their life in the constant company of radio! It was for the first time that a national level awards show was organised for the radio industry. An awards ceremony that took into its fold not just the private FM radio channels, but also the state broadcasters, satellite radio, community and campus radios, as well as advertisers, music composers and creative directors, working within the radio industry. We are overwhelmed by the support we got from the radio industry, the advertising world, the community radio exponents and the government broadcasters. No words of appreciation can show how grateful we are to the industry for giving us their love, support and recognition. Keep you calander marked for our next event. We believe that the magazine is of, for and by the radio industry today! Our goal of being the voice of radio in India has been fulfilled to some extent, but there is still miles to go before we finally reach our destination!
Ravi Gupta ravi.gupta@radioduniya.in Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta
Research Assistant Ayesha Khanom
President Dr. M P Narayanan
Design & Development Team Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Om Prakash Thakur
Group Directors Maneesh Prasad Sanjay Kumar Sr Manager Sales Bharti Malhotra Email: bharti@radioduniya.in Research Associate Sanjana Sharma
Subscriptions & Circulation Lipika Dutta Manoj Kumar Prabhat Tripathi
Editorial and Marketing Correspondence: radio duniya G – 4, Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India Tel: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 Web: www.radioduniya.in Printed by: Vinayak Print Media, Noida, Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) India Email: vinayakprintmedia@gmail.com
It is hoped that Radio Duniya will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up-to-date on many activities in this wide and varied field. Your involvement in providing relevant information is essential to the success of this endevour. Radio Duniya does not subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. It is not resposible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.
WebProgrammer Zia Salahuddin Amit Pal
Radio Duniya is being published by Elets Technomedia pvt ltd. in collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS ) Š Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd. (www.elets.in)
knowledge for change
contents
March 2008
Cover Story Radio Duniya 2008 Conference Report
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News 11, 14, 44
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Stations Launched Campaign Industry Updates
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46
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TRAI Recommendations Greater FDI and News on Radio
Radio Duniya Award 2008
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Report on TRAI Recommendations to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
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BES Expo 2008 Exploring New Horizons in Broadcasting
Celebrating Excellence in Radio
Community Radio
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Interview: Steve Buckley, President, AMARC Empowering Communities through Radio
Swarathma India's Best Hindi Rock Band
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Community Radio in the Hands of Community A Report
Dear Mr. Gupta,
Hello Radio Duniya Team!
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the entire team of Radio Duniya, for developing Radio Duniya magazine into a new voice for the radio industry. The thing I liked the most are the interviews of all the radio personalities, which really add a diverse flavor for its reader. The whole magazine is highly creative and the content is very enriching and informative.
Thanks for the copy of Radio Duniya. Your magazine is really very good. Hats off to all you people for such an informative, vibrant and well crafted magazine.
Hats off to the entire team once again!
I would love to contribute to your magazine in any manner possible.
Best Regards, Abhishek Sharma Big 92.7 FM, Udaipur
I think if you add a section on ‘Jobs’ related to various FM radio channels in your magazine it would be more popular and useful for radio professionals.
With best wishes, Pradip Sharma BES Fellow Member, Ahmedabad
Dear Radio Duniya Team Dear Radio Duniya Team, First of all I would like to congratulate all of you for giving a voice to the people’s medium – Radio! Radio Duniya is a fantastic magazine that is one of its own kind and provides the latest information and updates from the world of radio. Keep up the good work. Regards, Bhola Nath All India Radio, Lucknow Dear Mr. Ravi Gupta. Greetings! At the outset I would like to congratulate you and your team members for bestowing every reader with Radio Duniya magazine which provides informative issues and the updates on the radio industry. All the very best to you all. Thanks and regards. Ashwani Bakshi, Big 92.7 FM, Jalandhar Dear Sir/Madam, Many congratulations to you for bringing out every month, a world class magazine that caters to the needs of the radio professionals by giving them all the necessary information, details of events and happening of the industry. It is indeed a very nice magazine and a must have for all those who work in the field of radio, as well as for those who simply love listening to radio. M K Rai All India Radio, Najibabad
It was a pleasure going through your magazine. It is great to see that there is an organisation like yours, which truly cares about radio and is trying to bring it back into popular discourse by highlighting the issues it faces, at the same time praising the good work it does for society, as a medium of communication that reaches the maximum number of people. Hats off to you guys for creating a gem of a magazine!!! Hope you continue to grow in terms of readership, content and variety with every issue. Cheers to Radio Duniya!!! Ravin Sharma Bank of America Hyderabad
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talk2us@radioduniya.in March 2008 | Radio Duniya
TRAI recommends greater FDI and news on radio The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has asked for views from the stakeholders of private FM Radio stations on several policy issues including an increase in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap and on the policy to allow broadcast of news and current affair programs on FM radio. TRAI has recommended that the composite FDI limits for FM radio broadcasters, who opt to broadcast news, should be raised to 26 per cent, from the present 20 per cent in view of the fact that this is allowed for television broadcast. Further, the FDI limit for FM radio broadcasters, who do not opt for news broadcasting, should be increased to 49 per cent from the present 20 per cent. It has also recommended that the composite foreign investment limit for FM radio broadcast permission holders should be revised as and when the Government takes any further decision to revise FDI limits for TV broadcast. TRAI recommendation propose that permission be granted to FM stations to air news and current affairs programmes, according to TRAI, with this move, a large section of the population that till now lacked access to information would be able to keep themselves updated without incurring any additional expense. TRAI has further recommended that the annual license fees be lowered by 50% for FM operators in distant areas of the country like the North East and Jammu Kashmir for an initial period of 3 years. The consultation paper has sought stakeholders’ opinion on various policy issues, including the need for revision of FDI limits; quantum of FDI limits and sub-limits for FDI and FII within this limit; permission for foreign investment through the automatic route or need for a sub-limit beyond which FIPB approval be required; classification of different segments of broadcast sector into carriage services and content services for the purposes of laying down FDI limits; with the convergence of telecom and broadcast sectors, the need for alignment of foreign investment limits in broadcast sector with the foreign investment limits in the telecom sector; and, standardisation of methodology for calculation of foreign investment limits in different segments of broadcasting sector. TRAI has invited all stakeholders to respond to the issues raised in this consultation paper by March 28, 2008. The comments received would be posted on TRAI’s website. Meanwhile, the Government has said that it is studying the TRAI recommendation which proposes that permission be granted to FM stations to air news and current affairs programs. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi noted that TRAI has recommended that FM broadcasters be permitted to broadcast news from All India Radio, Doordarshan, authorized television news channels, and news agencies like United News of India (UNI) and Press Trust of India (PTI). In another reply he said that All India Radio has been permitted to set up around 65 FM channels in 24 states, keeping in view the proposals received from private parties. Meanwhile, the number of operational FM channels in the country has gone up to 187, with 31 new radio channels getting commissioned during January, even as President Pratibha Patil announced that the number is slated to rise to 266.
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Exploring New Horizons in Broadcasting The Broadcast Engineering Society India (BES) organized its 14th International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting from 23 to 25 February 2008 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The theme for the conference was “New Horizons in Broadcasting”. The event was followed by BES EXPO 2007, which was appreciated by exhibitors, delegates as well as visitors. Asha Swaroop, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting speaking at the Inaugural ceremony elaborated on the private FM sector and said, “Radio is projected to grow at the rate of 28% over the five years. A total of 266 FM channels have been allocated to private agencies by the end of last round of bidding in 2005”. She further stated that “presently about 190 channels have become operational i n c l u d i n g 21 channels operationalised in Phase-I, the rest will be operational before the end of this financial year. FM Policy Phase-II has been well accepted by all stake holders
which resulted in huge growth not only in FM Radio Industry but also in creating employment opportunity. Keeping this in mind and to accelerate further growth of FM Industry, the Government is thinking to expand FM radio through private agencies under Phase-III to other cities. She said that the ministry had sought recommendations from TRAI on future expansion of these services, and we will be taking a view shortly. The government should be issuing a tender for the left out 97 vacant channels of Phase II and other channels of Phase III by April. TRAI recommendations include raise in FDI limits, networking being allowed, and certain kinds of news and current affairs programme being allowed on FM radio. She felt that broadcasting in India today is vibrant, innovative and experimental. So, the challenge for the government is to be able to quickly respond with policies and thereby keep pace with the growth of the sector. BES EXPO 2008 was open for participation to manufacturers, dealers, distributors and suppliers of audio and video products, equipment, systems and services related to terrestrial and satellite broadcasting for Radio and TV as well as studio, post-production, analog as well as digital. About 400 reputed organisers, service providers and major broadcast equipment manufacturers from across the globe displayed their products and services at the expo. The event, approved by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was supported by Prasar Bharati, The Society of
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Doordarshan’s Basharad Ahmed, mentioned that content creation was very challenging today, with the an age group of around 30 years dominating the population dynamics; the viewer was no longer satisfied with just one aspect on one channel. Tapas Sen, Chief Programming officer, Radio Mirchi, spoke about how the listener was the king, emperor and god in radio. According to him the most difficult task for content creators is to understand the listener. He discussed the three levels of content creation, which were at the jock level, stationality level and music aggregation level. He also elaborated on the concept of pull content, which was content available in a downloadable format, specially usable for mobile service providers. Among the issues highlighted by Tapas were the issues of management, archiving of content and instant content pulling across networks. Broadcast Engineers,USA, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and endorsed by International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers. P K G a r g , Wi r e l e s s Ad v i s o r, M i n i s t r y o f Communications and IT, GoI chaired the session on Broadcast Regulatory and Policy Issues. In the session TRAI’s R N Choubey spoke about the regulatory scenario in India, and the work done by TRAI in terms of regulation of tariff, interconnection agreements between the service providers and the quality of services. S Syeenathan, Deputy Director FM, ISRO Head Quarters, Bangalore spoke about the need for regulation to ensure balance between commercial and non-commercial players and also the need for regulations to keep pace with technological innovations. WPC’s Singaravelu spoke about the issues and difficulties faced in spectrum allocation for FM broadcasting in India. He placed on record that unless the private broadcasters follow the regulations rigidly, spectrum management will be totally jeopardized, as WPC had received confirmed reports that a s s i g n e d regulations are not being followed by all the operators. The session on Content Creation and Management was chaired by ABU’s Sharad Sadhu, who spoke about the importance of content creation in broadcasting. Speaking in the session, www.radioduniya.in
The session on Digital Radio was chaired by the Engineer-in-Chief of All India Radio, HR Singh, who spoke about the quest for the best quality sound and the need for digitalization to meet the demands of the listeners. Peter Senger, Director, DRM elaborated on how DRM was tested and ready for use, the system could be used for any radio coverage, local, regional, inter-continental. It was a single system for all transmission from 150 KHz to 108 MHz. The next generation DRM Plus was also developed and under tests. He mentioned that in India, All India Radio is a supporter of DRM and is using DRM transmitters. David Birrer of Radio Broadcasting Thompson spoke about the changes in technology from analog to digital and from fixed to mobile. He also elaborated on the implications of global warming for the broadcast manufacturers, with need for energy efficient products and systems. Some of the prominent exhibitors in the expo were ABU (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union), ADC Australia, Ansata Computer Systems, AKG Acoustics, Audemat, BECIL, Broadcast Electronics Inc.,
Comrex, Comcon, Electronica, ENCO Systems, Google, HCL Technologies Ltd., Prasar Bharti, Q u a l c o m m India Pvt. Ltd., Radio Frequency System, Radio Systems Inc., Rhode and S c h w a r z , S e n n h e i s e r, Setron India Private Limited, Wedel Sof tware, Winmedia among others. Prasar Bharati exhibited its latest technical innovations from All India Radio and Doordarshan. Among the systems displayed at the AIR stall were DRM, Remote Monitoring and Control System for FM Transmitters, AIR Virtual Studio. BECIL (Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd.) exhibited its community radio equipment, common transmission infrastructure for FM broadcasters, digital audio recording and play out systems, project management services for FM broadcasters and the on -air radio logger.
Winmedia sof tware displayed their complete automation sof tware, which takes care of acquisition, editing, mixing, music scheduling, database, ads traffic, and logger. Ansata Computer Systems displayed its live sound environment equipment called Venue. Comrex exhibited Access, a small, compact and powerful IP audio codec, for delivering broadcast quality, real-time audio over the public Internet. Google also participated in this year’s expo displaying its radio automation system, which allows one to manage content, ads and play music. Rhode and Schwarz displayed the VHF FM transmitters. Setron India Private Limited exhibited their broadcast systems, audio recording studios. Electronica displayed a range of FM stereo transmitters. Radio Systems displayed a whole range of transmitters, consoles, and studio equipments. On display at the Expo were a whole range of products like amplifiers, antenna systems (Broadcast, FM &TV), inductors, antenna testers, audio measuring and test equipments, automation systems and softwares, broadcast equipments, channel automation systems, compact and digital disc production systems, Digital Audio and Video recording systems, Digital storage, archival and retrieval systems, Frequency monitoring systems, FM Exciters, HD Radio, Headphones, Microphones, Mixers, Network management systems, Radio data systems, Radio automation sof twares, Scheduling sof twares and Satellite receiver among others
ENCO Systems displayed Stream Line (Radio Software Solutions), developed in collaboration with Visual Traffic, Powergold and DAD-Digital Audio Delivery. Sennheiser displayed products like, the 3722 Sennheiser twin receiver, professional microphones, a range of headphones. Comcon displayed its total solutions options for the community radio section, which delivered everything in a box – a complete set from microphone, speaker, transmitter, recording equipment, estimated to coast 5 lakhs. Broadcast Electronics Inc. exhibited NewsBoss, a system which helps gather create, manage and present news. 10
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
BIG 92.7 FM hits airwaves in Kota BIG 92.7 FM has announced the latest edition to its kitty, with the launch of its Station in Kota. Reflecting the true essence of the ‘Vibe of the City’, the station would offer listeners a platform for self expression. The launch of BIG 92.7 FM in the city marks the 5th station in Rajasthan. In the first phase of its launches, BIG 92.7 FM set up Stations in the metros of Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai. The second phase of launches has taken BIG 92.7 FM to several mini metros across the country which will eventually take the total count to 45. Commenting on the station’s entry into Kota, Nishant Vijayvargia, Station Head – Kota, BIG 92.7 FM, said “We are excited to launch our station in Kota and are looking forward to entertain the people of this educational hub of Northern India. The programming mix of the Station has been put together after much research and understanding of local requirements. It is our aim to create content that is relevant, credible and has an aspirational value for the listeners. We are completely geared and are eagerly looking forward to entertaining Kota. We are sure the city will welcome us with open arms and will enjoy the programmes on our Station.”
Radio City launched in Ahmednagar Radio in Ahmednagar has never been so much fun! Bringing ‘Whatte Fun’ to their 16th city in India, Radio City 91.1FM has taken the airwaves in Ahmednagar by storm. Infusing a refreshing wave of ‘Whatte Fun’, the FM station has introduced a fresh and lively radio listening experience for the people of Ahmednagar! This launch marks Radio City’s 5th FM station in Maharashtra. Known for its innovations in programming, Radio City 91.1FM will delight Radio Cityzens in Ahmednagar with a host of programmes along with an interesting Hindi music mix with a window for melodious Marathi tracks which Ahmednagar wants to listen to! The music will be in sync with the station’s vibes – an invigorating new music format of adult contemporary (AC) music. The AC music format is all about soothing, melodious music comprising songs across different genres which have been hits over the last two decades; it is melodious music that lasts over a period of time. The music has been hand-picked and customized for listeners in Ahmednagar who have very specific and well defined music preferences. Radio City 91.1FM will cater to the tastes of discerning music enthusiasts cutting across young, urban adults from SEC AB 25-44 years. This will ultimately give advertisers a great value for their money spent. Commenting on the launch of the Ahmednagar station, Apurva Purohit, CEO Radio City 91.1FM says, “We are thrilled to be a part of the lives of the people of Ahmednagar. It is an important market for us and we eagerly look forward to engaging with our listeners here. Combining our musical expertise, innovations and creativity, Radio City brings to Ahmednagar compelling content and a music mix strategically planned to uplift the mood of its listeners. We are certain that our brand promise of ‘Whatte Fun’ will catch on very well with Radio Cityzens in Ahmednagar giving them an unmatched radio experience.”
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94.3 MY FM Jabalpur goes on air With Jabalpur going on air, 94.3 MY FM launched its fourth station in Madhaya Pradesh. It is strongly present in other 3 major cities of Madhya Pradesh, namely Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior. With the Jablapur launch, the station now offers an exclusive network in Madhya Pradesh, unlike any other radio station. MY FM offers similar networks across the 7 states it is present in. On 4th February, this year, MY FM also launched in Kota completing its 5 stations in Rajasthan of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer. According to Harrish M.Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM, “With the four stations in the state, MY FM has the biggest and strongest network in MP. Which along with the strong listeners’ connect that the stations have been able to establish, will add value to the overall media set up in the state.” Adds Viplove Gupte, National Programming Head, 94.3 MY FM, “We are confident of giving our listeners the best music and entertainment. Music and content has been tailor made for each of our stations based on extensive research and Jabalpur will be no different.”
Radio Mirchi hits airwaves in Jabalpur Jabalpur has been quite ‘radio active’ in the week gone by, with Radio Mirchi launching its FM station in this important district in Madhya Pradesh. With the Jabalpur launch, Radio Mirchi has completed the launch of all the 32 stations it had bid for in the second phase of FM licencing. Besides Jabalpur, Radio Mirchi is already operational in places, which include Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Patna, Jalandhar, Goa, Bhopal, Vadodara, Kanpur, Rajkot, Varanasi, Nashik, Lucknow, Surat, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Madurai, Nagpur, Vishakapatnam, Mangalore and Vijayawada
BIG 92.7 FM hits airwaves in Allahbad
Dhamaal 24 launched in three cities Dhamaal 24 has launched its FM stations in Jabalpur, Ahmednagar and Jalgaon during the month of February. BAG Films and Media FM’s venture, Dhamaal 24, now has nine FM stations nationwide. Radio Dhamaal is all set to give a new style of entertainment to the listerns with its invigorated shows, on air and ground events. It’s RJs are wining the hearts of the city folks with their endearing, whacky and interactive styles. Commenting upon the launches, Anurradha Prasad, Managing Director - B.A.G Films and Media Ltd. said, “Life is a celebration and Radio Dhamaal will put this element in the lives of all it’s listeners”.
BIG 92.7 FM announced the latest edition to its kitty, with the launch of its Station in Allahabad. Reflecting the true essence of the ‘Vibe of the City’, the Station will offer listeners a platform for self expression. The launch of BIG 92.7 FM in the City marks the 5th station in Uttar Pradesh. In the first phase of its launches, BIG 92.7 FM set up Stations in the metros of Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai. The second phase of launches has taken BIG 92.7 FM to several mini metros across the country which will eventually take the total count to 45. Commenting on the Station’s entry into Allahabad, Manav Shankar, Cluster Head – Uttar Pradesh(East), BIG 92.7 FM, said “We are excited to launch our Station in Allahabad and are looking forward to entertain the people of City of SANGAM. The programming mix of the Station has been put together after much research and understanding of local requirements. It is our aim to create content that is relevant, credible and has an aspirational value for the listeners. We are completely geared and are eagerly looking forward to entertaining Allahabad. We are confident the City will welcome us with open arms and will enjoy the programmes on our Station.” 12
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Event
India’s best Hindi Rock Band! RC Live – the nationwide hunt for India’s best Hindi band and India’s first of its kind reality radio event by Radio City 91.1FM concluded at a mega Finale on Friday. ‘Swarathma’ a Bangalore band won the contest after a spectacular performance at the National Finals held at The Garden of Five Senses. The band bagged an album contract from EMI, they were felicitated by Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM in presence of the RC Live judges – Palash Sen (Euphoria), Subir Malik (Parikrama) and Vibhav Rao, Manager, Artists & Repertoire, EMI.
Apurva Purohit and Rana Baruah with the winners and the Judges
Yeshua from Mumbai and Ek from Bangalore came 2nd and 3rd respectively in the contest. Rajarshi Sanyal from Faridkot (Delhi) and the sibling duo - Abhishek and Joydeep Dasgupta from Shor Bazaar (Mumbai) were adjudged the Best Lead Guitarists and won hi-end guitars from Gibson. Enthralling a packed audience, the RC Live finals saw an evening of superlative performances from the finalists – Talaash, Yeshua, Ek, Faridkot, Aas, Shor Bazaar and Swarathma. The evening concluded with a rapturous performance by Indian Ocean. Speaking on the success of RC Live, Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM said, “As pioneers in Indian private FM, with RC Live we have once again leveraged our music expertise to create a platform, to benefit the music industry as a whole.” Asked about how the concept took a concrete shape Apurva told Radio Duniya, “We thought of doing something for the bands that have come up in thecountry but who don’t get the right platform to showcase their talent. So, initially we did RC Live only in Bangalore for English Bands and seeing the tremendous response, we decided to take it further. RC Live attracted more than 100 entries from all over the country”. Jishnu Dasgupta, Bass Vocalist and Bass Guitarist, Swarathma while talking to Radio Duniya said, “It is rare for Hindi bands to get this kind of opportunity and recognition. We have always loved listening to radio and with the coming up of FM stations we are one of the first people to benefit from it. Earlier, we had won the RC Live event in Bangalore, but repeating this feat at the national level is an amazing experience. It was a thrilling experience to perform in Delhi and the support from the Radio City listeners and audiences has been overwhelming! All we have to say now is – watch out of Ek from Bangalore us! The sky’s the limit now – we are here to stay!”
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(From L to R) Palash Sen, Subir Malik and Vibhav Rao
Yeshua from Mumbai
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Campaigns
BIG 92.7 FM spreads cancer awareness BIG 92.7 FM in keeping with the ‘Vibe of the City’ caught up with the students of colleges on the occasion of ‘World Cancer Day’. This initiative was put together by BIG 92.7 FM to generate awareness on the deleterious effects of consumption of tobacco, which is one of biggest causes for tobacco-related cancer globally. Extending their support on the day were celebrity contestants of the hit musical show ‘Saregamapa challenge 2007’ Mauli Dave, Junaid Shaikh along with the young & effervescent host of the show Aditya Naraayan. Also, joining the evening was popular singer-music director Anand Raj Anand. The evening witnessed excellent participation from young students as they gathered to pledge for the cause. And it did come a full circle as the interactions soared high on this platform with the celebrities who as role models for many
youngsters, was there to instill insight and alertness about the ill-effects of smoking. BIG FM Chennai and Bangalore kick-started an innovative awareness activity called “The Skeleton Squad” to spread awareness on “Smoking causes cancer”. The Skeleton squad consisted of people wearing skeleton outfits and will sport various messages to spread awareness on “No Smoking”. The skeleton squad went across to various parts of the city and made smokers its victim. Wherever the squad found smokers it went across to them and sported various messages related to “Smoking Causes Cancer”.
94.3 MY FM marks ‘World Cancer Day’ 94.3 MY FM, in its endeavor to contribute to society, took the lead to observe “World Cancer Day” on February 4, 2008, with hospitals across all its stations. Reaching out to the listeners to enhance cancer awareness in the city, 94.3 MY FM conducted robust cancer awareness camps in hospitals. Listeners were encouraged to visit these camps for free cancer detection tests and checkups. The theme of the day was to highlight timely check ups and reiterate that ‘Life is possible after Cancer’. Bytes of people, who have come out of the deadly disease, were on-air the whole day and people were encouraged to be supportive towards patients. Speaking on the occasion, Harrish M. Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM said, “Being the listeners’ station, 94.3 MY FM has always been proactively involved with the listeners and wants to contribute to the community we live in.” Adds Viplove Gupte, National Programming Head, 94.3 MY FM, “Since we have a loyal listener base, we consider it our responsibility to spread awareness on topics relevant to the youth and the society. Also being an integral part of the lives of listeners we could not ignore an issue like Cancer.” 14
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Radio Duniya 2008 Conference
www.radioduniya.in www.radioduniya.in
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I n a u g u r a t i o n 16
Gupta, S, Ravi E B , t n e , Presid istry of ndaram r, BP&L, Min u S P , A to r, CEMC r, Direc Directo Arvind Kuma , r a h d and R Sree Today, sident, CSDMS io d a R e r , P O tsa, CO yanan, il Sriva a, M P Nara t of India n A ) R men L to Duniy (From Chief, Radio sting, Govern a c in d Editor n and Broa tio Informa
R
adio is a medium for the mass and class alike. Once considered a poor cousin of television, radio has truly arrived on its own. After satellite television made a complete change in the television viewing habits of the masses in India, it is now turn of the radio revolution. This spurt in the growth of private radio channels has been due to the Government’s decision to allow private players to set up and operate radio broadcasting stations across India. Now, whenever a revolution takes place, it comes with its own share of issues; and the radio industry is no exception to this. To address all these issues, Radio Duniya, India’s first radio monthly in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India organised a two day conference on the 11th and 12th of February, 2008. This conference was an initiative taken by the magazine to create a platform where broadcasters, advertisers, media and the industry policy makers could come together
to address issues related to this field.Present at the inauguration were Arvind Kumar Director BP&L, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, R Sreedher Director, CEMCA, P Sundaram President, BES, Anil Srivatsa, Chief Operating Officer, Radio Today, Dr. M P Narayanan, President CSDMS and Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief Radio Duniya. In the inaugural session the speakers highlighted the topics on which delineations will be held throughout the two day conference. Arvind Kumar, outlined the Government’s policies which they want to implement in phase III of the FM policy. He identified three areas that need to be looked closely,: first, how to ensure diversity of content among the various stations, second to what extent should news and current affairs broadcast be allowed and third how to involve the industry to reach out to remote areas like Jammu Kashmir and the North East of India. There was also a talk about regulations for broadcasting, as at present there is no such thing in place.
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Get going with a vision To have a clear vision as to what should be the face of the radio industry, a few years down the line, is very important. This will help the broadcasters in charting out things in the proper perspective so that they reach the goal that they have aimed for. The topic ‘Radio2010: Vision for the Future’, the first session of the conference was chosen keeping this in mind. The session highlighted the issues, concerns and opportunities of the Phase III of the policy on licensing. Moderator, Nisha Narayanan Project Head, 93.5 S FM started the session with
Radio (AIR) has been experimenting through unmanned transmitters to increase availability of FM radio stations in hilly areas of the country. He also stated that there is a need to bring down the cost of receiver to make more technology viable in the country. Sharing her views on the topic of content-diversification, Zohra Chatterji Joint Secretary, Broadcasting, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India stated that in the initial phase, the Ministry is considering to allow the broadcast of news related to sports, theater and culture on FM radio stations.
In the initial phase, the Ministry is considering to allow the broadcast of news related to sports, theater and culture on FM radio stations. Zohra Chatterji, Joint Secretary (B), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India
the key issues, which were raised in the inaugural session of the conference by Arvind Kumar Director BP&L, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. Anil Srivatsa Chief Operating Officer, Radio Today stressed on the human resource concern of the industry. He stated that the recruitment of right kind of talent will reduce the networking cost by 30 percent and that there is a need to have a distinct body/cell like Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI) for the industry. Sharing his views on the topic, PK Singh, Deputy Director, Engg, AIR and Council Member, BES stated that there is need to focus on the growth of FM radio in remote areas, where signals do not reach properly due to various constraints. He informed that All India
Later on, the Ministry might consider permitting of news and current affairs for transmission. She also urged commercial players to come up with solutions to resolve the concerns of the Ministry in regards to allowing the transmission of news on FM radio. Session Highlights • • • •
Need for diversity of content Need for a regulatory body to look at the contents of the radio stations Involvement of the industry in the remote areas of the country Need for an association to represent the industry
(From L to R) P K Singh, Zohra Chaterji, Nisha Narayanan, Arvind Kumar, Anil Srivatsa and Harrish M Bhatia
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Speaking on the topic, moderator Rajeev Nambiar, President & Chief Operating Officer, Hello 106.4 FM, attributed the growth in the number of radio stations to the fact that established players in this fields are widening their reach while newer players are also entering to cater to the vast audience need. The topic of unethical poaching of human resources was also raised during this session and all the panelists agreed that this is one issues that needs to be addressed properly. Zohra Chatterji. Joint Secretary, Broadcasting, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India said that poaching of human resources is a very crucial issue and highlighted
Rajeev Nambiar, President and COO, Hello FM
Mushrooming growth of radio stations Once the government allowed private players to set up and operate radio broadcasting stations, the country has seen a quick growth in the number of stations and many licenses are still pending. Keeping this immense growth of stations in mind, there was a discussion on ‘Its raining radio in India’ in the second session of the conference.
Daulat Singh Chauhan, Executive Director, Suno Lemon the fact that the Public Broadcasters were the biggest sufferers from it. She also spoke about the need of the stations to grow together instead
(From L to R) Daulat Singh Chauhan, George Sebastian, Nisha Narayanan, Zohra Chaterjee, Kamal Krishnan, Vinay Manek
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
well put forward their views on how content should be used and managed by the stations so that they can actually reach out to the intended audience. Kamal Krishnan, Senior Manager, Marketing, Radio Mango highlighted the need for the new stations to develop their content properly before they go about looking for sponsors to broadcast the programs. Session Highlights • • • • • • Vinay Manek, Asst. VP Programming, Radio City of being competitors. Daulat Singh Chauhan, Executive Director, Suno Lemon raised concerns about the intermixing of frequencies which make it difficult for small players to operate. Bigger players can spend more money to put up high powered transmitters and this is making broadcasting difficult for small players who do not have the monetary power to do that.
Unethical poaching of human resources Intermixing of frequencies Relevant content Need of exchanging knowledge within the industry Regulate content Clear definition of national and regional stations by the Government
Power and responsibility go hand in hand With power comes responsibility and radio as a medium of catering to mass audience must exercise their immense power in a responsible manner. The session on ‘Power and Responsibility of Radio: Role of Programming’ was a platform for the industry to
Vinay Manek Asst VP, Programming, Radio city speaking on the occasion said the future of radio lies in the local stations. The local stations are the breeding place for upcoming professionals as they have to do multi tasking and this is a very important requirement for the industry. Nisha Narayanan Project Head S FM 93.5 pointed out the need to have knowledge sharing and knowledge management among the various stations across the country. She also asked the government to clearly define what national and regional stations are. Most of the speakers in the session and the audience as
Sameer Kanwar, National Programme Head, Mantra FM discuss on how to strike the right balance between broadcasting entertainment and socially relevant programs. No station can reach out to its intended audience by broadcasting just entertainment programs or socially relevant programs. Radio has the capacity to unite people and if the right information is given out to make people aware of any cause or happening a lot can be achieved to bring the people together at a common platform.
Nisha Narayanan, Project Head, S FM www.radioduniya.in
There was a general understanding during the discussion that radio cannot be used just for profit making, there has to be some social responsibility 19
(From L to R) Sameer Kanwar, S K Ramesh, Vehrnon Ibrahim, Varsha Chowdhury and Rajeev Kumar Shukla
attached to this. Sameer Kanwar National Programming Head, Mantra FM, moderated the session and other speakers included Rajeev Kumar Shukla, Deputy Director of Programs (Policy), Directorate General, AIR, Vehrnon Ibrahim, National Programming Head, Red FM, Varsha Chowdhury Programming Director, Radio City and S K Ramesh Executive VP & Head of Content, Hello FM. Since this medium has the capacity to reach out to a wide audience, and the penetration is very deep, Sammer Kanwar said that the responsibility increases all the more for broadcasters to dish out relevant information to the listeners. Rajeev Kumar Shukla, the representative of the public broadcaster AIR in the panel, spoke about the requirement of having good programs irrespective of whether a station is a public service broadcaster or a commercial broadcaster. He said as public broadcaster the task of AIR is to educate, inform and entertain the listeners and while doing so they have to take care of the diversity of the country and
make sure that the programs they make appeals to listeners across all walks of life. The task is not just to broadcast programs about the prevailing culture but also to make an effort to preserve the same. He said the future of radio broadcasting in India looks very bright with the coming of community radio in the scene. This is a medium that can play a very important role by broadcasting relevant programs for niche communities. Session Highlights • • • •
Important to air socially relevant programs Broadcasters should take care of audience and advertisers needs. Programs should have the correct content Programs must appeal to audience from all sections of the society
The nominees had their say The leaders conclave was the final session on day 1 of the conference. It was a platform where the finalists of the Radio Duniya Person of the Year 2008 were asked questions to choose the final winner. The finalists included Rajeev Nambiar, President and Chief Operating Officer, Hello 106.9FM, Nisha Narayanan, Project Head S FM 93.5 and Anil Srivatsa, Chief Operating Officer, Radio today Broadcasting Ltd. The finalists were asked to speak on several aspects including what makes a good leader, what are the key challenges that they have faced as leaders and about a cause they support and have represented. J a y a l a k s h m i C h i t t o o r, P r o g r a m Coordinator CSDMS put the questions to the finalists which they answered besides answering some question put to them by the audience. All the finalists were
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Leaders Conclave
judged according to the answers they gave. While talking about the qualities of a good leader Anil said that a good leader is not necessarily the most intelligent person, but he or she should be able to connect with his team and as long as one is able to do that, he or she is a good leader. Nisha described an ideal leader as someone who sets an example for his team to follow. Rajeev said that a leader is someone who can choose the right people to build a brand and understand clearly what the vision of the brand is. He should be able to work taking into consideration the various elements required to make the brand successful. When asked what were the key challenges they faced as leaders, Anil spoke about the challenge of making people believe that a man could run a women radio station. He also spoke about the challenge of finding people and retaining them in the organisation. Nisha mentioned the challenge of learning and tackling new things while setting up stations across India. Rajeev spoke about the challenge of building confidence in the management and the team to ensure smooth running of the station. He also spoke about the phenomenon of poaching human resources.
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On being about asked how they have tackled any crisis situation they have faced, Anil talked about his experience of dealing with the aftermath of 9/11 attacks in the United States where he was hosting a program and how he tried to calm down people by answering queries and playing soothing music. Nisha spoke about the manner in which she ensured that the radio stations in tsunami and earthquake prone areas have a warning system in place so that the station becomes a source of information for the public. Rajeev mentioned that he had not faced any major crisis situations in his radio career. However, he spoke about the manner in which he ensured that all his staff reached home safe and sound when there were incessant rains in the city and all modes of transport were disrupted.
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(From L to R) Shankar B, Uday Chawla., Sajan Venniyoor and Praveen Malhotra
Commercial Viability and Sustainability of Radio Stations Once a station is set up it needs to sustain itself and for this they need to follow a business model that is beneficial for broadcasters, producers and music companies as well. Music forms the backbone of any kind of radio transmission, so it is very important for the broadcasters, policy makers and the music companies to sit down and decide on the issue of music royalty. The session ‘Commercial Viability and Sustainability of Radio Stations’ was the perfect platform to discuss about all the issues related to this. The moderator for this session was Sajan Venniyor, Community Radio Expert and the panelists included Uday Chawla GM, Commercial, India Today Group, Praveen Malhotra, VP, Sales & Head North, Big FM and Shankar B, Vice President, Sales & Business Development, Hello 106.4 FM. Sajan
Venniyor, Community Radio Expert stressed that sustainability is a major issue with all the radio stations across India and agreed that music royalty is an issue that needs to be addressed. With the predicted growth of community radio in the near future to high proportions, this is one issue that needs to be solved quickly to ensure the commercial viability and sustainability of all types of radio broadcasting stations. At present there is no uniform body in India for radio stations to pay music royalty, rather they have to negotiate the rates with with various representatives. In the context of sustainability the local radio stations can do a lot by tying up with local performers. Their songs and albums can be launched by the stations and this will help in not only promoting the song and the artist but also in sustaining the station. Speaking on this topic, Praveen Malhotra, VP Sales & Head North, Big FM said that it is important for all the people involved in this field and discuss what needs to be done. The result must be something that is viable for both the radio stations and the music companies as well. Session Highlights • • • • •
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Formation of a uniform body for the payment of music royalty Local stations can tie up with local musicians Create local content Future of radio is very bright All people involved must sit together and discuss the issue of music royalty
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
What Advertisers seek from Radio Advertisement is very important for any medium of communication to sustain in the long run. Since radio is just a visual medium, it is not the first preference among advertisers. To discuss how this can be made more attractive for advertisers and such other issues the session on ‘What Advertisers seek from Radio’ of the Radio Duniya 2008 conference was an ideal platform. The session was moderated by Divya Pratap Mehta, VP, Strategic Planning, Lowe Lintas and had speakers such as Aditi Mishra, General Manager, Lodestar Universal, Chandradeep Mitra, President, Optimum Media Solutions and Shankar Vir, Vice President, Hello FM. The session began with Divya Pratap Mehta, the moderator, seeking the perspective of the radio industry on the advertising scene. Shankar Vir, Vice President, Hello FM, started the discussion by stating that radio being a local medium, the market that it provides to the advertisers is very localised. Keeping this in mind, the station provides counseling to its clients in terms of developing creatives for the market, briefing them on the audience base etc. A detailed study about the listening pattern of the audience can be crucial in helping advertisers decide if they would like to promote their goods and wares through this medium or not. Aditi Mishra, General Manager, Lodestar Universal, added to this by saying that radio indeed has come a long way in terms of accountability in the past two years. Yet, in the current scenario where the client seeks maximum output for his investments it is important that radio be able to position itself as a stand alone medium. Presently, radio is used in synergy with other mediums which makes the task of determining its contribution to an overall campaign all the more difficult. A development such as Radio Audience Measurement or RAM is a step in the right direction in establishing accountability.
(From L to R) Chandradeep Mitra, Divya Pratap Mehta, Shankar B and Aditi Mishra
H owe v e r, RAM has to be incorporated at an extensive level because radio being an extremely local medium, the markets it caters to is localized and the results cannot be generalized across the c o u n t r y . Advertisers just need to keep in mind what the audience requires, and gets the advertisements made accordingly. Session Highlights • • • • • •
• • •
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Radio Industry in India is in an evolving phase, yet lots of ground needs to be covered. R AM, customised SMS codes can ensure accountability Radio being a local medium, its markets are extremely localised The concept of FM radio must be sold to the advertisers at a viable cost. Value additions have to be made to the medium through content development, synergy with other mediums. Radio should leverage its strengths such as its ability of micro marketing, its competitive advantage in terms of production costs, its penetration etc. Need to create individual brands out of the stations through content development and programming. Radio has to transform itself into a stand alone medium. Radio should encourage the concept of sonic branding for brand development exercises in advertising.
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human resources in the field.
Growth of Community radio: Challenges and Opportunities Once all the major issues have been dealt with, it is time for the industry to focus attention towards the niche audience. In regards to this community radio is growing at a rapid pace and the final topic for discussion at the conference was ‘Growth of Community Radio: Challenges and Opportunities’. The moot point of discussion in this session was to delineate on the generally held concept of social responsibility role of ‘Community Radio’ held in steep contrast against entertainment programs broadcast by FM Radio Industry. Chairing the session Arvind Kumar, Director, BP&L, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting spoke about the Ministry’s concerns about issues related to
Certain other pertinent questions related to the radio industry in general including allowing licenses, subsidiaries, share ability of prices, issues concerned to pattern and change of ownership and ownership l i m i t a t i o n , broadcasting l i m i t a t i o n , setting up of new stations, music royalty, spectrum allocation, need for a specialised body to regulate the issues concerned to content and finalisation of DAVP rates etc. Ashish Bhatnagar Deputy Director, (E), All India Radio expressed the need to distinguish between commercial and community radio stations. He said “more than a smile and mere entertainment provision, people need empowerment and radio is the perfect medium to do this”. Community radio plays an important role here and the urge for this should come from the community and should not be enforced in any condition. Apart from a feeling of empowerment and sense of ownership, community radio plays a catalyst role in issues like creating awareness and facilitation.
(From L to R) Sajan Venniyor, Dr K Thangaraj, Dr R Sreedhar, Arvind Kumar and Ashish Bhatnagar
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Session Highlights • • • • •
Community radio should create programs for the community The programs should be a healthy mix of information and entertainment Community radio can unite people for social causes Niche issues of specific community should be addressed Participation of the audience increases in a big way
The Grand Finale, Winners all the way.... The Radio Duniya 2008 awards was the first of its kind award for the industry. It was an effort by the magazine to recognize talents that have made significant contributions towards this field and honour them. The awards was the grand finale of the two day conference where contributors in various fields of the industry in the year 2007 were acknowledged by the magazine. The categories were Person of the Year, Best Radio host, Best Advertisement Campaign, Best Community Radio Station, Best Marketing Campaign, Best Program and Best Singature Tune among others.
Morning Show of Fever Bangalore, HIT Mornings of HIT 95 FM, Chandamama Betala Kathalu of Radio Spandan and Ek Haadsa Ek Haqiqat of AIR Chandigarh were the winners in the Radio Show category. Five Rjs from different radio stations across India won the Radio Host of the Year award. World Space Radio bagged the maximum number of awards i.e. six including Best Radio Signature Tune Award, Best Radio Host and the Best Radio Show Award. • •
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• Anil Srivatsa, Chief Operating Officer, Radio Today was declared the Radio Duniya Person of the Year 2007. Other winners include Kongu FM CRS for Community Radio, Dastaan of Radio Falak, The www.radioduniya.in
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The Radio Duniya Awards 2008 were given to outstanding radio professionals for the work done in the year 2007. We’ll celebrate excellence in Radio again with the next Radio Duniya Awards, which will honour the most outstanding work in the field of radio done in the year 2008. Till then, stay connected with Radio Duniya and watch this space for more!!The celebration will go on 24x7, all days of the year, as radio keeps us all going strong! Lets Celebrate Radio, with total panache and grandeur, the way it should be!!! We can only promise you that our next presentation will be bigger, better and even more entertaining than what you’ve just seen in our first event! We are totally committed to raising the bar the next time we meet all of you! Your love and support is the only fuel we need to keep rocking radio!!!!
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RADIO DUNIYA AWARD 2008
The Radio Duniya Awards 2008 accoladed the best in the radio industry. The prospects of radio industry in India are colossal, with infinite opportunities in both the commercial and developmental sector. At this point, there is need for a platform, which acknowledges the pioneers in this field and brings them to the limelight. These awards are an attempt to recognize the finest players of the radio industry in India and boost the morale of the new comers, who are here to carry the legacy of radio further ahead. The Radio Duniya awards 2008 were presented on 12th February 2008 at Intercontinental – The Grand, New Delhi. Radio Duniya 2008 has created a platform to celebrate the achievements of the industry and instituted various categories of awards. The awards were given away by Zohra Chatterji. Joint Secretary
(Broadcasting), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Speaking on the occasion, she said, “I would like congratulate each and every winner and to say that those who didn’t find mention here are no less important in the world of FM, community radio and the up coming space of satellite radio. Keep up the good work! Do remember to include social messaging, which no one can do better than you, because you can bring these issues live to your listeners in a way that will make greater sense to them than any other media. You can also bring in the people who will otherwise hesitate to speak out, because you are the face-less medium of radio. You have a powerful means of empowerment, go ahead and use it. I wish you all great success”.
Radio Duniya Person of the Year 2007
Anil Srivatsa Chief Operating Officer Radio Today Meow 104.8 FM
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
PERSON OF THE YEAR 2007
The most awaited and sought after award was the Radio Duniya Person of the Year 2007, this award is to accolade the outstanding achievements of an individual who has made the most significant contribution in a year, to the radio industry. The winner was decided through a four stage process: Stage 1 saw nominees for the Person of the Year being invited from the public, where we received 31 nominations. In stage II the radio industry rated these nominees and shortlisted it to 10. In stage III was online public voting of the nominees, stage IV was the Radio Duniya leaders conclave where questions were put to the finalists, based on which the final winner were chosen. Anil Sirvatsa Chief Operating Officer, was the Radio Duniya Person of the Year 2007. Rejoicing in his victory, Anil said, “I am delighted to be voted and conferred upon ‘The Person of The Year Award’. It is a great feeling to win this award!!!!. I feel like, I have been recognised for the work I have done, not as an individual, but as representing a body of work that is changing
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the face of radio. As an individual I can do many things that may not be worth, but Meow gave me an opportunity to do something different. I guess why I won was because of what I do and not because, who I am. And for that I would like to thank everyone who thought I deserved it, including all who voted for me. I don’t think this is an individual triumph, it is more a testament to the fact that thinking out of the box and taking radio to the next level is not a scary proposition. I think it’s about time, and the timing is perfect for change.” Commenting on the initiative taken by Radio Duniya, Anil said, “It is good that Radio Duniya is doing something different for the industry. It is truly an honor and I would like to thank the team of Radio Duniya for their efforts in creating a new paradigm in the radio industry. Your magazine has taken the quantum leap to bring radio to a different level. And I am glad, that through Meow I was able to be a part of it.”
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BEST COMMUNITY/CAMPUS RADIO
Kongu FM Kongu Engineering College (Erode)
trophy , Koungu FM, receiving the Dr Thangaraj Kandaswamy
trophy Team Koungu FM with the
Reaching out to the un-reached, community radio can be thought of as a medium providing voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless, through cleverly designed and elegantly executed programmes. It has to address the real issues of the rural masses, their longings, feelings, expressions, joy and wisdom. It has to address and redress their sorrow, anguish and sufferings. It has to help them establish their rights to information, development, communication, governance, decision making, participation, freedom of expression, employment and entitlement to land, health, education and security. Steadily, but surely community radio will have its say in empowering the marginalized towards effecting the much needed social change in a country like India, predominantly made up of invisible and inhomogeneous target audience living in villages with distinctly different and widely varied cultures, customs and practices. It was with the prime motive of encouraging Community Radio in India, that Radio Duniya decided to award the Best Community/Campus Radio in the country. We received many nominations, all from organizations that were doing great work by giving a voice to the community. Choosing the winner was a huge task for the jury. Kongu FM of Kongu Engineering College (Erode) won the award. On receiving the award, Dr Thangaraj Kandaswamy, Chief Coordinator, Station Head, Kongu FM, said, “The management, Principal and students of Kongu Engineering College are delighted to learn that Kongu Community Radio has bagged the Radio Duniya award for “Best Community / Campus Radio 2008”. The people of the community and regular listeners of Kongu CR have congratulated the crew of Kongu CR Station who have made it possible. Thank you Radio Duniya for the excellent arrangements and congratulations to all award winners in other categories.”
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
BEST RADIO HOSTS
“First of all, I would like to thank Radio Duniya Awards for appreciating and recognizing my work through the Radio Duniya Award for the Best Radio Host. I’m extremely excited and happy about winning and feel honored to be the recipient of Radio Duniya Award. Appreciation is always great and when it is so highly credible and on such a large scale, the feeling is indeed special. I believe that there is a lot of talent in the Radio industry today and to be singled out in that sea of talent makes the experience of being associated with Radio all the more special and challenging. The Radio industry today is growing rapidly and is attracting a whole lot of talented youngsters. With such growth and participation, it is great to know that there are awards like Radio Duniya Awards who take the initiative to recognise and reward talent. Such awards contribute to the industry by encouraging people who are part of the Radio industry to strive for more and inspire many to become a part of an industry as giving as the Radio industry. Worldspace Satellite Radio definitely looks forward to being a part of Radio Duniya Awards in the years to come and hopes for more interesting categories and awards.”
Supriya Jambunathan
Radio Jhankar WorldSpace (Bangalore)
“I was in the studios of Fever 104 Bangalore, doing my show when I got a message saying that I’d won the award. I couldn’t believe my eyes for a moment. It was a surreal feeling. I rushed out of the studio to tell everyone at office and sent out some hajaar smses. Of course I missed my next link but I guess its allowed once in a while. Thank you very much for the award and hats off to you for the great work you guys have put in to organize the conference and for the effort put in to organize an awards night as well.”
Jimmy Xavier
Fever 104 FM (Bangalore)
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Whattesurprise! Whattefun! Thank you Radio Duniya! Thank you Radio City! It’s always a great feeling to know your work has been appreciated. The award further strengthens my commitment to my listeners. A big thanks to Hyderabad and my listeners here. Radio City, the organisation that made me an RJ today deserves all the credit for this. I love what I do and I am given so much room to grow. There are many more milestones to be crossed.
Anuj Gurwara
Radio City (Hyderabad)
Thank you Radio Duniya. This was a wonderful initiative and I hope there’s much more recognition in the future for the many Radio professionals in India. The industry is growing by leaps and bounds and initiatives like this are greatly appreciated. Looking forward to reading the magazine and wishing Team Radio Duniya all the very best for everything ahead!
Jaishree Sethi Meow FM (Delhi)
“It is overwhelming to receive the Radio Duniya award for the best host as it strengthens my decision to become a full time on-air host. Finally I have reached where I belong. Also, my belief in the engagement-driven radio has become stronger.” Speaking about the initiative taken by Radio Duniya, Jaishree said, “Radio Duniya is a great platform to encourage true talent and innovative radio. I would like to congratulate the whole team of Radio Duniya that worked endlessly to put up such a fantastic show. Meow to Radio Duniya!”
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Radio Duniya has been doing a pioneering job of popularizing radio as a medium for the masses. Therefore, to be voted as the best by Radio Duniya is a big compliment and sense of achievement. Your team is doing a great job and all the best. Though this should not sound like an Oscar thanks, I would like to thank Nisha Narayanan National Co-ordinator, SFM, Reena Rathore, Programming Head, Jaipur S FM, my Producer and Shradha Singh, a friend and other colleagues who are always there to support and tolerate me.
Amit Om Sharma
S FM (Jaipur)
My sincere thanks to the listeners for making me the best. It is their calls, mails, suggestions that keep us, our community going and going, to strive for perfection, to provide the best entertainment. So keep rocking!!!
Puneet, Worldspace, receiving the trophy for Supriya Jambunathan
Nilanjana, S FM, receiving the trophy for Amit Om Sharma
Vinay Manak, Radio City, receiving the trophy for Anuj Gurwara
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BEST RADIO ADVERTISEMENT Radio advertising stimulates the mind, one good word or carefully crafted and delivered phrase erupts into a thousand pictures, emotions and feelings. Good Radio advertising compels the listener to pay more attention, to immerse themselves in the experience, and get focused on what is new and
Advertisement of Big Bazaar
“Wife nahi to life badlo”
Sumanto Ray Creative Supervisor Fever 104 FM
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different. The advertisements we chose as winners exemplify how to make best use of radio as a medium of communication.
Sumanto Ray, the Creative Supervisor, incharge of the award winning advertisement of Big Bazar said, “I wasn’t well and was on leave the day I got the news that I won The Radio Duniya Award – Best Radio Advertisement 2008. Believe me, it acted as a quick cure medicine for me and I was really feeling better. The brief given to us by the client was to do something very different on radio, kind of whenever such campaign is duplicated by any other brand, people should remember Big Bazaar. I created long skit ads of duration 2 to 3 minutes. The challenge was, long duration spots needs to be really interesting so that the listeners does not switch off the channel. Secondly this kind of advertising was happening for the first time in radio format. By the grace of the almighty, I could crack some good scripts. I thank the client, Future Group for trusting me at that moment and that allowed us to do the campaign the way we wanted to do. I would thank my colleagues from Mumbai and Bangaluru team to get these spots produced. I feel honored to receive such a prestigious award. It being the first radio award of the year has really given a boost to my confidence and inspired me to pen down better and better scripts in future.” March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Advertisement of Nola Fastaurant
“Food for every Mood” Nola Fastaurant/Kantian Food and Hospitality India (P) Ltd, Radio Mirchi, Kolkata RK Swamy BBDO (Kolkata) bagged the award for the Best Radio Advertisement for Nola Fastaurant, which was broadcast on Radio Mirchi (Kolkata). The team behind the award winning advertisement was Partha Das, Sanjeev Dassani, Aanton Mookherjee and Santanu De. The winners were thrilled and said, “In this first major award ceremony of the year, which is predominantly for the radio industry, it feels great to be the only marketing communication organization to have picked up a trophy and that too the prestigious ‘Best Radio Advertisement of the Year’ honour. We thank the entire team of Radio Duniya, the eminent jury members and every soul who has contributed towards revamping the radio media and making it such a significant tool of communication today. And we wish, Radio Duniya continues this good work with the same zeal, commitment and dedication, forever.”
Rakshit Doshi, Copywriter Fever 104 FM
Aanton Mukherjee, Sr Brand Design Associate Santanu De, Brand Strategy Manager Sanjeev Dassani, Brand Design Manager & Partha Das, Sr Brand Design Director RK Swamy BBDO (Kolkata)
Advertisement of Axe Vice – Train Announcer
“Go Wild” Rakshit Doshi, the copywriter of the award winning advertisement ‘Axe Vice – Train Announcer’ said, “It is both, an honor and prestige, to have received a much honored award like the Radio Duniya Awards 2008 for the Best Advertising Spot. It was a huge client for us to crack, as Axe Vice was a brand to reckon with, in the world of advertising. The challenge we faced was in making Axe, as interestingly naughty in audio as it was on television, without it sounding vulgar. Our only brief was, “Go Wild!” and that is what we did. I thank Radio Duniya for this honor they have bestowed us with, on behalf of my entire team. Noel and Merrill who have soundscaped the ad with tremendous amount of creativity and Prachi Mayekar, for lending her very talented voice to give life to this product. Thank you guys for making this possible.”
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BEST RADIO SHOW
Best Radio Show The right mix of words of wisdom, stories that involve the people, humour, music and masti is what makes a good radio show. But just being good wasn’t good enough to get hands on the trophy for the best radio show. The winning shows had the unique quality of being distinct from others and at the same time establishing a strong connect with the audiences. While one had the the correct mix of humour, fun and masti, another celebrated traditional form of storytelling. Variety is the spice of life and radio is no different. This is what our winners are proof of... the power of diversity of content on radio.
Dastaan, Radio Falak Worldspace (Delhi)
Team Radio Falak, Worldspace with the trophy
Speaking on behalf of the whole team behind the award winning show, Pramod Shanker, Senior Programme Director, Radio Falak, said “The Radio Falak team is extremely proud to have received the ‘Best Radio Show of the Year’ award at Radio Duniya 2008. Our effort has always been to create content which is unparalleled and which can be heard only on Radio Falak, making our station unique in its own way. We are happy that Radio Duniya has applauded our efforts by recognizing one of our most unique shows‘Dastaan’ from amongst the sea of high quality competition. Thanks
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Team Radio Spandana, Worldspace with the trophy
Chandamama Betala Kathal Radio Spandana The Radio Spandana team for the Chandamama Betal Series, which won the award was thrilled that their efforts were recognized. According to the team, “Radio Spandana has always believed that this channel is not just a music channel but also a vehicle for transmission of Telugu culture, literature and arts. We are extremely happy to note that our attempt to “Show’ through “Sound” has been appreciated by the esteemed jury members of Radio Duniya Awards. This has energized us into doing better programming in future”. Further, the winners said, “In an age when only visual media like television and films receive recognition, an organization like Radio Duniya has taken up the cause of radio, the very first form of electronic media. It shows that there is at least one organization which cares for healthy entertainment and which has not forgotten the roots of visual media. Kudos to Radio Duniya for its very innovative and objective manner of selection. If not for this objectivity, regional channels like ours, probably, would not have received such great recognition.”
Ek Haadsa Ek Haqiqat Wings Broadcasting Team Wings Broadcasting with the trophy
Puneet Gulati, Worldspace, receiving the trophy
Wings Broadcasting, the production company behind the award winning show, which was broadcast on AIR Chandigrah, said, “First of all we would like to thank Radio Duniya for recognizing the hard work and nourishing it with a wonderful award. It gives us immense pleasure to receive this award because our team had put in a lot of hard work for the show Ek Hadsa Ek Haqiqat.” The concept of the show was designed by Anil Kak, who also directed the show, and he felt that these types of awards increase the confidence of the team. Ashish Bhatnagar, AIR, rece
iving the trophy
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HIT Mornings HIT 95 FM Speaking on behalf of the team behind ‘HIT Mornings’, Neetu Puri Mathrani, Programming Director HIT 95 FM, said, “It feels great wining the Radio Duniya award for the ‘Best Radio Show’ for HIT Mornings, especially since we don’t have a ‘network’ and play very differentiated music. We didn’t expect to win, but I guess Radio Duniya actually spotted the ‘talent’.
HIT 95 FM team receiving the trophy
Also I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Radio Duniya for putting a great show together and wish them good luck for years to come”.
The Morning Show Fever 104 FM, Bangalore Rohit Jayakaran and Rajesh M e h a r, p r e s e n t e r s a n d producers of the show ‘The Morning Show’ of Fever 104 FM, Bangalore say, “In a fledgeling industry such as FM Radio in India, recognition from industry insiders is as important as appreciation from the larger listening public. So, it feels great to be recognized in the Best Show Category by one of the premier industry magazines in the country, ‘Radio Duniya’!”
Rohit Jayakaran and Rajesh Mehar, Presenter and Producer of The Morning Show 36
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
BEST SIGNATURE TUNE Signature Tune What is a good signature tune? It is one that establishes itself in the hearts and minds of listeners through its beautiful play of musical notes, beats, rhythm, vibe, and magic!!! A good signature tune represents the brand identity of any radio station. When people start humming a signature tune like a popular song, that is the real victory of the team that has worked magic with Shrikhla Saxena, Worldspace, receiving the trophy musical notes to genrate the appeal of the brand. The moment the first notes play, any listener can instantly identify with it and relate to the station.
World Space India Pvt Ltd Jonzie Kurian, Creative Director, India, WorldSpace, was elated on winning the Best Signature Tune Award and said, “We at Worldspace have always strived to bring compelling and world class programming to our paid subscribers. Winning this award at the Radio Duniya Awards is a well deserved recognition of the hard work and dedication put in by each and every member of the WorldSpace India team. We believe that we have some of the best talents in the country working on fuelling our stations in India. Its wonderful that Radio Duniya Awards recognises and rewards outstanding radio programming and I’m confident that with many more stations in the pipeline, awards such as this will further fuel the newer radio professionals to do compelling radio in our country.”
Winning team with the trophy
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Radio Sonar Team
Radio Sonar WorldSpace (Kolkata) According to Amit Chakraborty, Programme Director, “The award winning Jingle of Radio Sonar is a perfect blend of old and new melody of Bengal. Our whole team worked hard to set their programmes in sync with this jingle so that anyone residing outside Bengal could get a true essence of their native land.”
Sameer Kanwar receiving the trophy
Suman Bandyopadhyay, Content Manager, spoke about the celebrations that ensued after the news of the award was given to team. He said, “The entire Radio Sonar team was really excited when they heard the winning news. The staff of WorldSpace was called in the conference hall and informed about the recognition received by the signature tune, and the jingle was played several times amid applause and celebration. We really appreciate the effort put in by the organisers of the event, Radio Duniya and are thankful to them for this honour”.
Mantra 91.9 FM (Hisar) Sameer Kanwar, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said, “The signature tune which fetched us this special award - “Signature Tune of the Year 2008” from Radio Duniya is about people from Haryana and their attitude. It simply means that you don’t have to think hard, it’s the game of life where nobody’s a winner or a loser. Finalising the tune was quite an experience. Shaleen Sharma (of Agosh) composed the tunes, he sent us three different compositions out of which we shortlisted one. Then we worked on the lyrics, which were written while keeping in mind the medium which is very personal, higly inclusive and interactive. The signature tunes were written in-house by Abhishek, Pushan & Sameer. I would like to thank and appreciate “Radio Duniya” and its team members, who took this initiative to encourage people from the Radio industry, which is in it’s nascent stage. Keep it up!!! 38
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Hello 106.4 FM (Chennai) SK Ramesh, VP and Head of Content, Hello FM 104.6 said, “This only reaffirms the Brand’s faith in the pride and power of Tamil ethos as the Signature Track is a soulful expression of the soil, and nobody understands this better than us. The tune is the result of the work of over 40 musicians across the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu. Not a single piece of music came from outside the soil of the land”. He also added that while he may be taking the award with him, that he truly owed it to the people back home. S K Ramesh, Hello FM, receiving the trophy
Radio Surabhi Worldspace (Mumbai) Karthik Vaidyanathan, Senior Programme Director, Radio Surabhi was thrilled on winning the award for the Best Signature Tune and said, “The entire Radio Surabhi team would like to thank Radio Duniya for recognising a radio station in a regional format. Just like our award-winning signature tune (which urges one to take pride in one’s mother tongue), we take pride in not just the Marathi language but in what we do. And for Radio Duniya to award us is a recognition of that pride. The Radio Surabhi signature tune is the team effort of many people and we would like to dedicate this award to each and every one of them. Cheers!!!”
Radio Surabhi team with the trophy
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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVE
Eye Way Yeh hai Roshni ka Karwan Score Foundation George Abraham, CEO Score Foundation said, “We at Score Foundation are delighted to have received the Radio Duniya Award.” “We believe that it is a true recognition of the work we are doing and it is also an affirmation of the task we have taken up. We believe that information changes lives, and our radio programme reaches out to thousands of our stake holders across the country. Our object is to inform, inspire and include people in an engaging fashion. As a single stop information Help Desk on the eye and blindness, Eyeway shares information on the eye and blindness with all our stakeholders. The award has clearly confirmed to us that we are on track and our programming does meet industry standards.
George Abraham and Pranay Gadodia, Score Foundation receiving the trophy
Finally, we do see the award helping us greatly to market our programme to garner support from the Government, Corporates and funding agencies”.
Score Foundation team with the trophy
Participants of Meow Walkathon at India Gate
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March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Team Red FM with public at Jantar Mantar, for Black Day campaign
Speaking on the announcement, Abraham Thomas, COO Red FM said, “In keeping with our core proposition we have consistently made an effort to amplify and Bajaao socially relevant issues. Through the ‘RED FM Black Day’ CSR campaign we connected with our listeners at an emotional level and provided a platform to raise their concerns. The tremendous response that we received not only in terms of people’s response towards this initiative; but also in the form of this award adds to the success of this initiative.”
RED FM Black Day, 93.5 RED FM Ranjit Aluvalia, Red FM, receiving the trophy
He added, “We are honoured to accept this award for ‘RED FM Black Day’ CSR initiative. We are glad that such initiatives are highlighted at larger platforms such as Radio Duniya Awards”.
Team Meow FM receiving the trophy
Meow Walkathon Meow 104.8 FM The team behind the initiative said, “Small opportunities are often the beginning of a great enterprise, and that’s what Meow Walkathon was all about. The over-whelming response that we got from all the participants only goes to prove that connecting your female listeners to one another, connects them to your brand. We would like to thank Radio Duniya for the award they have conferred upon us for the ‘Best Social Responsibility Initiative’ and we only hope that we are able to take more socially relevant platforms to benefit the women audience at large. It takes courage for newer companies to undertake bigger events and turn them into success stories that others can cite as example and in this regard Radio Duniya and its team have done a fantastic job by initiating the awards”. www.radioduniya.in
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RADIO WEBSITE BC Web Wise Pvt Ltd www.radiocity.in According to Chaya Brian Carvalho, CEO and MD BC Web Wise Pvt Ltd., the head of the team that created the award winning website, “It feels great to be recognized for our work by a industry specific organization. We must mention that it has been fantastic working with Radio City and the creative opportunities that they give us.’’
BC Web Wise team with trophy like to thank the jury for finding our website as the best of the lot. This is my promise that it is just the beginning. As our site is being spruced up again, there will be lots for you to interact and share on the website soon. The website is as vibrant and reflects our brand proposition, which is ‘Whattefun’. Thank you so much Radio Duniya for this award ”.
While accepting the award Vinay Manek, VP Programming, Radio City, said, “I would
MARKETING CAMPAIGN Whatte Fun Campaign Radio City 91.1 FM Rana Barua, National Head – Marketing, Radio City 91.1FM, the brain behind the whole campaign, said, “It is a moment of triumph for us to bag this Award! Last year we fine-tuned our core-target audience through focused segmentation to SEC AB and unveiled our fresh, vibrant proposition ‘Whatte Fun’. It was very critical to communicate this effectively to all our listeners across the nation. The team worked tirelessly on the task at hand and it’s simply joyous to see our efforts pay off!”
Accepting the award on behalf of Rana Baruah, Vinay Manek (Assistant Vice President, Programming, Radio City) said, “There was a lot of hard work, labour and planning that went behind this campaign. It was a synergy for which all functions of Radio City got together and put this up. We would like to spread this infection of ‘Whatte Fun’! Live life fully! Thank you so much for this award”.
Vinay Manek, Radio City receiving the trophy (Above) Radio City team with the trophy 42
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Praveen Malhotra appointed National Sales Head Praveen Malhotra, Vice President Sales & North Operations Head - BIG 92.7 FM has been further elevated to the position of National Sales Head for the Integrated Sales Unit which will be responsible for ad sales for not just BIG 92.7 FM but also NTR Sales, Sales of BIG Street and of BIG Digital. She will also be responsible for the sales function of any new business unit that might be introduced in the future. The integrated sales unit shall take charge of the revenue generation function with immediate effect. Praveen started her career in 1992 with Times of India in the space selling division and had a successful stint of three years, moved on to STAR India Pvt Ltd. in 1995. Praveen was the key to driving the Star Plus channel to number one slot and successfully completed her six year stint with the Channel. In 2001, she joined Radio City 91.1 FM in the capacity of Sr. Vice President and Station Head. At Radio City, she was instrumental for the entire set-up and management of the Delhi radio station. After achieving stupendous success in Delhi, Praveen further went on to set-up and launch Radio City in Lucknow. Her achievements include driving successfully the Radio City launch at north as well as a nomination for News Corp’s Global Excellence Awards. With an experience of over 16 years and a veteran in the Media and Entertainment industry, Praveen would still continue spearheading operations for the entire Northern region, as well as handling the responsibility of being the National Sales Head for an integrated sales unit for all BIG businesses. 94.3 MY FM Chandigarh turns one 94.3 MY FM completed one year in Chandigarh on 19th February. The station planned heavy celebrations and exciting contests for the listeners starting 15th February. MY FM organised a big cake cutting ceremony in the office premises followed by high tea. The listeners whose birthday coincided with MY FM got the chance to celebrate the day with the radio station. RJ Gagan, RJ Aman, RJ Abhimanyu, RJ Khushi, RJ Sahil and RJ Sim surprised the listeners by visiting them, at home and cutting cakes with them. According to Harrish M. Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM, “Chandigarh market has been a great learning experience for us. We have been well received by the listeners and the advertising fraternity and have been able to establish a great connect with them. We are looking forward to many more anniversaries.” For decades, songs like “Kabhie Kabhie mere dil mein” and “Dil cheez kya hai” have immortalized romance on the silver screen. Bringing life to poignant poetry with melody is the genius called Khayyam. Radio Farishta, the 24-hour classic Hindi film music station on WorldSpace Satellite Radio celebrated WorldSpace celebrates Khayyam Khayyam Saab’s 81st birthday with a special series dedicated to his music and his journey in the Hindi film industry. Aired at 10:00 pm from Monday to Friday till 7th March, the series provided listeners a peek into the veteran’s life, love and of course, his music. The series will be repeated every Sundays for its listeners from 23 March till 07 July. Zealous and passionate about his profession, Khayyam in his conversation with Radio Farishta listeners recites the verse: Aye tayere lahuti us rizg se maut achchi, Jis rizg se aati ho parwaaz mein kotahi by poet Allah-mein-Akbal. When loosely translated it means that it is better to die than to live on something that hampers progress and freedom. Admiring Khayyam’s work, Seetal Iyer - Group Program Director at WorldSpace said, “A brilliant music composer and a great philosopher, Khayyam Saab’s intense insights, unyielding beliefs, strong will and music is an inspiration. This series is a dedication to the maestro’s phenomenal contribution to Hindi film music.” www.radioduniya.in
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Geodesic, IDEA launch mobile Internet radio service Geodesic Information Systems Ltd and Idea Cellular jointly launched Idea Radio, India’s first Mobile Internet Radio, which is designed and optimised for mobile operators. The new Mobile Internet radio will enable 20 million Idea subscribers to seamlessly tune into a range of exciting entertainment channels, 24 hours a day. IDEA Radio is built on Geodesic’s award-winning Mundu Radio technology. Idea subscribers will be able to access the service through their GPRS enabled mobile handsets. An activated, Internet enabled GPRS connection is bundled with the IDEA Radio subscription. To avail the offer, subscribers can simply SMS the keyword “IRADIO to 55456. Several flexible subscription options are available, including Rs. 149 per month or Rs. 10 per day. With the Internet radio, subscribers can listen a variety of music including Bollywood, Dance, Indi-pop and Love songs, and also niche genres like regional music and western genres such as Pop, Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz and much more. Vehrnon Ibrahim joins Radio One Radio One, the joint venture between Mid-day Multimedia and BBC worldwide, has roped in Vehrnon Ibrahim as National Programming head. Vehrnon moves from RED FM and has joined Radio One on March 3rd. He was one of the prime movers in helping RED FM reach its various milestones from the time of launch. Prior to that he has held key positions in programming including a stint with Indigo Radio. Vineet Singh Hukmani, CEO, Radio One said, “Vehrnon is the only natural programming head in the radio industry and is a perfect fit for our Masstige metro city focus. He is a great combination of scientific programming know how coupled with creative gut instinct. We are sure we will continue our upward journey with his contribution to the Radio One team.” Vehrnon said, “It is great to see the focus and growth that Radio passionate people like Tariq and Vineet bring to Radio One and its going to be fun steering this station brand along with them to the top position. What attracted me to Radio One was the 7 metro city focussed game plan and of course Tariq’s vision and Vineet’s passion, Vineet is a co- musician and radio friend whom I have worked with earlier.”
BIG FM concludes RJ Hunt in Patiala BIG 92.7 FM, Patiala concluded its BIG RJ Hunt, which was the talk of the town and met with great success, reaching out to students across the city, providing them an opportunity to recognize their talent and put it to best use, by giving them an opportunity to host the show on the Radio Station! The Station has short-listed 8 students who are the winners of the ‘BIG RJ Hunt’ which was flagged-off on 29th Jan 2008. The students who hail from schools across Patiala, will don the cap of an RJ for BIG FM’s Sunday Show ‘Big Chutti’. The winners are: Tanveer, Amandeep Kaur, Aftab, Neha, Sanchita, Anupreet, Gurpreet Kaur and Jashan. According to Mohit Sharma, Cluster Head - Punjab, BIG 92.7 FM, said, “The BIG RJ Hunt was hosted to offer the youth of the city a platform for self expression and an opportunity to further put their skills to best use. Young minds bring in fresh ideas to the table, something that we are always on the lookout for. The contest received an overwhelming response and we have found some excellent talent, whose skills we will further hone.” 44
Indore’s favorite RJ now on 94.3 MY FM Indore city’s favorite RJ Abhijeet Deewana is back! RJ Abhijeet brings back his style of wholesome entertainment and fun indorites only on 94.3 MY FM. The RJ will host the show‘Chandani Raatein’ from 9 pm - 11 pm every Monday to Friday. The talented RJ has 5 years of rich experience and is one of the first successful RJs in the country. He also holds a Limca Book of Record for anchoring “24 hour Non-stop Antakshari” in Mumbai. RJ Abhijeet, in his new ‘avataar’ will host the night show - ‘Chandani Raatein’, the show that is dedicated completely to music. ‘Chandani Raatein’ has everything for the music lovers, from melodious retro music to interesting information about music and music fraternity. On coming back and joining 94.3 MY FM, RJ Abhijeet said, “Coming back on-air in Indore is home-coming to me. I am really looking forward to working with 94.3 MY FM. The station has connected ‘Dil se’ with the listeners in a very short span of time. I would like to further strengthen this bond with the listeners.” March 2008 | Radio Duniya
ommun ty Rad o
Empowering communities through radio Steve Buckley, is
the President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) since 2003 and a member of the AMARC International Board since 1992. AMARC is an international association, established in 1983, representing community radio organisations and their federations in 110 countries. Here, he talks about the growth of community radio, the immense opportunities it offers and the various challenges it faces
How have you seen community radio grow globally over the years? We’ve seen community radio grow quite rapidly in the last few years. There has been a growing mainstream acceptance of the importance of community radio and its specific and critical role in giving a voice to the communities within the development processes. Community Radio started in the late 1940s in Latin America (notably Bolivia) and from there it spread across America (North and South). It emerged in Europe in 1670s, and in 46
a really big way in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, when what was called “free radio” ideally took off across Europe; in many cases without formal licensing framework and the new laws followed later. The Community Radio decade in Africa really began in the mid 1990s, first in Mali and then in South Africa. In the Asia Pacific region, community radio has been slow in getting off the ground. There is a weird hybrid model for Sri Lanka, where they call it community radio, but it’s actually under the March 2008 | Radio Duniya
control of the state broadcaster. Nepal has really been the pioneer with Sagarmatha taking to the air in 1997 and then a steady growth in numbers, which could soon reach hundred. There has been a huge growth in community radio in Indonesia. Philippines has had community radio for quite a long time but some of them work under very difficult circumstances because of the political threats. These are some examples from around the world, which give you an indication of diversity of the community radio sector now; it really is a global movement. What are your views on the state of community radio today? I think it has been a very interesting time for community radio since the last few years, because it has gained a certain mainstream acceptance and I associate that with the whole ICT boom and bust. In the late 1990’s and early 2000 there was massive hype about the Internet and how it was going to connect the whole world. Even at a fairly early stage, people began to question the logic of buying people computers instead of building wells or buying mosquito nets. Simultaneously, there was an emerging recognition that communication was important, and the communication tool that really got to the people at the grass-root level was not the Internet in the foreseeable future, but radio, which was already there and if they reformed the radio environment and gave people their own radio stations, on which they could air their own voices and share their concerns, this was more likely to make a greater difference. With the dot com bust, I think, we occupied the space they were in. Somehow, community radio after 50 years of steady growth and development almost became fashionable within the global development community. Now, there are guidance notes and concept papers from big UN agencies like the World Bank, UNDP, Food and Agriculture Organisation, all describing why community radio is important from their different perspectives, and this is a very positive development. What are the challenges in the path of growth for community radio? Regarding the challenges ahead, there are two main challenges that I would highlight. There are some countries, which are extremely reluctant to open up their airwaves and there has been a calculated discourse, particularly on the war of terror and not letting these “dangerous” people on the airwaves, who are going to destroy the social fabric and dismantle our country. One still gets some of that discourse here as well, from what I have heard. This kind of counter-terrorism discourse is a www.radioduniya.in
threat to respect for human rights and this is a paradox because terrorists themselves are opposed to human rights, but the governments efforts to confront terrorism, also sometimes mean they are already giving in to the demands, by voluntarily reducing the rights of citizens in their country. This is really a big challenge for all of us, because the emergence and growth of community radio is closely linked to the freedom of expression and fundamental human rights. The other agenda is more technical, but it also has an economic dimension, which is the shift from traditional communication technologies to digital technologies. This affects our sector in a whole number of ways, some of which are very exciting and provide new ways for us to do things, and some of which are potentially a new threat. In developed broadcasting environment, a general trend away from analog broadcast on FM and AM towards digital broadcast. At the same time, there is not yet a proven digital replacement technology for AM and FM broadcasting and so it is a very uncertain
“Wherever we’ve had community radio, we’ve seen net benefit to good governance, sustainable development practices, empowering women and marginalized groups.” future. Some of the governments are moving rapidly towards digital environment, and some of the manufacturers are benefiting by selling a whole new generation of digital radio receivers and they are promoting their cause with governments that ought to know better. For example an African broadcasting authority declared that there would be a moratorium on licensing of FM radio stations because of the move to digital. This, when they had no plan to go digital; the technology they were looking at had no proven viability and there was probably going to be no digital broadcasting for twenty years. So, this becomes a new excuse for not doing anything. Any developments that can facilitate the growth of community radio? The rapid growth of mobile phones has been a very exciting development for community radio. The phone is the fastest growing communication technology tool in the world today. Interestingly, it has made FM the second fastest, because fifty percent of the mobile phones have an FM radio built into them. And so with the mobile phone, we are reaching where community radio should be. That is to be able to allow listeners to speak back as well as to receive signals. Somehow, the phone helps us to do that; everybody is now equipped with the 47
hardware to be a citizen reporter; they can phone in their reports from wherever they are. This changes the dynamics, as now a majority of the people in the community can have in their own pockets a device through which they can record audio on a central radio station or even speak live. What is your view of the state of community radio in India? I have had the opportunity of traveling, specially to parts of South India and visiting some of the groups on the ground. I saw people trying out the use of community radio by taking slots on cable or on All India Radio or using analog signals. Some of the projects I saw inspired me endlessly. It is great to witness people discovering these tools for themselves and setting up new projects, realising that they can make a difference to their lives by using these. The one thing that everyone says about community radio in India is that it is very slow. Now, of course a lot of things are slow in India, particularly when they get tied up in political decision making and bureaucracy; community radio is not necessarily an exception in that respect. When we first heard the policy decision in November 2006, there were great celebrations because it had taken ten years to get from the Bangalore deceleration, which was an aspiration for this legislation to the actual policy. Things seemed like they were going to move quickly and the licensing process opened fairly early in the next year, but the process itself has been very slow. Also, what we discovered was that the policy has been useful for a relatively small number of smart advocacy groups, with some helpful engagement and support from agencies like UNDP and UNESCO. We have all failed to create awareness among people at the grass-root level know. There have been hardly 70 or 80 applications from NGOs. This coupled with the rather slow process of decision making, which involves four different ministries, and a screening committee hampers the growth of community radio in the country. So far, there are only sixteen letters of intent issued, and not even one has got its mission agreement or gone on air. We hope that this is going to accelerate, because at this rate it could take a century to establish 5,000 stations. We have to remove some of the bureaucracy in the decision-making, and raise awareness. At the same time, it is very important to get the first ones right, because they will be what everyone copies. So, if there are only a small number to start with and they go carefully, then hopefully things will begin to fall in place and the procedures will be streamlined once everybody is sure they’ve got it all right. I think that in most respects the government has got it just about right. There are certain things that could do with improvement; one is that it could be a
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little easier to apply for a license and the procedure of decision making could be a little quicker. Other than that, the ban on news and current affairs is a serious concern, which in the short term we will all live with, because we just want to create community radio stations on the ground. But from an international perspective, it is not consistent with international law. How important do you think the community radio policy and its implementation in India is for other Asian countries? It is important because of the size of India, its strategic position in global affairs today, specifically in the development sector, so we want to see it succeed in India. If you look at other big countries that have addressed this policy issue, USA has had a community radio policy for long now, Brazil has a policy, but not a very good one. Nigeria has a draft policy that has not yet seen the light of day yet. Indonesia has moved in a very de-regulatory sort of way, which is not necessarily optimal, but very dynamic and the growth there is quite interesting. India can and should learn from all these experiences and hopefully set an example for other countries to follow. It is the first country in South Asia to adopt a policy that recognizes community radio. Pakistan and Bangladesh would probably be the next; Bangladesh is already very close to moving towards a policy. They are following the Indian policy and it includes the news ban too. So, already we are seeing that India is influencing the development of community radio policy in other parts of the region. Then, more broadly, its next impact will be in Asia region as policy gets talked about at the inter-governmental meetings, at the Asia level and at the Asia Pacific level. There are many countries in South East Asia that have a long way to go before community radio will be really recognized. So, we have a good policy in India, scaling up the community radio and showing its real development impact. Perhaps all this would even persuade the Chinese to open up to community radio. I think enlightened governments everywhere recognise that better governance is achieved when people are able to talk back; when the views of ordinary people are heard and taken into account and community radio is a really important way of doing that. I have not heard from any government a legitimate reason why there should not be community radio in their country. Wherever we’ve had community radio, we’ve seen benefit to good governance, sustainable development practices, empowering women and marginalized groups, which are not things that any government can reasonably not sanction. There are still certain irrational fears in many countries about what might go wrong and these create issues.
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
Community Radio in the hands of Communities
A three day workshop on ‘Community Radio in the hands of the Communities: Operations and Collaborations’ was organized at Barefoot College in Rajasthan on 2- 4 February 2008. The workshop was organized jointly by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and Media Lab Asia (MLA) in their effort to promote the concept of lab to land. The workshop focused on community management, community ownership and community participation. Some of the participants in the workshop included Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), women members of self help groups, Sankalp, Sampark, M S Panwar Institute of Management and Communications, Media Lab Asia Henvalvani, World Development Forum and Banasthali Vidyapeeth among others. The participants shared their experiences about technology options including low cost studio, management and ownership of community radio and content from communities. Participants expressed their views on how community radio could be used by self help groups for the betterment of people by highlighting local concerns, issues and problems. The two day conference saw deliberations on why community radio is important, functioning of radio stations, what community radio policy says and what are the codes and guidelines for community radio. www.radioduniya.in
The workshop was also a platform where the participants shared their experiences and practices. Henvalvani, shared their case study on low cost studio with a practical demonstration and how this could be used for recording and packaging of the programs. Other case studies were from Karol Ki Awaaz, a radio programme from a Mass Communications Institution in Solan; Banasthali Vidyapeeth and Raghav from Bihar provided a good platform to the participants to learn about various components of Community Radio in a holistic manner. H O Srivastava, Director, World Development Forum, spoke about what Community Radio is; what are the various options of technology and audio studios. The discussions on principles and values of Community Radio – capacity building and networking; NGO contributions in making Community Radio a reality, the participatory mode of the workshop that encouraged participants to clear their doubts on various issues. The hands on experience on the use of technology helped them to record a one hour radio programme, where the participants were also the audience. Dr Ina Singh from Banasthali Vidyapeeth, shared how they were already running their campus radio and serving the community in and around the Campus. Barefoot College, Tilonia and Henvalvani, Uttarakhand have 49
already submitted their applications for license for Community Radio and the applications are being processed. SEWA, Sankalp and Sampark are submitting their applications soon, all the more reason for taking this platform for learning, sharing and getting clarity on their issues and concerns. The technology equipments that were demonstrated included mike, mixer, digital editing through computer, recording etc. and the participants were made to record their programmes. The participatory approach helped to bring out the hidden talent and the knowledge among the participants and the myths and beliefs related to technology were somehow removed. This continual exposure of the participants to technology will help them work on Community Radio with confidence and courage. Meena, who is working with the Jagrat Mahila Group mentioned that Community Radio can help in many ways. Working in 100 villages and having face to face meetings for conveying the similar messages is very time consuming and through community radio, we can address everyone together.
negotiate with them or it could be taken as a policy initiative. Though as per the policy, 50 per cent of the content should be generated through communities, whether content could be exchanged among the Community Radio stations, and if yes, what about the copyright issues?
Future plan of action DEF would be providing the requisite support to Barefoot College, Tilonia in setting up the studio as the participants have already started making the radio programmes involving communities from the villages. The process for setting up the transmitter would be done once the formalities with the Ministry is completed.
Highlights of the workshop For making Community Radio sustainable, 5 minutes advertisement in an hour’s programme is allowed. So could Radio be used to promote the local products by the communities and share their expertise in making the local products with the outside world? Individual organizations sought support in organizing capacity enhancement workshops for them to start Community Radio and integration with Internet radio. Low-cost technology options should be made available as community-based organizations do not have funds to start community radio. If at all funds are allocated, apart from setting up the studio and the transmitter, funds are also needed to meet the recurring cost for some time including capacity building till the time the programme is sustained. If women groups are managing community radio, there is a need for their skill enhancement in the technology front, which normally does not happen. Men come forward to play this role, so special attention should be given to this aspect. Whether the towers already set up by the mobile phone companies could be used for CR transmitters/ antenna. Whether individual organizations should
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The technology equipments that were demonstrated included mike, mixer, digital editing through computer, recording etc. and the participants were made to record their programmes. Similarly, Sankalp and Sampark have also requested for more training workshops to prepare themselves for starting Community Radio initiatives and applying for the license. SEWA is in the process of applying through their federations and will get in touch for technical as well as programme support. Digital Empowerment Foundation has scheduled five more workshops of this kind during this year in the States of Uttarakhand, West Bengal, NorthEast, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
March 2008 | Radio Duniya
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