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asha swarup
Optimism Booms
Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
From music royalties to news in FM, from digitised content to code of ethics, from convergence to a regulatory body... talks and issues are many when it comes to broadcast business. The Radio Duniya Team looks into the needs and expectations of communities and catches up some optimistic reections all-encompassing the broadcast industry of India while speaking to Asha Swarup, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India
What does the Ministry think on the music royalty issue? This is an issue we need to seriously think about. We have been pursuing this with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Our main stand on this issue is that music, or any piece of art should be made available in the public domain and shared with all. It should be made available to all for viewing and enjoying, whichever is applicable. The issues which could be negotiated are the rates. Currently, rates are being decided by the Copyright Board which falls within the domain of the MHRD. The FM channels and the big music companies have not been able to come to any agreement on the issue of sharing of revenues. In fact, recently we have received a letter from the music companies saying that 6
they would like two issues to be referred to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). One is, revenue sharing between music companies and the FM channels and the other issue is using music as ring tones on mobiles. We will examine what is to be done regarding this. However, our stand is clearly to keep all kinds of material in the public domain. As far as the rates are concerned, those are negotiable. Have you thought of sharing the content available with Prasar Bharti and making it available in the public domain? Will it be digitized? This matter has not really come up earlier. So, I cannot claim that we have made a decision November 2007 | Radio Duniya
on the issue. Our current mandate is on archiving all the material that we have with us in digitized forms and that is precisely what we are concentrating on right now. The issue of making it publicly available has not engaged the ministry as yet. This is something which has just come up in your discussion, so I’m really not in a position to comment on this. But, the ministry might think of doing this in future, as it is aligned with the overall mandate of ministry, for making all materials publicly available. And yes, digitization is a major programme, and we are making use of new age technologies. Would you like to respond on the demand for news and current affairs on the FM channels? Do you perceive any serious concern in it? Actually this matter has been attracting attention for quite some time now. FICCI and FM channels have made a recommendation to open up the news segment. However, the government has yet to take a final decision in the matter. The ministry is talking a lot about content monitoring and activating censor board even for radio. With so many FM channels already existing and coming up, is that practicable? As of now, the ministry has been largely engaged with the monitoring of the content on television only. When a channel is given license, it is asked to follow the programme code and advertising code provided under the Cable TV Act and they are supposed to self-regulate with reference to the guidelines. While issuing licenses to FM channels, they are asked to follow the program code stipulated for All India Radio. We expect the channel owners to self regulate the content. Only in case of an aberration or breach of the program and advertising code brought to the notice of the ministry, the ministry intervenes. As of now we do not even have the wherewithals to monitor content on a 24×7 basis. We respect the channel’s freedom to decide the content it would like to broadcast, as long as it follows the code. What about issues regarding the content code? Do you feel the ministry should decide it or should the industry draft it? The ministry has worked on the content code and also put the draft on the website. Even now, Programme and Advisory Code under the Cable TV Act provides a framework. All channels have www.radioduniya.in
to follow it as part of their license conditions. News Broadcasters Associations have indicated that they would like to draft their own code. We have yet to receive it. We are presently concentrating more on Broadcast Regulatory Bill and would like the BRAI (Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India) to be set up on the lines of TRAI to regulate the entire sector. Ministry is prioritizing on this currently. What is going to be the mandate of this regulatory board? The Broadcast Regulatory Authority is going to be like TRAI, an umbrella organization to oversee the broadcast sector. But unlike the TRAI, this will take up both carriage and content issues. Are you going to involve stakeholders as well? Yes, we will consult them. And therefore it is expected to have greater acceptability. Has Broadcast Regulatory Authority Bill been tabled in Parliament? No, it has not yet been tabled. We have already drafted the Broadcast Regulatory Authority Bill. Since, it met with a lot of criticism, we are redoing it.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, through the mass communication media plays a significant role in helping the people to have access to free flow of information. It also caters to the dissemination of knowledge and entertainment to all sections of society, striking a careful balance between public interest and commercial needs, in its delivery of services. It is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to information, broadcasting, the press and films. This Ministry is responsible for international co-operation in the field of mass media, films and broadcasting and interacts with its foreign counterparts on behalf of Government of India
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This brings to the issue of convergence between TV, Radio and Internet, and there is a lot of inflow and outflow and a lot beyond the control of the state. It certainly brings a new challenge for a national regulator! You have brought out a very valid point about convergence. Telecom, IT and broadcast industry are intertwined. Till now, TRAI was a convergent regulator looking at carriage issues of all these. But unlike in telecom and IT, we have content issues in broadcast industry, which TRAI with their resource is unable and unwilling to address. So there rises a need for a broadcast regulator. Changes from Vividh Bharti to the present scenario...there is an evolution that has happened. But probably there is need for more opening up. May be because of this, change has happened so fast over the last 7 years that people expect more to happen at a faster pace. Maybe the thought of revenue generation would also cross the mind of Prasar Bharti, like the Council for Industrial Research. What is your perception on this? There was a time, when Prasar Bharti had monopoly over the programming and that was probably the time when it actually produced programmes of superior quality. But as an organisation, it took time to come out of that shell and others took giant leaps. It is a monolithic organisation and has inherited limitations of a monolithic organisation. It is not the lack of mandate of revenue generation, but lack of innovative programming that has caused the organization to lose its viewership. Probably its an institutional issue and not so much a personal issue? There are few pressing issues, one they have a public service broadcaster’s role to play, so they must show something which is educative, or which the government thinks people must know about. So they are not totally commercial. And secondly, a lot of their posts, which have fallen vacant over the years, have not been filled up, because they have come under the economy instructions of the Finance Ministry. As a result, there has been no induction of fresh blood at all. Thirdly, the kind of wage rates that are prevelant in the market today, people would
rather go to a private channel than Prasar Bharti. Because whatever they are offering is not at all competitive in the market. Will BRAI look at licensing and frequency as well?
We are presently concentrating more on Broadcast Regulatory Bill and would like the Broadcast Regulatory Authority to be set up on the lines of TRAI to regulate the entire sector
Frequency issues will be looked at by Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of Ministry of Communications and IT, because it is already doing it for telecom sector, defence services and for broadcasting sector. So that will continue to be with them. But what we are looking at is that our regulator will do licensing. It will also give recommendations to the government on all content and carriage related issues. Have the other countries also established a broadcast regulator who can work as a model for you? Most countries have regulators of the kind that we are looking at. The OFCOMM (Office of Communications) regulator in Britain and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in the USA are converged regulators. Right now we are looking at a separate Broadcast Regulator. There are broadcast regulators in many other countries of the world also. In the UK and the USA Governments have ultimately opted for convergence. We might also follow the trend in future. www.mib.nic.in
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
Radio in India The The Journey Journey of of Talking Talking on on Air Air D
espite deep penetration of Television, Internet and other sources of infotainment, Radio, maintains its unique position as the companion of common man world wide. One can enjoy it even if he can’t read, he’s on the move, while shaving, in the rest room, laying quietly in the bed with closed eyes – practically anytime anywhere. It’s affordable, within reach and very participatory. The low production cost, the simple hardware/ expertise required and the proximity of radio stations make it very people friendly. In a multi-lingual, multicultural and geographically large country like India, Radio has a very special place and All India Radio alone since 1936 and with fellow private broadcasters since 2001 is catering to the diverse needs of the Indian population.
Ushering of AIR The first radio program in India was broadcast by the Radio club of Bombay in June 1923. Later broadcasting by private Radio clubs started in a few more cities of India like Kolkata and Chennai. 23rd July 1927 witnessed the setting up of a regular broadcasting service on
experimental basis at Mumbai and Kolkata by the Indian broadcasting company. Indian State Broadcasting Service under the Controller of Broadcasts was constituted in 1935 and Lionel Fielden was appointed as the first Controller of Broadcasting in India. The Indian State Broadcasting Service was renamed as All India Radio (AIR) in January 1936. Broadcasting in India had a slow and steady growth during the period. At the time of partition, India had just six radio stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow while three radio stations went to Pakistan, which were Lahore, Peshawar and Dacca, now in Bangladesh. At that time Radio coverage in India was 2.5% of the area and 11% of the population. Days to come saw impressive growth in this sector. AIR today has 223 Stations with 143 MW, 54 SW & 161 FM transmitters and it’s coverage is 91.42% of the area & 99.13% of population.
ROI
APURVA
resident A P , T I H O PUR
ty enti g n stro rds the y r e a v ly towa adio s a r erge ressive of the m e g g g ll I wi work a gthenin nths.” O R l “A h wil tren ing mo s d c i wh ess an he com r t prog str y in indu
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November 2007
cover story AIR broadcasts cover 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home services. In external services, it covers 27 languages; 17 national and 10 international. AIR was conceived with the mandate to provide information, education and wholesome entertainment, keeping in view the motto, “Bahujan Hitaya; Bahujan Sukhaya”. The major objectives of AIR are to • Uphold the unity of the country and the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution, • Present a fair and balanced flow of information of national, regional, local and international interest, including contrasting views, without advocating any opinion or ideology of its own, • Promote the interests and concerns of the entire nation, being mindful of the need for harmony and understanding within the country, • Produce and transit varied programmes designed to awaken, inform, enlighten, educate, entertain and enrich all sections of the
ANIL SRIVATSA, COO, Radio Today “The future will be good if the shackles on radio have a time line to come out. If we are allowed to do news, specials and current events.”
•
people, Produce and transmit programmes relating to developmental activities in all their facets including, extension work in agriculture, education, health and family welfare, science and technology and serve the rural, illiterate and underprivileged population, keeping in mind the special needs and interests of the young, social and cultural minorities, the tribal population, and of those residing in border regions, backward or remote areas.
Vividh Bharati, the entertainment channel of AIR was started in October 1957. Akashvani
RADIO ‘A medium of unparalleled immediacy, intimacy and power!’
“I see Shakti in it, the power of GOD!!”
TARUN K
ATIAL,
COO, Big “The rad 92.7 FM io indus tr y is po industr y ised for players growth. have ma niches. The d When bu e an atte mpt to c s inesses leads to ar ve ha categor y growth.” ve clear identitie s – it “Listene rship ba se is exp India. O ected to ver a pe gr riod of t segment i me, we w ow across ation an i ll see gr d differe ea ntiated o fferings. ter ”
Mahatma Gandhi 12 November 1947
Radio Duniya (www.radioduniya.in)
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PRAVEEN MALHOTRA VP & Head - North, Big 92.7 FM “It is g wonde rowing by l ea rful sc enario ps and bou right n nds an for the o d “Futu w.” radio re of r indust its a adio in ry It is p oised India i t s o by the v end of be a 1700 c er y bright!! rore in ! next y dustr y ear.”
Sangeet Sammelan, one of the most prestigious classical music programme of AIR had it’s beginning in 1954 and has the privilege of broadcasting the classics of almost all Indian legends/ masters of classical music. Another technological milestone year in the history of radio broadcasting in India was 1977, when the first FM transmission was started from AIR Chennai (then Madras). On line interactivity in AIR was introduced way back in 1993 with introduction of phone in consoles. Direct to Home (DTH) service of AIR, a 24 hours multi lingual, multi-channel free to air service, available all over India, was started in December 2004.
External Services of AIR were started shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War on 1st October 1939 with
first external service in Pushtu. It serves as an important link between India and the rest of the world projects the Indian point of view on matters of National and International importance. The service attempts to acquaint listeners’ abroad with the variegated cultural mosaic of India and its socio-economic milieu. It broadcasts in 27 languages, with combined daily radio hours of 71 hours 30 minutes to about 100 countries. Target areas of External Services Division (ESD) span almost all the continents and include areas of East, North-East and South-East Asia, West Asia, West, North-West and East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Europe and of course the Indian sub-continent.
Influenced by the approach and thinking of BBC, Indian broadcasting has set the trend through the years to make the newsroom free, fair and responsible. The first news bulletin from AIR was broadcast on 19th January, 1936. Today, 112 bulletins in 17 languages emanate from Delhi and are relayed by several AIR Stations. 187 regional bulletins are produced by 45 regional news units scattered all over India. 65 external news bulletins in 25 languages are put on SW Transmitter for external services. Apart from correspondents posted all across the country and at some locations abroad, AIR utilizes the services of Reuters, UNI, PTI Bhasha etc. for news inputs. A round the clock news services ‘News on Phone’ was introduced from 25th December 1998 and is currently functional from 13 places.
Moving towards digitization Apart from consolidating it’s coverage and quality, AIR is marching ahead in
NISHA NARAYANAN, Project Head 93.5 S FM ! osy sed s r y r ion u t e a v e b e ov e. to b ing to com al inn t .” e o ing is s o is go ears t ologic m e r m i n y futu ay rad n the g tech and progra e h i “T the w med xcitin adio – ys of It’s consu ome e gital r ive wa i t s and ll see with d nnova i ’ We arting ome s – st efully hop
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
the technological field with special emphasis on digitalization of audio production, archiving, distribution/ networking and transmission. Most of it’s studios have been provided with state of the art hard disc based recording systems. AIR stations scattered all over the country have been provided with satellite links
TARUN KATIAL, COO, Big 92.7 ild y to bu anies t i l i b a p has the 07 is G Com “Radio es from FMC ll SME’s. 20 ntr y ss de sma busine ers to adio an y r a l e t p a e v i g r and lar of boom of p r a ” the ye unity radio. m of com (Radio Networking terminals). Apart from VHF and Microwave connectivity, ISDN/ Digital connectivity is being provided to the stations for high quality programme linkages. Transition towards digital transmission has also started with experimental transmission of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM).
Opening doors to private sector
is on the way and huge investments are expected in this sector. Government of India notification of December 2007 regarding Community Radio Stations, is expected to give way to about 3000 CRS in the next few years. Any non-governmental organization, autonomous body, public trust registered under Society’s Act or any other such Act for the past three years are now eligible to apply and own a community radio station. This will allow greater participation by the civil society on issues relating to development and social change using the power and reach of Radio. Broadcast Industry worldwide is now migrating towards digital era. The major advantages of digitization are enhanced quality of content, flexible & fast production/editing of programmes, increased production/distribution capacity, longer preservation of programme/content and provision of value added services. The trends in programme production equipment
Radio sector in India was opened for private operators after the Supreme Court judgement in 1995 and the first private FM radio station Radio City began functioning in July 2001 in Bangalore, Karnataka and around 250 private Radio Stations are SIMRAN KOHLI, expected to be on air by the end of 2007. Director, Today, the radio industry in India is Academy “Rad of Radio io sh experiencing tremendous growth with Manage a ment. r 8 e to 9% in ad more operators and competition. v e b r y t ising which 2009 The sector is expected to grow at is , realiz is huge! M from the c set to rea the highest Compound Annual in u c o Growth Rate of 28% in next five villag g that 75 re and m rrent 2 to h o % e 3%, r s years, compared to other sectors and w and thos of the po e brands are pulat e are ho is in entertainment industry. The io th reach ing th e real con n is in current size of radio industry is s em – INR 500 crores and is expected to be Radio umers !!!” INR 1700 crores by 2011. The sector was opened for private participation in two phases of licensing and now more than 300 licenses have been awarded in these phases. Many new and organized players have entered in the arena. Digitization
www.radioduniya.in
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are moving from Tape Recorders/CTR to Multi channel Recorders to CD to DVD to R-DAT/ DAT and now to Hard Disc Based Recording Systems. Host of digital broadcasting standards like Eureka-147- DAB of Europe, IBOC of USA, ISDB of Japan, DRM system of World Consortium for digitization of MW & SW Radio, WorldSpace of USA (L-Band), XM Radio of USA (S-Band), Sirius Radio of USA (S-Band), DVB of Europe, ATSC of USA, DTH (Ku band) and DMB (Korea) are already prevailing in the world. This essentially makes radio broadcasting technology driven in today’s environment and poses key challenges for broadcast engineers in India. The power and reach of Radio is great. Gandhi ji in his eloquent speech exclaimed AIR as a miraculous power. He called AIR, ‘A medium of unparalleled immediacy, intimacy and power!’ During his maiden broadcast over AIR on 12th November 1947, Mahatma said ‘I see Shakti in it, the Power of God !’ The onus of reaping the benefits of this power lies with the broadcasters and the technological developments will continue to make Radio more participatory, user-friendly and hi-quality.
Vividh Bharati started in Oc
tober 1957.
First FM transmission in 19
77 from AIR Chennai.
On line Interactivity in AI R was introduced in 1993 with introduction of phone in consoles. Direct to Home service of AIR started in December 2004. AIR broadcast outside Ind ia started in October 1939 in Pushtu. External Services are broa dcast in 27 languages, for over 71 hours to about 100 countries. First News Bulletin from AI R was broadcast on19th January 1936 112 bulletins in 17 languag
es emanate from Delhi
187 regional bulletins prod uced by 45 regional news units 65 external news bulletins in 25 languages are broadcast. News on Phone introduced on 25th December, 1998 and functional from 13 places.
Radio coverage in India at the time of partition was 2.5% of the area and 11% of the population. Now with AIR’s 223 stations it is 91.42% of the area and 99.13% of the population.
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Author: H. R. Singh Engineer-in-Chief, All India Radio.
Co-author: Ashish Bhatnagar Dy. Director(E), All India Radio November 2007 | Radio Duniya
Empowering
Radio Industry Apurva Purohit is the first elected president of the Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI), the national society dedicated to protect the collective interests of radio broadcasters in India.
What is the mission and vision of AROI? AROI is a registered, non-profit making, nongovernmental society established to promote, aid, help, encourage, develop, protect and secure the rightful interests of the Indian radio industry with the spirit of co-operation in all aspects of radio related activities and entities. Our vision is to empower our members to sustain, develop and grow their respective radio businesses by creating a fair, favorable, competitive and dynamic industry environment. What are your views on the demand for a content code for private FM channles. Is the AROI working on such a code for the industry? We recently announced the formation of an Advisory Committee for the creation of a
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self-regulatory Content Code for private FM radio broadcasting in India. Ensuring that the collective interests of Radio Broadcasters in India are adequately represented, AROIs draft guidelines for the self-regulatory Content Code would be presented to the Committee instituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for consideration while formulating the report on the Content Code to the Central Government. How do you see AROI grow and contribute to the progress of radio in India? Well, the last few months have been spent in building a consensus and the beginning has already been made with the setting up of a high powered governing council from across the country and across radio operators. With organization heads like Abraham Thomas, CEO, Red FM, Tarun Katial, Chief Operating Officer, Big 92.7 FM and Prashant Pandey, CEO, Radio Mirchi and other reputed leaders as part of the committee, we believe the AROI will emerge as a very strong entity which will work aggressively towards the progress and strengthening of this medium and industry in the coming months. How does the AROI plan to address the demands for Radio Industry developments? At a very recent general meeting of the AROI, we formed committees to tackle v a r i o u s issues such as government relations, music, internal affairs, finance, awards and events, and even radio evangelizing.
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Can you tell us more about the Government Relations Committee?
What would be the role of the Internal Affairs Committee?
The Government Relations (Regulatory) Committee will develop a self-regulating code of conduct and grievance mechanism. This Committee will be headed by Prashant Pandey, CEO, Radio Mirchi, and Harrish Bhatia, CEO, Bhaskar Group.
The Internal Affairs Committee will ensure that all its members follow the industry selfregulation, besides resolving any disputes among the members. It will also provide protection to its members on issues like infringement of titles, trademarks, trade names and copyrights, as well as take up all necessary legal action. I am managing this committee.
What is being done on the issue of music royalties and the demands of the FM channels in this matter? We have formed a Music Committee, which will look after music copyright issue and work with various music labels to arrive at a consensual decision or legal recourse. The Committee will be headed by Rahul Gupta, Director-Projects, Jagran Radio. What is the mandate of Radio Evangelizing Committee? Who all are part of this committee? Radio Evangelizing Committee will basically work to increase the radio industry advertising revenue by enhancing the perception of radio as an important medium for all advertisers. Abraham Thomas, CEO, Red FM, Tarun Katial, Chief Operating Officer, Big 92.7 FM, and Matrubhumi’s George Sebastian will head the committee. Is AROI also working on the technical issues related to radio broadcasting? Yes, we have formed the Technical Committee, which will focus on developing the technical framework for radio activity. It will also work on upgrading services, in terms of transmission towers, technical support provided by the Government, coverage, clarity, and the like to enable further expansion of the radio service. It will be headed by ECM’s Ashok Narayan. Please tell us about the Awards and Events Committee of AROI? The Awards and Events Committee has been formed to promote excellence in radio advertising and communication. The Committee will also address various issues and challenges faced by the industry and it would be headed by Nisha Narayanan of SFM and Monica Nayyar Patnaik of Eastern Media.
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www.aroi.in
AROI: National Governing Body President: Apurva Purohit: CEO, Radio City Secretary General: Uday Chawla: GM, Commercial, India Today Group Senior Vice-Presidents: Tarun Katial: COO, BIG FM Abraham Thomas: CEO, Red FM Rahul Gupta: Project Head, Jagran Radio Prashant Pandey: CEO, ENIL Government Relations Committee: Prashant Pandey, Radio Mirchi Harrish Bhatia, Bhaskar Group Music Committee: Rahul Gupta, Jagran Radio Radio Evangelizing Committee: Abraham Thomas, Red FM Tarun Katial, Big FM George Sebastian, Matrubhumi Technical Committee: Ashok Narayan, ECM Awards and Events Committee: Nisha Narayanan, SFM Monica Nayyar Patnaik, Eastern Media Internal Affairs Committee: Apurva Purohit, Radio City
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
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station talk
Small Operators Need a VOICE “We are planning to telecast shows through the net” What according to you are the major differences and similarities between the radio industry here and in the US?
audience is numbed with music. There, you have an evolved talent pool, as the audience contribute to the radio content also. There is bigger advantage for radio in the US as there is one language used. They don’t have to worry about 20 different languages. But the challenge here is to find a common ground with so many diversity.
Anil Srivatsa,
As far as similarity, I don’t think there is much besides the fact that it is radio. There are a lot less people and lot more stations in the US, still everyone does well. And with few stations here, and lot more people, we think there is too much already. There is a disconnect, I don’t understand that.
COO, Radio Today, was
Differences...!! Well, the audience is different. When you have a different audience, you have different programming. There, the audience is more evolved, more mature. Here the
brain and the muscle
introduced to radio at the tender age of seven and there has been no looking back since then. He is the
behind India’s first‘Only For Women Radio Station’- Meow
The restrictions that are put on radio here are not seen in the US. Radio is very free there. Here we are more restricted in terms of the content- ‘what you can say, what you can not say’. That kind of freedom will come from a more evolved and mature environment, as in, maturity on the business as well as listener side. As we get more mature in handling this medium, the safeguards will start unlocking themselves. But right now we need them. In the U.S., there is a code of ethics. For instance, there is a code of decent and indecent words, for using in radio. But it’s alright to use them in India! For example, I had
104.8 FM.
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Introducing talk based radio in India, Anil says, “Talk radio is quality listening, which means sustained listening”
this problem with the word ‘shit’ being spoken very often on the air. Somebody even called the I&B Ministry to find out if the use is correct. And they said, ‘yes’. ‘Shit’ is okay here’! But in the U.S. the Station gets fined $50,000, if the word goes on air. I guess that is about a case for self-policing. Now we use those standards in our station. We talk about sexual fantasies, but we don’t use words that are un-parliamentary on air. Now we need to move to the next level, that is what Meow is doing by introducing “Talk Radio”. What are your views on the future of radio in India? Future of this country is Radio. Meow makes a bright indication in this direction. The fact that even a business house like India Today Group is allowed a differentiated format and has put a lot of money behind it. We need people with a vision for the industry and put their personal vision on the line for this.
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Do you see niche radio stations in the Indian market soon? It has happened now. We have done it, and others will follow soon enough! All eyes are on us. If they find any success here, trust me, a lot of imitation radio will be in. What are the future plans of Radio Today in terms of content and growth? So, as long as there is future in life, there is future in Meow. Because we talk about life. So in terms of content this is it. People evolve; people grow up and grow older. Hopefully, we’ll be there when they grow older; and then new people will come and they’ll talk. They will have their own experiences. This is a reflection of who we cater to. As long as that keeps changing, we’ll continue to be different. Today we talk about sexual fantasies on the air, five years ago nobody did that. Five years from now we do not know, what is to be talked. As long as our platform continues to stay open, the future is going to be different, brighter. We are not going to be earth shattering, but we are going to make a difference. We are going to keep the needle moving on our sides as
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
well. Music is not everything in life, but life is everything in music. So we talk about life, as we talk about music. Have you been able to reach your target audience in terms of listenership and revenue? Yes, definitely. Three months ago, I would have said ‘no’. The journey saw lots of pain and agony. It has been tough. Finally we are seeing the benefits of it. Now everyone knows about us. 85-90% of about 300 people we polled randomly in Delhi have heard of our station. They have heard it because it is different. And they are continuing to engage with it. Now, people who hear our station for the first time may be drifters and just browsing. But when they come back to us for a second time it is appointment listening. They come with their own thoughts - I like this host I want to listen to this. It’s a different dynamics all total. Talk radio is appointment listening and appointment listening means quality and sustain listening. There is a value to that and a great new opportunity for the advertising community . According to an old American saying, “Pioneers take the arrows in the front”. So although we are facing the danger , we must remember that ultimately the pioneers win. In the increasingly competitive FM environment what are the challenges for your station and how do you plan to overcome them? My problem is talent, music monopolies and advertiser’ bias to change, their resistance to change. And these are industry problems, not just my problems. As an industry body we have the AROI, to create guidelines of what our requirements are, what kind of training
we require in the people we want to hire. And then go to the educational institutions; see if their training methods are in sync with what we need. Otherwise, get them on sync, accredit them with AROI certifications. What is your take on the broadcasting bill? It is quite flawed and inward looking as opposed to outward and progressive. I guess, like every other law, this needs some work. If it is just arbitrary and ‘one size fits all’, it does not work. You can’t put the same law for cable or DTH or terrestrial. Similar things happen in the U.S. Also. I’ve spent the last one and a half year on Capitol Hill fighting for video franchise reform; fighting for independent smaller operators versus the
Now everyone knows about us. 85-90% of about 300 people we polled randomly in Delhi have heard of our station. They have heard it because it is different. And they are continuing to engage with it.
meow 104.8 fm www.radioduniya.in
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I feel there is a place for every body. It’s just that they need to be regulated as much as we are. Or give us as much freedom as they have. big operator. We need to give voice to the small operators too. So a lot of those things need to be looked at. In terms of technology what kind of developments do you expect in the field of radio and what new broadcasting techniques do you plan to use at Meow? We are planning to telecast shows through the net. Again there are a lot of rights issues. Since we work in a talk radio format, a lot of our shows can be on the Internet and we are working towards that. We are hoping to accomplish that within the next 90 days. We don’t rent content, we create it. As we own our content, it will enable us to do this faster. What are your views on technological advancements like mobile radio, Internet radio, satellite radio, etc. How do you intend to use these for your radio network? I am all for such advancement. I was probably the first Indian to have a show on Satellite radio, ever. Satellite radio began in America first and the same year I was doing an Indian show on XM radio. So I’ve had the good fortune to experience it. The same company now runs World Space by the way. I feel there is a place for every body. It’s just that they need to be regulated as much as we are. Or give us as much freedom as they have. Then you get a level playing field.
Our future is going to be DIFFERENT & BRIGHTER
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
station talk
‘Future Lies in Small Cities’ Nisha Narayan, Project Head, 93.5 S FM, started her radio journey as a teenage host with Youth Channel of AIR, Delhi. After working as a TV newsreader, producer, media consultant and head of audio visual programming, she returned to what she claims is her first love - Radio, in 2004. How do you perceive the current Radio industry scenario? It has been a good time for Radio since the year 2006. There has been a consistent growth in the sector, with smaller and newer cities are getting a taste of FM radio in the current phase of FM licensing. FM listenership is growing and the market share of radio in the media business is increasing steadily. Even All India Radio is reporting a rise in revenues. Overall, I would say the radio industry scenario looks promising. How would you rate the prospects of growth of radio in India, with respect to the governmental nod to more radio stations? Regarding commercial FM, a disproportionate amount of advertising revenue comes from the metros. But I think the future lies in smaller cities and towns where the entry fees, operational costs and marketing costs are much less. I am also convinced
www.radioduniya.in
that real programming innovations are likely to emerge from these smaller markets, where the stakes are not so high and where radio managers would be willing to take more risks. There is a steady growth of radio listenership in India, but of course that is only to be expected with expansion of radio in virgin markets. It’s boom-time for radio for the foreseeable future. Do you feel there is enough governmental support for the radio industry? Yes and no, both FM II licensing was a considerable improvement over FM I licensing in the year 2000. Government is very keen to expand the radio sector, as much through private radio as through the public broadcaster. The new and enabling commercial and community radio policies, and the recent reports on the restructuring of Prasar Bharati seem to suggest that the government is pretty serious about promoting radio.
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However, if we look at the long term growth prospects for radio in India, then we are caught in a regulatory vacuum. India has just started talking FM radio while the whole world is going digital. If we plan to phase out FM radio by 2015, why are they still giving away 10 year licenses for FM radio? The government still hasn’t got its act together on either content or carriage policies, so you have one set of rules for FM radio, another set of rules for satellite radio, yet another for radio on mobiles or the Internet. What kind of policies do you want the government to introduce to benefit the radio industry? For one, we need consistency across media policies. You can’t allow 100% FDI and permit news and current affairs on satellite radio, and cap FDI at 20% on FM radio and ban news on it. You can go to the nearest head post office and register a cable TV channel for Rs.500, but getting a radio license commercial or community - is like facing the inquisition while running an obstacle course. The government needs to address issues of convergence very seriously, and also copyright issues. As the Supreme Court
pointed out in 1995, you can’t govern the electronic media with archaic laws that were intended for an altogether different purpose when they were framed. We would also like the government to bring about some parity between the telecom and broadcast sectors with regard to the duties on equipment, which make broadcasting such a costly business. What is your take on the proposed broadcasting bill drafted by the government? Well, the current version of the Broadcast Bill, the 20th version, seems to have been put on hold indefinitely, so there really isn’t a great deal one can say about it. This was the fourth attempt to introduce a Broadcast Bill since 1997, and going by the Government’s failure to enact any of them, I can only say that we need a serious process of consultation among all the stake-holders before yet another bill is drafted. And by stake-holders, I don’t mean just Government and the media industry. We should involve viewers and listeners too, public also have a very large stake in the media. Only after some sort of consensus emerges, should the Government attempt to enact a broadcast law.
“
You can go to the nearest head post office and register a cable TV channel for Rs.500, but getting a radio license - commercial or community - is like facing the inquisition 24
”
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
If you bid the highest, you can get the license to run your own FM station and play Kajrare Kajrare all day long!!
What are your views on Radio Censoring or the Code of content?
for and get an FM license, be it a panwala, a shoe company or a media house. If you bid the highest, you can get the license to run your own FM station and play Kajrare Kajrare all day long!! There is no problem with that kind of programming, which is why now days most FM stations sound the same. I feel the government should introduce the system that is successfully used the world over, which is the ‘Beauty Contest Way’ of licensing. In this system all the players who want to bid will have to present their plans, programming and format of the radio station to the government or the nodal agency and then this agency will decide if the license should be given or not. If this system is followed, it will give greater freedom and variety to the listeners. And the government will also ensure that there is better content, so it is a win-win situation for everyone.
The Content Code comes with the same baggage as the Broadcast Bill. Really, you can’t put together a small and anonymous group of ‘experts’ and draft a content code for the entire media, and then call it ‘selfregulation.’ A number of media bodies have come forward to draft a self-regulatory content code, but they too suffer from the same infirmity. If a Content Code is really required, and the jury is still out on that one, I’d say it should be done through a process of consultation between broadcasters, civil society bodies and the regulator. And when I say ‘regulator’, I mean an independent regulator and not some government department. We have never had pre-censorship of programmes on radio or TV, and I hope no one is foolish enough to think of starting it now. This is India, not Burma! Are you happy with the present licensing policy? Do you feel it should be changed or modified? Presently allotting of licenses is done by bidding and whoever has the money can bid
Content Code is required... ‘It should be done through a process of consultation between broadcasters, civil society bodies and the regulator. Here the ‘regulator’means an independent regulator and not some government department.’
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host talk
Host Is spontaneously creative
“there’re a lot of girls out there who want to meet you once you are an RJ”
Ved hosts Radio City’s show ‘HUM TUM’ and is known to be most candid. He believes, relationship with the listener is the most important aspect of his job, since they are the very reason for a host’s existence. An optimist by nature, he believes that ‘If you are positive... all good things follow.’
What made you choose Radio Hosting as a career option? After MBA, I was initially working with a television channel as an anchor, but later when the channel was shifting base to Mumbai – being a true Dilli walla I was not keen to move and so landed up being a Radio Jockey on Radio City 91.1FM. What according to you are the pros & cons of the job of a Radio Host? Well, there are several ‘pros’ of hosting a radio show. Of those which come to mind are that one gets to interact with so many people from diverse backgrounds and the chance to be a part of their lives! Listeners share some very interesting things about themselves which they probably don’t share even with their parents, spouses or best friends! It makes an RJ feel very special indeed! That and of course, there’re a lot of girls out there who want to meet you once you are an RJ.
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Snapshot Queries Most treasured possession... My thoughts. Love listening to... Depends on the mood, usually it is Hip Hop, Reggae, Indian Sufi Love watching... My dog! He doesn’t bother about a thing on the planet! Other interests (Hobbies)... Working out, sleeping and reading Mantra of life... Live life to the fullest! This is the only chance god gave you!
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
nothing compares to the LOVE that one receives from LISTENERS
www.radioduniya.in
Ved
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Did you take any formal training for the job? Do you feel training is essential? Yes, I have been trained with the NASA (Nonsense Academy of Sirphire Aadmi) for a long time; it is a very exclusive institute and I must warn you that it is very difficult to get admissions… as the student and the teacher are the same! Jokes apart, I really don’t think that an educational qualification or formal training helps make a better RJ. Being an RJ is all about being creative, spontaneous and quick witted! If not Radio Hosting, then what career would you have chosen? I would have been on television as I had done that a lot before doing radio. When I was a child, I always wanted to be a pilot, but landed up being an RJ. It has worked for me, for I still get to go ‘on air’! Please describe your best radio moment? There have been many such moments! But one particular incident does come to my mind; there was this listener, who once kept a ‘karvachauth ka vrat’ for me and said that on-air! That was pretty special as I had never imagined that anybody could become so attached just by listening to someone’s voice! Well that was a great feeling. Who is your inspiration for this career? Who do you epitomize as a Radio Presenter? No one in particular; otherwise I am rather impressed by Steve Jobs (Pixar), for he emerged a winner in the face of adversities. Also Arnold Schwarzenegger, for being a world class sportsman, a
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superstar and a governor, all rolled in one! Usually people are happy even if they achieve just one of these!
is ample amount of opportunity for creative minds who have a passion for music!
What according to you are the most essential requirements for being a Radio Host? You should have superpowers like being invisible for when your boss wants to scold you. I also think that it’s important to just love what you do, live for the moment and have a sense of humour! What message would you give to all those budding Radio Hosts out there? Just enjoy what you are doing and you will eventually end up putting in your best. The radio industry is growing and there
I have been trained with the NASA (Nonsense Academy of Sirphire Aadmi)
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
host talk
Bindass Hoke Bolne Ka Known as Simply Saffy, he is one of the most popular Radio Hosts in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and
Cuttack.
Knowledgeable,
highly energetic and equipped with good humor. An Avid quizzer and movie buff, he also doubles as the Creative Producer of Superhits 93.5 SFM, Bhubaneswar. He hosts the morning ‘Drive Time’ show ‘Lift Karaade’ and ‘Hum Tum Ka Panga’ which is termed as the ‘Battle of the Sexes’.
What made you choose Radio Hosting as a career option? During my summer vacations, I used to be barred from watching TV as my parents thought I was watching too much of it. Being a restless kid, while fiddling with my music system I discoverd Radio. I listened to the BBC and VOA broadcast on Short Wave, as FM hadn’t reached Bhubaneswar; I was fascinated by it. Years later, I got the opportunity to work in Radio. All of it happened by chance. In a way I never chose radio, radio chose me. And once I’d had a taste of it, I was hooked on; and now I can’t live without it!!
www.radioduniya.in
saffy 29
voice training and therapy do help a lot What according to you are the pros & cons of the job? You meet so many lovely people everyday, animated conversations with your listeners, recognition is all great FUN. But on the flip side... one can’t stop talking; even in sleep you scream Jhoomo Jamke Jhoomo. Did you take any formal training? Do you feel training is essential? No formal training. I was trained by SFM and I had learn to and unlearn everything that I ever knew about entertainment. I don’t think one can be taught to be a radio host. Yet polishing, voice training and therapy do help a lot. If not Radio Hosting, then what career would you have chosen? Oh... there are so many things I always thought I would be, carpenter, fruit vendor, lawyer, politician, psychologist (I am a Psycho Grad), yet I would rather be a filmmaker. I still aspire to be one, or I may end up on the beaches of Goa strumming a guitar (as a Hippie). Describe your best radio moment?
i want to be Howard Stern
hmm... is the censor board listening?? 30
There are so many... every single moment on radio has been great. My first show - it was so bad, I cried and laughed at the same time. Once when I was doing Outdoor Broadcasting (OB) I met this family who completely adored me, showering praises on me... and... aah its been great!!!
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
What according to you are the most essential requirements for being a Radio Host? It’s a misconception that one needs to be talkative and an extrovert to be a good radio host; One needs clarity of thought, love for people and of course enjoy what one is doing. A bit of humour, lots of reading and observation helps. Bas Bindass hoke Bolne ka hai, par without hurting anyone’s sentiments.
What message would you give to all those budding Radio Hosts?
every single moment on radio has been GREAT
Just be yourself and read and observe a lot, people and things around you. Know your voice well and know your listener even better. Never take on another character and know the technicalities inside out.
Snapshot Queries Who is your inspiration for this career? Who do you epitomize as a Radio Presenter? Frankly, I didn’t know what radio was all about till I joined SFM: I owe every single bit of inspiration to the SFM Team. And radio presenter - Larry Kinghe’s the best. Then, Howard Stern, the most controversial radio host (also the richest). I would love to be him… Hmm…Is the Censor Board listening?? Just Kidding!!!
Most treasured possession? “Saffy ki potli”, My Knapsack Love listening to? Topi wale bhaiyya Himesh , and all Bollywood dhinchak numbers and, James Blunt and a few other artists Love watching? Beautiful Women, J Wong Kar Wai Movies Other interests? Movies, Writing, Reading Mantra of life? “Simply, Hard Work” for Simply Saffy!
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ARM
the talent designers
Students in ARM studio
Academy of Radio Management (ARM) helps people achieve their dream and ambition in the radio industry with their highly professional and technical guidance. Its Founder and Director, Simran Kohli leaves nothing to chance in exploring new talents and in honing that one important skill which will help an individual to stand out. Simran Kohli Founder, Director, Academy of Radio Management
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What inspired you to start a broadcasting academy? There were two reasons, one, I was tired of doing the same thing over and again. There was an end of the road for me. Once you become the National Creative Head, the next step is the CEO, where the CEO becomes a little more commercial, and I am not commercial. But I was still not in a position to start my own radio station. I discussed it with my husband, Chetan and decided that it was just the right time to start a radio academy. I have always been interested in teaching. Also as I had been in leadership positions, I knew that there was a talent crunch, in terms of trained people, and not too many quality institutes existed then. In fact, an initial market survey showed that there were no full-time broadcasting academies in South Asia. In starting this academy we were helped by Radio Systems, which is into building
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
radio consoles for radio stations. We were also helped by Technomedia, the only government accredited agency which sets up studios for FM stations. Why is it named ‘Academy of Radio Management’? There is an A to Z of radio. If you don’t know these ins and outs, you will never be able to manage radio. There was a time when you could just enter, like when I entered, and you could have done everything. But we
“We provide the whole ambiance and aura of the studio to our students”
are now moving towards an era of specialization. Everybody prefers specialized people, like in films you have editors, actors, directors, singers, etc. And radio is not going to be left behind. Also there is so much at stake at any given radio station. When you are employing people, you don’t want to spend extra on training them. You should watch out for the next two years all the big organizations are thinking of opening academies. We too are in talk with an international broadcast academy, which is based in the UK and has been in this business for the last 50 years. It’s the most reputed broadcast school and they want to come to India. We are still discussing partnership with them. We consider ourselves the pioneers in South Asia and this is only the beginning. Two years down the line, recruitment in radio would
be like recruitment in the IT sector. It’s very very specialized. Now when students come to us they wonder what all the fuss is about, but later they realize that there is so much to do here. After all it’s all about managing radio. This explains the name ‘Academy of Radio Management’. We were very clear that we don’t want to become jack-of-all-trades; so we are not going to dilute ourselves, ARM will always remain ARM. What sets ARM apart from all other broadcast institutes? It’s the first full time broadcast academy. We follow a very strict syllabus. We have our own broadcast studio. There is no other academy, which has a full time broadcast studio. Because there is a difference between a chalta-phirta studio and a broadcast studio. We provide the whole ambiance and aura of the studio to our students. Then we have people from the industry coming in and teaching. We have our own permanent faculty. Whoever is the best in his or her field comes to teach. They are the only ones who can give you an insight, nobody else can teach you what is happening in a private FM station. What are the key focus areas of training in your institute? We are focusing on an overall training. We are running three courses right now. One is a oneyear course, which is called Diploma in Radio Management, that covers complete radio. We have a three Month Certificate
www.radioduniya.in
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Course, which is a full time Radio Jockeying course. And then we are running a threemonth sales & marketing course, especially for Radio. Your website says, “Simran kisi ko bhi RJ bana sakti hai”, is that true? That’s our marketing tagline! We give 100% job guarantee. It’s not job placement or assistance. It’s 100% job guarantee or 50% money back. Now there is a catch, there is always a catch. And the catch is the percentage of marks in internals, the percentage of marks in your finals and your attendance in the academy. When students come to us, they think they’ll have a nice time. And we have students coming from all kinds of places and saying they want to get out of their homes, because their parents have made their lives miserable. They see it as an escape, as a course of just one year duration, so lets do it! But once they start with the course they feel this is like back to school. For us it is important to churn out good talent, because it is our reputation, which is at stake. So we don’t mind saying 100% job guarantee. You give us what we want and we will give you what you want, otherwise it won’t work! The radio market is growing and there will be a demand for more talent, do you think the radio industry, in terms of institutes is also set to grow by leaps and bounds? Well, you can compare it to the airline sector. Ten years ago when airlines were privatized, nobody had heard of air hostess
On air: Simran Kohli
training institutes. And today, I read about a new institute being opened, every month. And there are still more needed as there are still more airlines waiting to come up. Radio share in the advertising pie has really gone up. No other industry has grown at the rate at which radio has grown. We are looking at an 8 to 9 per cent share by 2009 from the current rate of 2-3 percent, which is huge! Can you imagine what will happen by then? More and more brands are coming in. Who wouldn’t want to reach the villages, the interiors of the villages? 75% of the population is in the villages and those are the real consumers. And who is reaching them – Radio!!! Does ARM also create content for voice over and jingles, etc? For the time being, we don’t. We would like to do this as and when it happens in the private FM stations, once they start inviting programming from outside. But that is the way
We consider ourselves the pioneers in South Asia and this is only the beginning ahead. It wouldn’t make sense for a Radio City, which would have some 200 radio stations by the end of two years to provide 100% staff everywhere, do 100% programming. So syndication is the next step, like in television channels. We are looking at that also. We are also looking at our own community radio station, because we have all the facilities. Once we have that we will create our own content. www.arm.net.in
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
ommun ty Rad o Community Radio Policy guidelines issued by the Government of India, makes it possible for registered Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to set up and establish community radio stations. To reach the masses, a number of organizations have been engaged in mobilizing communities using voice as a medium of communication. Our section on Community Radio brings to you the various success stories of community radio initiatives in India.
Building Communities through Media Kalanjiam Community Radio (KCR) Experience Communication is about the human factor in development - it gives people a voice, makes them “visible,” and helps them to learn and take action. Communication is most useful when it starts by listening to what people already know, what they aspire to become, what they perceive is possible and what they can productively sustain. There are many “paths of communication” ranging from folk media and traditional social groupings to radio and video to the Internet. Media can be used as a means for education, for motivation in the spheres of development action. If the media is owned and managed by the community it can reflect their insights, native wisdom, and heritage. It can act as a powerful tool to inform and educate themselves about new ideas and technical innovations for their own social, economic, and cultural development. With more than two decades of experience in working with the poor and disadvantaged communities on microfinance and water, DHAN Foundation has taken up development communication as a potential area for action. It is involved in promoting use of information and communication as a tool for development. Communication for Rehabilitation After the Tsunami devastation, in December 26, 2004, DHAN Foundation started working in a big way with the affected fishing and farming communities along the coast with a long term development focus. Empowering the community in all aspects, particularly in building capacity of the community for disaster management was felt as an important area of intervention. Applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) were introduced through the Village Information Centres (VIC) connected with Internet facility setup in all the villages. To complement this ICT initiative, the Foundation has launched a Community Radio Station Kalanjiam Samuga Vanoli which has been set up at Vizhunthamavadi village of Keelaiyur Block in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu. With a vision of creating a Community Media Centre with mixed media model, combining radio with video and web based technologies. United Nations Development 36
Programme provided resources under it’s Tsunami Recovery Support Programme. The Station has started to function from October 2005. Purpose T h e K a l a n j i a m S a m u g a Va n o l i h a s b e e n established: • To use information and communication as a tool for change in the areas of poverty reduction, gender and environment • To enable the communities in the disaster prone coastal areas to get prepared for managing disasters and strengthen their livelihoods to cope up with such disasters through Community Owned Media Centre. • To build skills of the community to prepare and disseminate audio programmes on the areas concerning their socio-economic and cultural development. • To aid in promotion and preservation of local wisdom, traditional knowledge and skills by encouraging communities to prepare programmes in these areas. • To create a platform for local youths and students to develop their skills in communication. Socio–Demographic and Listeners’ Profile The total population of the five villages is 34,328 in 8,462 households; except two villages Puthuppalli and Vettaikaranirruppu, in other villages the female population is slightly higher. There are 5,051 children in these five villages, of them PR Puram constitutes for 57% of the total child population. Only 364 households come under dissemination rage of Public Address System fitted over the Village November 2007 | Radio Duniya
ommun ty Rad o Information Centres. It constitutes only 4.3% of the total households. Pudupalli has the highest reach of 12.3% households and Vizhundhamavadi the least of 2.3% households.
The respondents listed 21 health problems as the most prevalent health issues. Fever, Cough, Jaundice, Common Cold and Cancer were the most represented having more than 26% representation.
The population predominately is most backward community and there is a small portion of scheduled caste population, who are mostly agriculture labourers.
On community participation in media production 30% of the respondents have expressed willingness and 19 % are willing to directly participate in production.
Migration to foreign countries is a common phenomenon in these villages. One in every two household has a family member employed in South East Asian countries. This is quite reflective from the fact that 37% of the respondents within the survey area had not crossed primary school, where as 29% had underwent high schooling and only 13 % had gone to higher secondary.
Facilitating Agencies
73% of the respondents have highlighted health issue as a serious development issue and other issues they raised were disaster, infrastructure such as road, electricity and drinking water. 22% of the household has cable connection and the popular channels are Sun TV, KTV, Jaya TV and DD1. Two radio stations are in the reach of the villages, they are Karaikal FM and All India Radio, Trichy. Karaikal FM is the most popular radio station having the largest listenership base. However during the monsoon / winter the people get access to five – six stations ranging from private FM stations of Chennai, Thirunelveli and Cylone. Popular Tamil dailies are available on subscription at home and mostly at tea shops. The reach of print media is limited to only a few of the village population, that too for men. Women have no access to Newspapers at all. The preferred form of information as suggested by the respondents is audio by 73 % of the respondents, followed by 54% for audio-video form, only 40% preferred for the print form.
The Keelaiyur Vattara Vayalagam, a federation of Vayalagam Farmers’ groups promoted by DHAN Foundation among the Tsunami affected communities owns the station. The Foundation works with the federation to set up Governance and Executive Structure for managing the Radio Station. This initiative is supported by the UNDP and technical support is provided by VOICES, a Bangalore based Development Communication NGO. Programme Production & Dissemination The Station is equipped with infrastructure needed for producing audio programmes. A team of trained volunteers from the local community are involved in programme production. The station is connected with the VICs set up by DHAN Foundation in the villages through Local Area Network. These VICs narrow cast the programmes produced and sent by the Station through the Public Address Systems fixed over towers. Presently programmes of 30-minutes duration are presented daily. Also the Station has made an arrangement with the AIR - Karaikkal FM Station to broadcast selected programmes once in a week for fifteen minutes. Community radio programming addresses local information and community needs that revolve around disaster preparedness, livelihoods, local best practices, women and children, health, education and farming. The Federation is getting prepared to apply for a license to broadcast under the new licensing policy guidelines issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The station started functioning from August 2006. The Centre has made so far 2032:35 minutes of programme of varying types and areas. Learnings •
•
Radio Duniya (www.radioduniya.in)
Organised social infrastructure sets the foundation for setting up and running Community Radio Station. The community organised already around the disaster and livelihoods issues have set a platform for setting up the Community Radio station in Nagapattinam. Narrowcasting has several limitations with respect to reach and coverage of listeners. Natural and physical barriers prevent effective dissemination and distort the quality of audio 37
•
•
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material. Dissemination through tape recorders played during group meetings did not yield good results. Although the community gets an introduction and experience into the new media, only broadcast could be the solution for effective reach and coverage. Getting Government officials for content and programming was not that easy. They have not understanding about the Community Radio and reluctant to appreciate and participate in the programming. Even some of the All India Radio officials do not have adequate understanding about this. Children and elders are the potential resources for content generation that needs to be tapped. The responses from these groups were overwhelming for programme production.
Challenges •
•
•
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DHAN Foundation decided that from the day one, the ownership should be with the communities. The present policy guidelines issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting emphasizes that the license can be given to NGOs who should have a proven record of at least three years of service to the local community. Though DHAN Foundation wants only the federation promoted by it to apply for license, the federation could not fulfill the eligibility criteria as it was promoted only after the Tsunami in December 26, 2004. The other hurdle is even if DHAN Foundation decides transferring the license; it could not do so, as the license is not transferable. Community Participation Vs Ownership: Since the communities have been accustomed with mainstream media, making them a part of designing and implementing media production becomes challenge. Investing time and energy in educating the members individually and as a smaller group is imperative. Much of the team members’ time is spent on it. Involving women in the core business of media management, within the male dominated local communities is the other challenge. Women’s speaking through the media is always seen as threat within the families as well as in the villages
•
by men. The KCR has taken efforts to bring more women for the management of the station. Two third of the Board of Governance has been earmarked for women. Still making women as part of day to day management is a big challenge for the team. Sustainability: Setting up of Community Radio is a capital intensive activity. The setup of Community Radio was possible with the support of UNDP under its Tsunami Restoration initiatives. With the less number of Community Radio Stations run here and there by a few NGOs and lack of proven models for sustainability, this is an area unexplored fully by the practitioners. The KCR need to face this challenge in the near future. Community radio broadcast would be especially important in the education and warning roles. But many of the Community Radio initiatives do not have the direct links to the authorities issuing warnings that the larger broadcasters have, so that is an issue that requires special attention.
Way forward The Kalanjiam Samuga Vanoli is working towards setting up systems for disaster mitigation and management. It is involved in the collection and consolidation of indigenous disaster mitigation and management systems being followed by the local communities with native wisdom. Also the Centre is working towards coordinating with authorized agencies of disaster early warning systems to establish institutional linkages. With a transition into mixed media model of ICT based radio and video, the Kalanjiam Samuga Vanoli is taking shape of a Community Multi Media Centre. Ensuring community ownership and management is the focal point of all its activities. With the mandate of ensuring major stake and ownership for women the Centre is enabling the women to participate, own and manage the Kalanjiam Community Media Centre to address various socio, economic and development issues concerning them. The Centre plans to attain financial sustainability in a phased manner. It would invest substantial amount of energy to build capacity of the community and management team to work for it. Number of areas and activities has been identified for achieving sustainability such as paid audio video services to the public, various internet based services, producing documentaries for voluntary organizations and educational institutions etc. www.dhan.org
Author: P Krishnamurthi is presently Team Leader, Centre for Development Communication, DHAN Foundation, Madurai. He is involved in promoting community owned media centres with a mixed model of ICT based village information centres, community radio and community video in the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu.
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
ommun ty Rad o
Kongu FM
The Campus Radio
Kongu FM Radio Services has been serving a small but curiously involved group of listeners for the past 3 years. Curious! Yes, because listeners were able to tune in to a radio broadcast where there were no commercials, no routine news services, no continuous onslaught of cine music, no politics, no religion; but always talking about community welfare, social uplift, confidence building, agriculture, health, environment and a host of other topics.
For several decades in India, radio always had a top窶電own approach, in the sense, the listeners had no choice except to listen to what was broadcast over All India Radio. With the advent of private commercial broadcasts a feeble attempt has been made here and there to have interactive radio, live or recorded through phone-in programmes. The mainframe radio had a centralized programme production which was unable to cater to the specific requirements of the rural Indian population in terms of language, programme content and concerns of the masses. Generally, no problems were defined and no target audience was identified. Villages in rural India are not essentially facing the same type of problems or having the same type of expectations, since they are culturally, geographically, educationally and economically divergent. The local language, customs and social practices vary from place to place and region to region. This is where the need and role of community radio becomes all the more important. The top-down approach has to slowly give way to bottom-up approach where the target audience decides what he wants from the radio broadcasts. 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 www.radioduniya.in
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 hetrogeneous target audience living in villages with distinctly different and widely varied cultures, customs and practices. Community radio stations have come up in different forms in developed, developing and under developed countries like the USA, the UK, Australia, Philippines, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, East Timor, to mention a few. 39
Community Radio - The Indian Scenario The Indian version of community radio became a possibility after Government of India’s announcement on 18th December 2002. In reality, the take off has been extremely slow partially due to the cautionary approach of the government and primarily due to financial constraints, involved in installing, running and maintaining radio stations. The goals, missions and ambitions of a true community radio are deeply buried and a concerted effort is needed by all concerned to successfully bring out and accomplish them. As it stands today, India has just made a beginning and a few community radio stations have come up on their own, subject to the rigorous but probably necessary procedures of the licensing authorities. Only educational institutions have been permitted to launch community radio services in the first phase, probably due to their accountability in one form or other. Many more are likely to come through eligible Non-Government Organisations and other Self Help Groups. They will have to invest resources reasonably for creating the studio and other facilities for producing and airing broadcasts. It may take a very long time to have a large number of community-owned radio services in India since sole ownership by a group can create some local problem in the context of present commercial, political, social and economic divides.
been increased to 6 hours a day now and further increase is contemplated in the near future. The broadcasts cover different areas like agriculture, health, animal husbandry, creativity, fine arts, nutrition, entrepreneurship, safety, security, and similar welfare programmes. In addition to the regular employees provided by the management, the staff and students of Kongu Engineering College have been contributing to enrich the broadcasts by organizing programmes in the form of skit, drama, story, interviews with experts etc. A separate vehicle along with recording instruments are made available to the producers and programmers who go out to nearby villages to record programmes and activities. The Women Development Cell, the Industry Institute Partnership Cell, Humour Club, Creativity and Fine Arts Club and other associations and self help groups in nearby villages are contributing programmes for Kongu FM on a regular basis. Whenever necessary, people from the villages are brought to the studio for not only recording purposes, but also to make them aware of the facilities available. It has been successful in providing a much needed platform
The Kongu FM Experience Kongu FM Community Radio has been on air for the past two and half years in a real rural Indian set up. Starting with 3 hours of broadcast daily, the duration has 40
November 2007
ommun ty Rad o
launched and Kongu FM is broadcasting programmes on Science for Women, for the past two months. The focus is mainly on health and nutrition and other related issues.
for the local community focussing on the needs, aspirations, ambition and abilities of the local people. Opportunities for freedom of expression, for voicing of problems of the marginalized and disadvantaged communities are amply provided. A good number of radio reporters, team managers and eager participants are emerging from the listeners. It has provided ample chance for poor and even the illiterate to voice their grievances and expectations. Taken to the logical end, this may pave the way for solving many local problems. Quite a good number of feedback letters and phone calls are being received encouraging the work undertaken by the community radio.
Kongu FM - Programmes and Practices Kongu FM had the distinction of organizing a seven – day workshop from 22nd to 28th January 2007, on “Emerging issues in HIV testing and counselling” organized by Local Voices of the Internews Network, Chennai in collaboration with USAID. Mia Malan from Internews Network, Washington DC. Dr. Jaya Shreedhar, and Dr. R.Sreedher, conducted the workshop for Radio professionals in Tamil Nadu.
Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) arranged for a training programme and exploratory workshop on content development for Science for Women project during April 2007. Jai Chandiran and Dr.R.Sreedher conducted the workshop. The target audience of community radio may be the general category, special category or any specific category. What is important here is people talk to people. Listeners can listen at any time and at any place they like, irrespective of whether there is electricity supply or not, whether you are at home, travelling or at work. The message is, if you carry a radio, you can listen even while you work or travel. In the words of the Prime Minister, “Today globalization is changing many familiar things; the way we think, act and perform”. This applies to India’s venture into Community Radio services also. www.kongu.ac.in
Manivannan of BBC and a delegation from Radio China’s Tamil Service led by Tsung Ziang Hi, Vice President and Kalaiarasi (alias) Tsu Zudu Gua, Head of Tamil Division along with Psung Yu, Head of Napalese division and Tseng Li, Head of Sinhalese division of Radio China visited Kongu FM studios and lauded the efforts of the Community Radio. Students of Kongu performed a skit and drama and participated in “Awareness against Tobacco and Cancer” programme organized by Indian Medical Association at Erode. A ‘Science for Women’ project named ‘Kongamma! Kelamma!!’ catalyzed and supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST), has been successfully www.radioduniya.in
Author: Dr. K Thangaraj is the Chief Co-ordinator of KONGU FM and Professor of Physics, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Tami Nadu. He has written extensively in the area of radio community radio, human resource development.
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innovation
MORE FOR LESS Daulat Singh Chauhan Director, Suno Lemon 91.9 FM, Gwalior
A
s a Media house our strategy is to earn revenues by providing quality programmes and payback to our listeners/business partners. Our station is based in Gwalior where there are three other radio stations. Considering the amount of market share and freshness of FM culture, we have designed an approach, which is economical and extremely innovative. We launched our station with a radio reality show named “Imaan Ka Asar”. Our idea was to create an image without spending much during the launch period and we were victorious with our innovation. Our reality show not only generated 4 lac SMS but initiated an image for us. We achieved a new association for term like ‘Imaan’ and fashioned awareness in Gwalior while providing entertainment and earning lot of revenues.
Our innovations were not limited to content but extended to the technical aspects of the FM station. We have successfully combined much “talked about products” with few new ones that helped us to reduce our cost without loosing quality. The studio is being established in 750sq ft area and we have on air room with all the possible facilities required for a unit like that. We have used our production room as on-air backup 42
without facing any problem. Our CTA is fully equipped with all the necessary equipments such as Codec, Dda, Ada, and ADC of the brands which are not widely known in the market but are doing well, whereas for backup we are using our own generated Codec instead of another manufactured Codec after thoroughly checking it on the main link. Our transmitter has been our best choice with regard to the equipments installed in our radio station. Our highly appreciated sound quality speaks volumes about the transmitter. Though this transmitter is new in the Indian market, it is used vastly abroad. Its high profile users include BBC world wide and AIR in India. It is fairly economical in comparison to other transmitters present in the Indian market. The difference in the costing can be anything between 1012 lacs. As a single station, our job is to dig deep and come up with ideas which are not only creative but economical in nature. Suno Lemon 91.9FM looks at both efficiency and the operational cost of the products, and we believe in innovations but with detailed research the fundamental objective is to explore FM culture conceptually and technically so that we can reduce the establishment and operational cost without compromising on the quality of the radio station. November 2007 | Radio Duniya
trendz
i t n s g d Po ca With its mission of impacting its listeners’ lives positively and lauding the work and achievements of local heroes, and through its continuous local CSR initiatives, Big 92.7 FM is making a strong personal connect with millions every day. And to stay connected in a “Big Way” it has now added Podcasting to its kitty of initiatives. Po d c a s t i n g i s a g r o w i n g phenomenon that enables anyone to create and distribute their own series of Internet audio programs or audio blogs (web logs), resulting in a new form of online media that people can listen to whenever and wherever they want. Big 92.7 FM, Bangalore, has become the first radio station to Podcast on-air shows on its website. Through this new offering, Kannadigas from anywhere in the world can catch up with their favorite Radio Jockeys, listen to their favorite songs, and listen to some great content ranging from interviews
www.radioduniya.in
:
e Podcast visit
To listen to th
.com
www.big27fm
The term podcasting was popularized by media entrepeneuar and former MTV VJ Adam Curry. He created an Applescript application that automated the process of downloading and syncing audio files to iPods and other portable media players on demand, so that it can be listened at the user’s convenience.
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Kannadigas from across the world to come together and enjoy entertainment unlimited!!!
Sabita Kath “The launch of our
Speaking about the innovative offering, Kamal Mohandas, Station Head, landmark achievement in Big 92.7 FM Bangalore, said “This is yet another bridging the digital divide milestone for Big 92.7 FM. It gives me great and creating seamless pleasure to venture into the cyberspace on access to our shows.” the occasion of our first anniversary. This is our gift to Kannadigas the world Regional Director – South, Big 92.7 FM over on this happy occasion. Through this offering, we want to give Kannadiga’s across the world the opportunity to enjoy the best music mix and programming mix from Big 92.7 FM and I am confident that they are going to love it.” with Sandalwood Stars, jokes, get interesting updates on the latest city happenings and Adds Sabita Kath, Regional Director – South, much more, all at the click of their mouse. Big 92.7 FM, “Big 92.7 FM is the fastest growing private FM station in the country In keeping with its endeavor to impact today and we are constantly aiming to people’s lives positively, Big 92.7 FM has break new barriers of communication. The a wide range of entertainment options and launch of our Podcast service is a landmark these are not restricted only to on air offerings achievement in bridging the digital divide but are being taken on-ground as well as and creating seamless access to our shows. on-line. A wholesome entertainment mix Today, kannadigas from across the globe can is available on the website, which includes access our Podcast feeds which are constantly audio content from various shows including uploaded onto our website. Listeners can jokes, celebrity interviews, pranks and a either download it onto their iPod or listen whole lot of fun programs as Podcast, which to them directly on the internet.” can be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world, through the internet. One can log on to and download the audio file to listen www.big27fm.com to it on the computer or download it on their ipod using iTune. By providing Podcast service Big 92.7 FM has created a common Kamal Mohandas platform for
Podcast service is a
“It gives me great pleasure to venture into the cyberspace on the occasion of our first anniversary.” Station Head, Big 92.7 FM, Bangalore
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
event
Walkathon
meow fm 104.8
For Breast Cancer Awareness
In a bid to reach to its target audience of women at the on-ground level, Meow FM, the talk-based radio station for women from Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd, organized a ‘Walkathon’ to raise awareness about breast cancer. The walk, powered by the Indian Cancer Society (ICS), was held in the Capital around India Gate premises on 14th October from 8 am onwards. After completing the walk, the participants convened for a gathering at the India Gate lawns, where the ceremonial inauguration was done by Union Minister for Woman and Child Welfare, Shrimati Renuka Chaudhary. The minister praised the organizers for their initiative and expressed her closeness to the cause by declaring that no other cause would have brought her to India Gate on a Sunday morning, as her weekends were the only holidays for her and were thus very special. She urged everyone that, “This Friendship Day, and Mother’s Day, do take her along and get her checked by the doctor.” Film star Dino Morea also addressed the gathering and spoke about the need for generating awareness and doing his bit for such causes. Speaking exclusively to Radio Duniya team, Dino said, “I think it is a fantastic event. I would like to do something for society; if it can’t be financially, at least I can come
www.radioduniya.in
Renuka Chaudhary Union Minister for Woman and Child Welfare
“This Friendship Day, and Mother’s Day, take a friend along and get her checked by the doctor.”
personally to try and spread the awareness for breast cancer.” Two Delhi-based doctors, Dr Ramesh and Dr Sapna also addressed the gathering and spoke on the need for regular check-up, both by doctors and by oneself. The need of the day, according to Dr. Ramesh Sarin, Senior Consultant (Breast Cancer), Apollo Hospital, was to do away with the shame connected with breast cancer and seek remedy as soon as possible.
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October
is Cancer Month, this week is Cancer Week and we a re a wom en’ statio What be n. tter than to deal w ith somet that is so hing specifica lly for wo men!
Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd had promoted this walk solely on its station, and claimed that the response was overwhelming. Anil Srivatsa, Chief Operating Officer, Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd. shared, “We received over 3,000 SMSes for registration. And at least 1500 people showed up, which is nice. This apart, about 300 people came in for on site registration. It was a very good response by the public. I think, we did a good job considering the amount of time and the number of people that were available to us in house for the event.” Talking to Radio Duniya team about the reason for organizing this event, Srivatsa said, “October is Cancer Month, this week is Cancer Week and we are a women’s station. What better (medium) than (us), to deal with something that is so specifically for women. In India, it’s a matter of shame. Nobody cares to look, because they are probably not as comfortable with their own bodies. Men need to be made more aware. I’m sorry to say that it is time for them to figure out with women that there is something unusual. This way they are a part of that early detection. Men can play an important part in early detection by encouraging their wives to
take the tests. And people need to come here because they power the station, they power Meow.” The event also featured a cultural programme by ‘Can Kids’, a division of Indian Cancer Society, comprising children suffering from some form of cancer. The children and their teachers performed a small Hindi skit “Beej Se Paudha Kaise Bana”. Nurses from Batra Hospital also participated in the cultural activities and presented a soulful rendition of the song “Aashaen” from the film Iqbal, giving the message of hope and courage to all the people and specially to cancer patients and survivors. Participants received kits containing information on breast cancer and a T-shirt to be worn for the walk. Registration fee was Rs.100/-. The money thus collected was donated to the Indian Cancer Society.
“I think it is a fantastic event and I would like to do something for society; if it can’t be financially, at least I can come personally to try and spread the awareness for breast cancer.”
Dino Morea, Bollywood Actor
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya
news
Industry Updates Radio Today to merge with TV Today Network
150
private FM statio
ns by year-end
A total of around 150 p rivate FM radio stations and 11 All In dia Radio FM stations are expected to go on air by the end of the year. After th e ne expansion of FM broadc w policy of asting through private operators had be en notified on 13 July 2005 , 337 chan nels in 91 cities including 217 channels of class-C and class-D cities were pu t on bid. Out of these, agreements we re signed with successful bidders for 139 channels in 57 cities. At present, a total of 28 1F channels include 161 of M All India Radio and 120 privatel y owned channels are operation al. T include 21 operationalis hese ed under the Phase-1 scheme, of the Government.
The TV Today Network Ltd informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in October that the Board of Directors of the company had approved the merger of Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd (RTBL), a fellow subsidiary company, with the Company with effect from 1 April 2007. The merger is subject to the approval of the High Court and other regulatory approvals as may be required. The Board has further approved the swap ratio of 5:9, that is for every nine shares of RTBL, five shares of the Company will be issued to the shareholders of the RTBL. This will result in fresh issue of 55,20,000 equity shares of Rs five each of the Company to the shareholders of RTBL.
lebrates Fever 104 FM ce with Rahman to Fever 104 FM plans r of a celebrate the first yea ey, rn u successful musical jo with a huge musical will be extravaganza, which the first ever live performance by A R the Rahman in Delhi, on 7. 00 2 r be em 17th of Nov he t to n w do As a count has event, a Talent Hunt inner w e h t , ed z been organi fetime of which will get a li on rm rfo pe o opportunity t on , an m h Ra stage with AR rt. ce n co the day of the
Mathrubhumi Group forays into FM Radio
Deutsche Ban k wins 'Radio City MQ' Deutsche Bank, re Subhajit Chatter presented by jee and Vibhend u Tewari from M umbai, won the national finals of the corporate music quiz con test that was held on 'Radio City MQ' O Mumbai. IMRB ctober 12 in International, represented by Am Neha Gahlaut fr eya Sawant and om declared first run Mumbai, was n Evalueserve from er-up, while Delhi was seco runner-up. nd Rana Barua, N atio Marketing, Radi nal Heado response we re City, said, "The ceived for 'Rad io City MQ' in the very fi inception has b rst year of its een overwhelm ing. The format, co ncept and exec ution of the contest ha ve by corporates na been appreciated tionally."
www.radioduniya.in
Rubbing shoulders with established broadcast players, Kerala’s time-tested leviathan of print is heralding the FM radio revolution. Club FM 94.3 brand is on air from four locations in Kerala, Kochi, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur from October 2007. M V Sreyams Kumar, Director (Marketing & Electronic Media), Mathrubhumi informs, with the total investment of Rs 30 crores, the Mathrubhumi group is like its competitors Sun Network, Radio Mirchi and the Malayala Manorama group, awaiting the CTI facility which will herald the start of private FM operations in Kerala.
94.3 MY FM claims top spot in Chandigarh, Ahemdabad and Jaipur 94.3 MY FM, the Bhaskar Group radio station was declared the No.1 radio station in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, with almost 100% unaided brand recall, after a market research conducted by AC Nielsen in Sept '07. Says, Harrish M. Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM, "We are extremely pleased with the response we have received from Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh. We are ahead of the competition in most parts and we now aim at consolidating our position as the market leaders."
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'Jaago Re' with Radio Mirchi Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM in association with Tata Tea has undertaken the 'Jaago Re Campaign', an initiative to promote a pollution free Bangalore for the future. The campaign is a thought provoking initiative to awaken people towards their responsibilities to their city. Commenting on this initiative, Mr. Amit Satpathy, Cluster Business Head, Karnataka and Kerala, said "This campaign was partnered with TATA Tea as an initiative under Mirchi cares to provoke Bangaloreans to not just wake up daily to their routine life but to instill actions that can be undertaken by them on a daily basis, their contribution as an individual."
Red FM spreads AIDS awareness Red FM conducted an AIDS awareness drive in Mumbai from October 25 – 31, in association with HP Engine Oil, Eicher Motors, World Vision & BMC. The drive, which was the brain child of the station's activation cell, Red ACTIV, aimed at spreading awareness among truck drivers about the disease and educate ways of protecting themselves. "Red FM has always been at the forefront in initiating and
SFM celebrated Independence Day with KISS SFM celebrated Independence Day with the kids from Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar (KISS), Asia's largest Tribal School. The full day celebration were broadcasted live on 93.5 SFM. A cricket match was held between the SFM eleven and KISS eleven. Oriya Cine Star Anubhav Mohanty acted as the captain of the winning team KISS eleven. SFM also sponsored an audio visual room for the institute as the prize.
BIG 92.7 FM celebrates World Food Day BIG 92.7 FM, Rajkot, touched a thousand hearts as it marked the UN World Food Day with underprivileged children and the elderly by distributing 1,000 food packets sponsored by Chowkidani Resort. BIG 92.7 FM's initiative on World Food Day was also aimed at raising awareness about those who live in a constant state of hunger across the country and world. "It was heartening to spend one whole day feeding those who are not destined to even have one square meal everyday. It also made me realize how fortunate we are to be living a cozy lifestyle, oblivious to the sufferings of lakhs. If we have managed to satiate the hunger of these people, we consider ourselves blessed," remarked an emotional RJ Makrand of BIG 92.7 FM.
Big 92.7 FM initiates ‘Traffic Month' in Kanpur BIG 92.7 FM along with Traffic Police Kanpur, have initiated the 'Traffic Month November 2007' drive in the city to educate people about the traffic safety norms. The month long activity commenced on November 1st and will end on November 30th 2007. Speaking on the occasion, Chandan Kapoor, Cluster Head Marketing (UP), BIG 92.7 FM said, "It has always been BIG 92.7 FM's endeavor to ensure that we positively impact people's lives and this initiative is an extension of the same. I am grateful to the Traffic Police Department for their support and am confident that together, we will be able to make a difference.” 48
BIG 92.7 FM celebrates Diwali differently Brightening the lives of many senior citizens, BIG 92.7 FM, hosted a glitzy 'Sabse BIG Diwali' gala evening at the Sir Jamshetji Jeejebhoy Dharamshala with a host of celebrities like Sudhesh Bhosle, Kiran and Ritu Jhangiani (of Nach Baliye fame) with Ladki Mastani Lavanya. Speaking on the occasion, Arjun Singh Baran, Station Director, Mumbai, BIG 92.7 FM, "At BIG 92.7 FM we believe in doing things that impact lives, in addition to providing a wholesome entertainment mix. We were overwhelmed with the response from the gathering. To make someone smile is the greatest gift one can give and we are very glad that we managed to make an exceptional day for them"
November 2007 | Radio Duniya
Red FM is top st
Radiometer cond in se s e com ever nce F , s udie mes ad A e l o i i i d irch e Ra has put T ad M h t : , y le , e RAM surv ) system in the y HT l a r b FM gu M inau ent (RA hi 98.3 ollowed ent. The s t i c f n c r I m per are, o Mi sure Mea p's Radi r cent sh with 12 umbai, d e M e Grou a 21.7 p r FM 104 overed gs show ith a c n e h w i a t v t d 4 wi ia's Fe M da Its fin er 10 Med set of RA galore. ling Fev losely by i n first i and Ba FM tra llowed c ent. g Delh nce's Bi share, fo 1.5 per c a Reli per cent .3 with 1 11.6 o One 94 Radi
ation in Mumba
i: RAM According to the Ra data Red FM is the dio Audience Measurement (RAM ) number one station in Mumbai, havi ng captured a m for all five weeks arket share of 21 listenership in the % latest week. Red FM has beate n Mumbai with its Radio City and Big FM in market share pe rcentage, leadin the two stations g by almost 24%. The study reveal Red FM's leader in ship sets a defini g te trend for the future, says Anuj Singh, station and marketing head,
RAM ratings re
leased
The Radio Audie nc (RAM) data was e Measurement released in Octo ber, and various FM radi agencies had acce o stations and ss to weekly rad io data for the citie s of Mumbai, Del hi and Bangalore.
FM enabled radio devices on the rise FM stations, at least in the country's metros, have reason to cheer as the population owning a radio set in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore continues to increase. While 71 per cent of the population in Mumbai owns a radio device, the figure climbs to as high as 91 per cent in Delhi. 83 per cent of Bangalore's population owns a radio set. Nearly all the radio owners in the metros are FM enabled. These were some of the findings of the baseline study conducted by the Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) service of TAM Media
Nokia and RCS to roll
As per RAM, D elhi has a listene rsh 65 lakh, Mumba i has 74 lakh, whi ip of le Bangalore has 3 6 lakh. RAM trac ks the growth and fall in every station on a weekly basis. Fo r October, the da ta from week 38 to week 42 are avai lable. If the reach num bers are seen, th e average figures of these five wee ks place Radio Mir chi Delhi, Red FM in as the clear leader in Mumbai and Big in Bangalore. FM
out visual radio
Broadcast software com pany RCS, in collaborati on with Nokia, is all se to roll out the next gene t ration visual radio expe rience for radio listeners and cell-phone users w orldwide. Visual radio enables mobile device to receive FM radio broa users dcasts with fully synchr onised interactive graphical content. RCS has also announce d that a brand new vers ion of its Radio Show software will work seam les content seen on the mob sly with visual radio, so that the same rich ile multiple digital platform device will also appear simultaneously on s.
Technology news
Mundu radio receives Symbian signed status Geodesic Information Systems Ltd announced in October that its award-winning Mundu Radio has received the Symbian Signed status. This development now allows Mundu Radio to support all the latest Nokia Smartphones being sold in the market today. Symbian Signed is an industry endorsed application signing program recognized by major phone manufacturers and mobile operators worldwide. The company's senior VP products and strategy Atul Chitnis said, "The Symbian signed status reinforces Mundu Radio as a best-in-breed product. It allows us to extend Mundu Radio to the large worldwide mobile user base using Nokia phones based on the popular S60 3rd edition platform.� www.radioduniya.in
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New Stations
d in Ranchi BIG 92.7 FM launche and Vizag ed the latest BIG 92.7 FM announc ber, with to edition to its kitty in Oc in Ranchi s ion t a the launch of its St of BIG 92.7 and Vizag. The launch takes the ies cit FM in these two 5. 3 to count of its stations
Radio Meow officially launched
in Kolkata
Meow 104.8 FM, of the India Tod ay Group, was officially launched in Kolkata on October 5 . According to Anil Srivatsa, COO, Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd, said, "We are really happy to bring Meow to Kolkata and I am hoping that the women of Kolkata will embrace Me ow as a platform that afford them a voice in their lives. The Me ow revolution has begun and we hope the women's movement i s a little more complete with us. We look forward to taking Me ow to many more cities in the future."
Nagpur welcomes My FM ched in Nagpur Radio City laun ched its eleventh Radio City laun ge city of ran station in the O y ng to Radio Cit di or cc A Nagpur. rohit, "It is an CEO Apurva Pu t market for us rtan extremely impo k forward to loo y rl e g and we ea listeners here. r u o h it engage w e, musical expertis Combining our eativity, Radio cr innovations and pur compelling ag N to City brings usic mix content and a m ned to uplift the strategically plan rs." ne mood of its liste
My FM has been launched in Nagpur, making it the thirteenth station from the Synergy Media stable. According to MY FM business head Harrish M Bhatia, "Nagpur is going to be a very challenging, and at the very same time, a very important market for us. Our understating of this market is going to help us create a product which would be loved by the people of Nagpur.�
Three FM stations go on-air in Tamil Nadu Radio Mirchi and Suryan FM announced their entries into the markets of Madurai and Tuticorin over the week. While Suryan FM had two new stations launching in Tamil Nadu in the cities of Madurai and Tuticorin, Radio Mirchi launched its station in Madurai. Earlier, Hello FM had also announced its launch in three cities of Tamil Nadu -- Tuticorin, Madurai and Tirunelveli – for the first week of October.
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November 2007 | Radio Duniya