Radioduniya:: September 2008 by Anil Kumar

fm stations

public broadcasting

community radio

technology

RNI No. UP ENG/2008/25294

www.radioduniya.in September 2008 | Vol: I | Issue: 11 Rs. 50/Annual Subscription Rs. 540/

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first radio monthly

Learn from the Guru! Metro FM Radio 2010

Olympics Fever on Radio

22 Celebrating Friendship 9

Guest Editor Vineet Singh Hukmani CEO, Radio One 94.3 FM

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editorial

Dreams for the Future Radio Duniya made me feel special by asking me to be a guest editor for the issue. I do hope that the outcome is interesting for all Radio Duniya readers. This is a special issue of Radio Duniya because it takes a peek into the future of FM radio in the metros. And the future is not far away. There is a little crystal ball gazing that I have indulged in, as part of the cover story and attempted to dream the future of FM radio in the year 2010. It was heartening to see, various young and experienced people both, from the industry, getting into the spirit of what they see in the future and if you really look at it… it’s not that difficult to achieve. We have all the regular interesting facets of the magazine intact with various interviews, interesting happenings of radio stations and of course, community radio. Sometimes its good to take a break and try that something special… break a few norms to let the creative juices flow. Sometimes its good to tell yourself ‘when was the last time you did something for the first time’ … radio needs to do that more often… and I am glad to say that Radio Duniya – a medium dedicated to radio – has begun to do that. It would be nice to pass the guest editor position to various able people from the industry from time to time and let the medium take the shape of those who dream within it. It’s not easy getting a magazine out. I know it first hand now and would like to congratulate Radio Duniya for doing it issue after issue. Here I was naturally entrenched in our on going business and other present day responsibilities… when suddenly the future beckoned. I couldn’t resist. Hope you find it irresistible too. Thanks in advance to everyone who tunes in. And if you don’t like something you read... remember I'm a guest and you have to be nice J

Guest Editor Vineet Singh Hukmani CEO, Radio One 94.3FM Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta President Dr. M P Narayanan Group Directors Maneesh Prasad Sanjay Kumar Marketing Team Bharti Malhotra Sr. Manager Marketing Email: sales@radioduniya.in

Content Team Sanjana Sharma Research Associate

Subscriptions & Circulation Lipika Dutta, Manoj Kumar, Prabhat Tripathi

Ayesha Khanom Research Assistant Design Team Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Om Prakash Thakur

Editorial Correspondence Radio Duniya G – 4, Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India Tel: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 Email: talk2us@radioduniya.in Web: www.radioduniya.in

Web Team Zia Salahuddin Amit Pal Anil Kumar Santosh Kumar Singh Shyam Kishore

Owner, Publisher, Printer, Ravi Gupta Printed at Vinayak Print Media, E-53, Sector-7, Noida, U.P. and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta

It is hoped that Radio Duniya will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up-to-date on many activities in this wide a n d v a r i e d f i e l d . Yo u r involvement in providing relevant information is essential to the success of this endevour. Radio Duniya does not subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. It is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.

contents

September 2008

News

Cover Story Ready for the Future? Vineet Singh Hukmani CEO, Radio One 94.3 FM

10, 44, 46

Industry Updates Campaign 37

CR News 33

23 41

Station Talk 19

Let's Talk Music Jitendra Ashit Chutia CEO, Gup Shup 94.3 FM

We Target the Informed Crowd George M George Executive Director, Muthoot Group

Programme Talk 15

15 19 23

Host Talk

Jodi Kamaal Ki

Playing Cupid

Adding Flavour to Life

Harssh and Archana Radio City 91.1 FM Meenakshi Big 92.7 FM

Training

Vikaas Tiwari Group Programming Head, 95 FM Tadka

Serious Syllabus is Essential for Training Indian Institute of Mass Communication

Specials Community Radio

9 14

Celebrating Friendship Saluting the Spirit of Freedom

Bundelkhand FM

18 22

Govinda Aala Re

Technology for Development

Olympics Fever on Radio

First NGO led CRS in India

Deborah J. Winsten For your daily dose of Radio News Log on to www.radioduniya.in

Dearest Radio Duniya Team,

Dear Sir,

I know this is a little late, but I just wanted to express my delight and happiness about the wonderful coverage of my interview in Radio Duniya. Thank you! I really appreciate it.

Thanks for your noble initiative through Radio Duniya to make the radio lovers really informed about the radio scenario in the country. Regularly Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in your touch through this attractive and informative magazine. Its praiseworthy, as different topics have been placed on community radio. Also I am getting to hear the voices of noted persons like Ms. Zohra Chatterjee and Dr. Shreedhar.

Nitin Radio Host Red FM, Delhi Hi, I am a regular reader of your magazine and apart from that I visit your website quite often. I must confess it is very informative. I must congratulate the team for their efforts. I am a radio professional and would like to have updates on any new radio station opening up in Dehradun. Khushboo Radio Professional Dehradun Respected Sir/Mam I have a keen interest in radio programming and I absolutely love Radio Duniya magazine! I would like to congratulate all of you working for this great magazine. I aspire to be a radio jockey and I have got to know so much about the lives of radio jockeys through your magazine! Richa Student Delhi Hi Radio Duniya,

talk2us@radioduniya.in

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TALK2US

I receive your magazine regularly and I must say it is good! I would like to suggest one thing though, I feel that you can improve further by getting more reputed people on your magazine, instead of people who have just got into this medium. Binoy Joseph National Creative Head Radio City Dear Sir/Madam,

N.A.Shah Ansari Radio Enthusiast Orissa Dear Sir / Madam, One of my friends gave me the magazine Radio Duniya. I thought I should write in to tell you that it is a great magazine! I absolutely loved the content, the layout and and the topics it covered. I would like to know all that I can about the world of radio and now I know that Radio Duniya will guide me in the process. I would love to be a part of the magazine and other related activities of Radio Duniya. Srinath Chennai Hi, Belated congratulations on the success of Radio Duniya! Radio really needed a magazine like this to champion its cause. I would love to be a part of the magazine in any way possible. Noel Keymer RadioActive Mumbai

Radio Careers Send information about job openings to

It is great to see your magazine month after month! I must say that your team is putting in a lot of effort in bringing out such fabulous issues. The magazine is full of information and serves as a ready reckoner for all radio professionals in the country. Keep up the good work! Praveen Singh Jadon Assistant Manager 94.3 MY FM , Jabalpur

jobs@radioduniya.in September 2008 | Radio Duniya

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Issues

Celebrating Friendship Friendship is the purest form of relationship which has no inhibitions and is based solely on heartfelt feelings. To celebrate this spirit and feeling, FM stations across the country came up with a host of activities both on air and on ground for their listeners on Friendship Day. Fever 104 FM celebrated Friendship Day by having their RJs play a fun movie-based trivia on-air contest asking questions revolving around friendship. Six winners were declared every day, who won a special Fever Hotbox that included a collection of movie DVDs based on friendship. The station also organised a friendship day rally that was ﬂagged off in open-air, chauffeur driven, Fever FM branded jeeps that went around the city on pre-designated routes. Big FM Delhi came up with an on-air initiative, wherein RJs Sujata and Ravi created a ‘Friends Club’ that invited listeners to share funny memories and incidents related to their group of friends. Listeners were asked to identify the pappus, rotlus and heps amidst their circle of friends. Radio City Mumbai held the City ka Dost contest to celebrate the bond of friendship. Radio City Pune celebrated the spirit of friendship by throwing a party for 50 lucky winners. Radio City Lucknow held a Yaari Dosti Gang War contest. Radio City Bangalore bridged the geography of the nation by creating the longest chain of friends.

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Radio Mantra celebrated friendship day with those who needed celebration the most. The station initiated the spirit of friendship with the old, visually challenged and the orphans. My FM gave its listeners an opportunity to strike up friendship with strangers by tying their messages of friendship to a balloon and setting it free. Radio Choklate celebrated Friendship Day through various contests. There were various other contests on the stations like the best message sent on ‘friendship with nature’, ‘music as friend’, ‘knowledge as your friend’, and ‘Radio Choklate as your friend’. 9

news Industry Updates

Radio City crowns ‘Suron Ka Sartaaj’ Radio City officially crowned Sujeet Suman and Aanal Vasavada as Suron Ka Sartaaj of Pune and Ahmedabad respectively. Both the winners walked away with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh from amongst the five finalists competing for the title. The contest at Pune was judged by Shital Chandra from The Institute of Modern Music along with renowned Indian classical singer Pratibha Karnik. In Ahmedabad Mayor Kanhaji Thakur, Lead India Finalist Devang Nanavati along with Aniket Khandekar, Sameer Rawal and renowned Music Director Maoulik Mehta stepped in to judge the contest. Commenting on the activity, Rana Barua, Executive VicePresident, National Head - Programming and Marketing, Radio

City 91.1 FM said, “Radio City has always been known to lead when it comes to music and introducing unique, innovative initiatives. As the melody FM station, we announced Radio City Suron ka Sartaaj to give our listeners a chance to display their musical prowess. And much to our delight, we have received an outstanding response with quality entries from all across the city.” BIG FM, Surat celebrates its first anniversary BIG 92.7 FM completed one year of operations in Surat. This station was the last to be launched in the Gujarat cluster and has in the last one year grown to be very popular in a short time. The recent 105 hours marathon by RJ Setuu has added another feather to the station’s cap. As part of its anniversary celebrations, BIG FM RJs went around the city involving people in various fun filled games and contests, giving out prizes instantly. A big cake was cut and shared with people at various locations in Surat. The on-air promotions for the anniversary celebration began a week in advance and the celebrations culminated with a colorful party attended by BIG FM associates and listeners. Besides providing entertainment through music, the station in the past year, has also ingeniously entertained the populace of Surat by organising BIG CUP Corporate Cricket Tournament, Singing Competitions, Kite flying competitions, and occasion specific events like Mere Yaar ki Shaadi hain during wedding season, Heera on BIG Varsaad in the run up to Valentine’s Day, BIG Education Mela, World No Tobacco Day, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day, Women’s Day, Aloona Vrat etc.

Celebrating Aadi with Hello FM Hello FM started an innovative programme Aadi Atagasam – Indha 7 Natkal based on the season of Aadi, an auspicious month for Tamilians and a month dedicated to various celebrations, shopping spree and traditional activities. Based on the theme of Indha 7 Natkal, Hello FM went on air from seven venues, for a period for 7 days. During this period, Hello FM shifted their studio to these locations and broadcast the programmes, Rendumani Attam and Bigilu live. Commenting on the event, Rajeev Nambiar, President and COO of Hello FM 106.4 said, “Radio is the only medium that reaches the audience instantly and can be accessed during any part of the 10

Speaking on the occasion, Arjun Singgh Baran, Regional Director - West, BIG 92.7 FM, said “We have been entertaining the people of Surat for a year now and are thankful to them for welcoming us with open ears! The response has been terrific, which has worked as a great encouragement for us. All this has resulted in Surat station winning the prestigious RAPA award in such a short span. The station also won the best Finance Station award amongst 44 BIG FM stations across India.”

time, be it while driving, working, etc. Hello FM constantly strives to innovate and connect with its listeners with a personal touch. This is one of those occasions when we wanted to give our listeners a first hand experience of a radio broadcast and give them the joy of interacting on radio live.” September 2008 | Radio Duniya

Fever celebrates 61st Anniversary of BEST

Rock On with BIG FM

Fever 104 FM tied up with BEST – Mumbai’s lifeline on road, to celebrate it’s 61st anniversary. As part of the celebrations, Fever and BEST launched the BEST ‘Museum on Wheels’ – an open double decker bus showcasing various artefact, photographs, prints and mementos that depict the history and culture of Mumbai and also demonstrates the various BEST milestones over time. This ‘Museum’ will move around the city, and bring the contribution of BEST over the years closer to the people.

BIG 92.7 FM, announced an exclusive radio partnership with Rock On. Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, the film has been directed by Abhishek Kapoor and cinematographed by Jason West. Rock On marks the debut of Farhan Akhtar as an actor and singer in the film as well Prachi Desai. The movie also stars Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Sahana Goswami and Luke Kenny.

As part of the innovative initiative, Fever RJs hosted shows live from the “Museum-On-Wheels” for the entire day. The Rjs also played games and contests with the passengers traveling in the bus to make it cherishable and exciting journey! Speaking on this unique and innovative initiative, Fever FM’s station head, Alok Singh said, “As the FM station of the city, it has always been our endeavour to recognise and promote all individuals and organisations that have given the city its present shape. And we believed that a moving museum will create public awareness about the efforts put in by BEST and would be a befitting tribute to this silent crusader.” Radio One launches College Radio Championship Radio One, 94.3 FM, kicked off the first leg of Radio One College Radio Championship. This annual RJ hunt is conducted in colleges across metros in India, at the end of which, the winners, a team of two per city, are selected to join Radio One’s award winning programming team on air. This is the largest event on radio for the college target audiences.

BIG FM has exhaustive plans for the movie promotion to create unprecedented buzz around it through live performances by Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy as well as Farhan Akhtar, a hunt for Campus Rockstars, a mesmerising Jugalbandi between Farhan and his dad Javed Akhtar , meet and greet with the cast and crew of the film and others. “BIG FM has almost defined the way movies are presented as entertainment on Radio today. We are happy to be the exclusive radio partners with this years most anticipated film ‘Rock On’. We are approaching the association with the objective of delivering value to our listeners as well as the producers of the movie” said Nirupam Sonu, Vice President-Programming, BIG 92.7 FM. broadcasting situations, knack of presenting current affairs in an engaging manner and so on. Adds Vineet Singh Hukmani, CEO, Radio One, “We are happy that we have been able to grow Radio One’s College Radio Championship far above our expectations keeping in tune with the high growth rate of our station.’

The first phase of the competition begins with participants registering for the contest by filling out a form stating their name, college, and contact information. Auditions are held internally within each college, with participants competing in pairs. A panel of judges looks at the contestant’s presence of mind, wit, ability to deal with various studio and outdoor www.radioduniya.in

Mirchi Activation wins international award

BIG FM’s RJ Dheena breaks world record

Mirchi activation recently won a Silver Dragon at the Promotional Marketing Awards of Asia, for the Kolkata Police Friendship Cup (Paraa Footer) in the category ‘Best Effective Long Term Marketing Campaign’. This award is given to ‘the campaign that best demonstrates a long-term impact on the strategic development and growth of a brand measured against a set of long-term objectives.’

An ecstatic RJ BIG Dheena had tears in his eyes as he broke the world record of hosting on-air show continuously for more than 135 hours. Dheena broke the existing world record set by Italian RJ Stefano Venneri who hosted non stop on-air show for 135 hours during 2007.

The activation will now automatically be in the fray for the MAA Globes award for judging along with winners of programmes from many other countries. The MAA Globes is the only global recognition programme which recognises the distinguished excellence of the Best of the Best in Promotion Marketing Paraa Footer is also mentioned in the Limca Book of Records and is thought to be the largest football tournament in the country with 500+ teams, around 8000 players, almost 600 matches, played across 30 grounds over 45 days. Elated on winning, P. Anand, Executive Vice President, Mirchi Activation said, “Winning the Silver Dragon at the PMAA is indeed a proud moment for all of us in Mirchi Activation. What is even more satisfying is the fact that the Radio Mirchi-Kolkata Police Friendship Cup has grown from strength to strength over the last 4 years of its execution. The two great passions of the quintessential Kolkattan are football and music. Add to this the unique ‘para’-affiliation that runs through every Kolkattan. The Radio Mirchi-Kolkata Police Friendship Cup was born out of the conviction that a property that brings all of these together would definitely fire the passion of Kolkata. We are proud that this conviction has been proved true.” Lucknow’s Radio City on the hunt for ‘City Ki Aawaaz’ Reaching out to Lucknow the melody way, Radio City 91.1FM, is calling the city’s singing talent to participate in a hunt to crown the true musical voice of Lucknow. This contest offers the city an exciting opportunity to prove their musical genius and win 25,000 in cash. The station joined hands with Lucknow’s most renowned music school – Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidyalaya for the contest. City-wide auditions started from August 25- 29 and aspiring listeners can call to participate or drop in their recorded CDs. From September 1, each of the five Finalists will get to go live on ‘Whatte Fun Mornings’, so that listeners have their insider information on their favourite singer. Sharing his thoughts on this endeavour, Rana Barua, Executive Vice-President & National Head - Programming and Marketing, 12

Adhering to the Guinness Book of World Record’s rules and regulations, the station ensured all arrangements required to make the attempt. The attempt was video graphed and a copy of the same will be sent to Guinness as per requirements Speaking about Dheena’s attempt, PB Ramaswamy, Cluster Director, BIG 92.7 FM, Tamil Nadu said, “My heartiest congratulations to Dheena on breaking the Guinness book of world records. His hard work and dedication has resulted in him getting his name registered in Guinness.” Speaking about his breaking the record, RJ BIG Dheena said in a very emotional mood, “I am very excited to have broken the record, but this experience made me actually realise the love that the people of Chennai have for me. People, across ages came over to meet me, called me and helped me through this feat. These experience has taught me a lot, patience, focus, how to concentrate with almost no sleep (laughs) and of course how much people love me. I thank everyone for their support.” Radio City 91.1FM said, “Lucknow is the culturally vibrant hot-seat of Uttar Pradesh. Rich with heritage and modern yet traditional at the same time, this blossoming city is known for its classical musical roots. Radio City has always been known to lead when it comes to music and introducing unique, innovative initiatives. As Lucknow city’s melody FM station, we are proud present ‘City Ki aawaaz’ which promises a well-deserved platform to showcase Lucknow’s upcoming musical talent.” September 2008 | Radio Duniya

Radio One RJ’s HIJACK Bollywood Star

Radio Misty to air content from Radio Netherlands

Radio One has launched a fun contest for its listeners, in association with Bollywood film Hijack staring Shiney Ahuja and Eesha Doel. The contest will be on for a week and offeres winners, along with a friend, the chance to meet and greet the hero at a location in the city.

Netherlands’ public broadcaster Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW), has entered into a partnership with Radio Misty 94.3FM, to air a variety of RNW music programmes ranging from European pop charts to classical, jazz and world music as also RNW radio books. After a long-term presence in India with short wave and satellite radio broadcasts, RNW has now begun to expand its activities in India. “This partnership meets the goals of RNW as well, because we aim at multicultural interaction between different (local) people and cultures in the world. One way of doing this is through programmes that interest listeners internationally,” says Jan Hoek, RNW’s Director General. Radio Misty 94.3FM chief executive officer Nishant Mittal says, “It’s great that we are the first FM station in India to partner with Radio Netherlands Worldwide. We hope this new venture between Radio Misty and RNW will open a new chapter. It will bring a lot of innovative programmes to people of North Bengal and Sikkim. We look forward to share new ideas in programming.”

RJ Tarana who hosts the popular Good Morning Mumbai show along with Zaara, the host of Chill Fataafat, the station’s evening show, are positioned in the campaign, which is being promoted on-line, in print, outdoors and on air, as the “Hijackers” invite fans to come find Shiney by engaging in a hunt for clues across the city leading to an undisclosed location where he is being “held”. “This is Fun Fataafat,” says Vehrnon Ibrahim, National Programming Director, Radio One, 94.3 FM. “Bollywood and the city including its places, landmarks, unique characteristics etc. are two pillars of Radio One’s programming. The contest offers participants a chance to engage in a game that testes their knowledge of the city in an entertaining way and rewards them with a chance to meet a Bollywood star.” Adds Vineet Singh Hukamani, CEO Radio One, “Radio One has set itself apart through its creative approach in all cities where it has a presence. The Radio One Hijack Contest is just another example of this.” RED FM’s new jingle hits the airwaves Red FM’s new sound which has recently hit the airwaves, has already been creating ripples in the industry. It all started with a vision to add a new twist to Red FM’s Bajaate Raho sound and in order to turn this vision into reality, Red FM roped in music producer Sachin Gupta to render its new foot-tapping jingle.

with a new tune which would maintain the essence of our Bajaate Raho attitude and offer a fresh and more fun sound for our listeners. I believe we have managed to crack just the right sound which is foot tapping fun and also appeals to every one alike!” Commenting on the freshness of the sound, Virag Mishra, National Creative Head said, “Every time you hear this song, you will hear something different in it….we have tried to make this sound different from the rest of the competition while at the same time not take it too far from the music that an average Indian is used to.”

The hard to miss sound can be best described as a harmony of varied sounds which are very distinctly Indian and at the same time convey Red FM’s inherent brand attitude and USP. This catchy number also has the likes of Monali and Jaspreet lending their voices. Commenting on the new jingle, Abraham Thomas, COO, Red FM said “We had a vision to blend the RED FM sound www.radioduniya.in

Saluting the Spirit of Independence Radio stations across the country went out of their way to celebrate the spirit of Indian Independence. Freedom reverberated the airwaves as radio players like Radio Mirchi, Radio One Fever, Red FM, Radio Choklate, Radio City, MY FM, Radio Mantra among others, commemorated 61 years of Independence in style. Radio Mirchi urged listeners for a compulsory attendance for all Delhiites on August 15. To celebrate the spirit of Independence, the FM station organised Azadi ki Special Assembly initiative. Radio One 94.3 FM, launched a week long activity to celebrate the spirit of Independence, using the evergreen patriotic slogan Mera Bharat Mahan, and offering instant cash prizes to listeners who participated in the contest. All week long, the station played the phrase Mera Bharat Mahan on air, with each word in the voice of a different celebrity. Listeners had to identify the voice and each voice identified meant winning Rs.1000 in cash. In Delhi and Mumbai, Fever 104 gave its listeners a chance to get on air and have the freedom to say what they wanted to and play the music they wanted to. Listeners got a chance to hog the limelight for an entire hour! Fever’s Bengaluru listeners got to test their IK (India Knowledge) on air, with questions based on the country. Listeners in Kolkata got to win “freedom”’ from a host of mundane, daily activities that could draw a yawn or a groan from anyone. As part of Red FM’s endeavor to salute brave hearts of the Army during Independence Day, the station organised a very special programme where RJ Malishka and her team visited the Paraplegic Rehab Centre of the Army Base in Pune and hosted a radio show that was broadcast to listeners in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

Radio Choklate celebrated the day with a slew of activities that made an attempt to highlight the contribution of a few unsung heroes in the freedom struggle. The station aired a programme Meet the Legends impersonating Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rani Laxmibai, Netaji Subas Bose. The station also held an ‘on air parade’ where the troop of Radio Choklate, commanded by the respective jockeys marched on air. The station also conducted a telephonic interview with Anita Bose, daughter of Netaji Subhas Bose. Nagpur’s Radio City celebrated Independence Day with the Radio City Freedom Cup. Capturing the spirit of freedom, listeners registered for the tournament in full swing. Football enthusiasts from across Nagpur poured in to enjoy a day filled with zest and fervour. The game was taken to a different level of zeal altogether as the players along with their RJ captains, battled exhaustion and committed themselves towards the game to play with total passion and dedication. MY FM celebrated the day by broadcasting late Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous midnight speech “A Tryst With Destiny” and by organising a kite flying contest. MY FM’s Amritsar station covered live a joint Indo-Pak march from Jallianwala Bagh. The march was initiated by senior journalist and former MP Kuldip Nayyar. Radio Mantra celebrated Independence Day by asking listeners to come up with one problem from which they wanted to give freedom to their cities. The idea was to highlight the problems which were a hindrance for the growth of the nation.

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

station talk

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Talk Music

Jitendra Ashit Chutia, CEO, Gup-Shup 94.3FM has a masters degree in business administration and a post graduate diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2005 Purvy Broadcasting asked him to join them as CEO and set up the FM station in Guwahati. He took up the challenge and worked on establishing the FM station. Beginning from scratch and taking care of all components, he has been the prime mover at the station. What made you enter radio? I used to travel a lot to different parts of the world and during my visits to the US, I was really impressed with the radio scenario there. I was continuously following the radio scene in the country and in 2005 when FM licensing policy was announced, I proposed the idea to my promoters to enter the field of radio. They liked the idea and we decided to set up an FM station. It was difficult for me as I was from a different field, I used to direct and produce videos. So the two years, from 2005 to 2007, was like getting a degree in the FM industry. www.radioduniya.in

I studied the FM scenario all over the country and abroad. I studied the local market as well, to know how the market in Guwahati was and based on all the facts and figures, the FM station was set up. How did you decide to name the radio operations Gup Shup? We wanted to select a name which was nationally acceptable, a name that was spicy and had elements of modernity in it. Initially, we thought of adda, but then we realised that adda is 15

used as a slang in certain places. So, we came up with another name, which was gup shup. That name is accepted everywhere and it is used easily in Hindi, Bengali and Assamese. We also felt that in the future, as we expand the radio operations to other cities and states, we could use the same name across the nation. Please elaborate on the tag line that you have used? Our tag line is geet huni kotha patu tumi aru moi, which could be roughly translated in Hindi as - gaane sun ke baat karte hai tum aur main. And in English it would be - “let’s listen to songs and chat”. The tag line makes it clear that music is an essential element of our programming line-up and talk is obviously important because we are called Gup Shup.

What are your memories from the time of the launch? The day of the launch is the most memorable moment for all of us at Gup Shup. Till that moment we were not sure if we could do this well or not. The best part is that since the launch, we have been generating revenue. We launched during the puja season and offered people the chance to advertise for free for 300 seconds as part of our launch campaign. At that time we got about 200 advertisers and from the day one we have about 20 clients who provided us the revenue. Unlike the other players we did not do a grand launch, we decided to launch on radio only, so we just began with our broadcast. We started Gup Shup as a radio for the people of the film and music industry of Assam. We began as an Assamese station and we did all our branding in Assamese. Later, we modified our positioning as per the market demand. Who is your target audience? And what are the special shows that you have developed for them? Initially, we started with the sentiments of the people, so we said we are the channel for the music of the region. But as per the market demand we gradually shifted our programming style to suit the target audience of people from 15 to 35 years, which is the youth. We improvised on the sound of the stations and the offerings as well. We have many special shows for the youth. Band Wagon is very popular among the youth and features music of the bands from the region. Our show Besi Kore is a satirical take on the present scenario, which is quite successful. The show Juke Box is also targeted towards the youth. Where would you rate Gup Shup in terms of listenership and reach?

When was the station launched and what were the challenges in setting it up? 9th October 2007 was the date on which we launched the station. We did not face any great challenges, as we got help from Technomedia who guided us all through the process. We got support from the Ministry also, because we are a regional player. In all the technical aspects we had help at hand in the from of Sundaram sir (of Technomedia). The real issues only come up after the launch and mostly involved revenue generation as that is when the critical phase began.

Honestly speaking, we cannot claim that we are the number one station. Initially, when we began, we were number three as we were the last entrant into the field. But now, the ranks fluctuate between the three players operating in the area. One of the stations has a huge network and a very strong branding power, so sometimes they become number one and sometimes we are number one. This is true for just Guwahati, outside the city we are the number one radio station. As for reach, Gup Shup covers an area of 60 km covering almost five districts. It is heard in Moregao, Nalbari, Darang, Goalpara and also Shillong. Can you elaborate on the music line up at Gup Shup?

Still, manpower was a big problem, and getting RJs was a huge challenge as people here did not have any exposure to the work that an RJ does. People had only listened to AIR and that is a very different style of RJing as compared to private FM. So, we had a tough time selecting RJs for the station. Once we did manage to select a few, we took them to different cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and made them listen to the way RJs talk there. We also trained them in-house about diction, modulation, what to do and what not to do, and the technical training was provided by Technomedia. 16

We play a combination of Hindi and Assamese music. We have 60% Assamese music on our station and 40% Hindi music. English music played on the station is only that music which is played during the show – Band Wagon, where we play the original music of bands. For Assamese music, we have signed contracts with 140 film producers for music as there is no umbrella association of producers here. We have also tied up with Yash Raj Films and September 2008 | Radio Duniya

T-Series, but we are yet to tie up with PPL, because of the high royalty issue. This is where our creativity really lies, because we are doing very well even without signing with the PPL. How has the response of advertisers been to Gup Shup? In the retail market, we are the number one. We are getting very good responses and it is much greater than what we had expected. As for the corporate market, the pan India player operating a station here is at an obvious advantage. To improve the situation, we have tied up with Radio Mirchi (Times group) for our corporate marketing. What are the advantages and disadvantages you have over nation wide networks? Our advantage is that we can take decisions instantly as we don’t have to wait for the top level management, sitting in some other city to respond to our situation. Also, we can take our sales calls individually, without any interference from the authorities siting outside. That is why we have been able to tap the local market much better than the nation wide networks. We are locally based and know the pulse of the city. Pan India networks can get advertisers from all over India and that advantage is not there with us. And moreover, they have the advantage in programming, as they can use the same programme on different stations, which is very cost effective, but we don’t have that advantage. Also, because they have a chain of stations, they can have systematic training programmes for the programming units and the sales team at one place and this helps cut down costs. Whereas, if we have to organise training, we have to send the people to another place and that costs more. What would you say are the major issues that you are facing today? Royalty is a major issue for us. We are paying the same amount that radio stations in Delhi are paying. The media players don’t pay stations in Guwahati at par with what they pay to stations in Delhi. The rate in Delhi is much higher than the rates here, but we pay the same amount for music. There should be lower rates in C category cities, because right now close to 30% of our earnings goes into royalty payments. Also, the main stream media players from cities of Delhi and Mumbai, don’t take us very seriously. What are the aspects that sets Gup Shup apart from the rest? All our staff is 100% from Guwahati and Assam. We took the challenge that we will set up a station with people only from the local area and not hire anybody from outside. We trained all the people in house and we are all new to radio, but we are running the radio station very successfully. Right from the office boy to the top level management, all are locals. We also understand the people and their aspirations very well as we are the local people. Like we play non-stop Bihu songs for fours days during Bihu. We even have a jingle in the Bihu www.radioduniya.in

tune. We also have three other jingles, all of which are played at different times of the day to suit our listeners moods. What are the problems of operating in a non-metro city? The power scenario in Assam is not very good, because of which we have to run our station on generators and that is not good revenue wise. We have to play back to back music and be on air 24 hours but the power situation makes it impossible. We really feel helpless at those times because we can not do anything about it. What are your views on the recommendation to allow radio stations to air news from certain agencies? If we have the news it will definitely be an advantage for us – the radio stations and for the audiences. I think it is better if we don’t go for third party news syndication, but get news from our own sources. If we get news from a third party, it will not be news, it will be information only. News has to be ‘new’, and for that we have to go for direct news broadcast and not syndication. Also, if we get news from other agencies, we might not be able to give locally relevant news to our audiences. What is on your radio wish list for the future? I have a series of wishes. I hope that the ministry takes care of the royalty issue, so we are able to play all the music we want on our stations. Royalty issue has to be addressed at the earliest. Then, the third phase should be announced quickly, so that we can plan for our expansion. 17

Govinda Aala Re In an attempt to vibe with the mood of the listeners, FM radio stations across the country celebrated Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna with a host of on-air and on-ground activities. Ushering in the celebrations Radio City, MY FM and Big FM took listeners in a wave of joyous merriment with their Janmashthmi festivities. With ‘Govinda aala re’ Radio City Mumbai gave live on-air updates from Thane and Ghatkopar Dahi Handi Mahotsavs. Joining hands with one of the most celebrated Dahi Handi pandals, Rajyog Prathisthan at Kalyani Nagar Chowk, Pune’s Radio City, relayed all the action live on-air. Sujeet Suman, the winner of Pune’s Radio City ‘Suron Ka Sartaaj’ took centre stage to enthrall a crowd of over 25,000 cheering Krishna bhakts. Celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna, Lucknow’s Radio City listeners joined in the merriment with RJ Vera and RJ Puja as doting mothers dressed up their children as Baal Gopaal. Radio City in Nagpur, Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad echoed with ‘Radio City Musical Handi’ – an exciting musical game played every hour in each show. Listeners correctly guessing the song in the ‘Musical Handi’, got a chance to listen to that song as the last song in the hour along with a special dedication for their special ones. MY FM went all out to celebrate Janmashtami as the birthday of Makhanchor Nandkishore, the Natwar-Lord Krishna across its 17 stations in 7 states. MY FM’s celebrations included an on-air ‘Matki Phod’ competition with the listeners, Bansuri 18

(flute) playing competition and Fancy Dress competition. MY FM Bhopal did an on-air ‘Matki Phod’ contest, wherein sound effects of different kinds were played and listeners were asked to identify the right ‘matki’. Commenting on the activity MY FM COO Harrish M. Bhatia said, “Janmashtami is a truly national festival which is celebrated with fun and frolic across the length and breadth of India and radio being the true reflection of the people’s aspirations can not be far behind in celebrating this colourful festival.” BIG FM Delhi decided to celebrate Janmashtami in a cool way! It organised a hunt for the coolest ‘Jhanki’of the city and celebrated the naughtiness of Lord Krishna. Celebrations included both on-air and on-ground promotions and activities. Build- up of the festival started on- air from the 18 August with ‘BIG Natkhat’ – a prank call activity. Other on-air activities included music innovation – a special “naughty chartbusters” played on Big FM; also direct updates were given from the ISKCON and Birla temple. Speaking about the plans for celebrating Janmashtami, Manisha Tripathi, Station Director, BIG 92.7 FM- Delhi said, “ At BIG FM, we try and impact the lives of our listeners in innovative yet entertaining ways. The philosophy behind celebrating Janmashtami was to give a young and fresh perspective to this celebration. Janmashtami is the most important day for all the Lord Krishna devotees and hence to make it all the more special, we put in place some great on-air and on-ground offerings for our listeners.” September 2008 | Radio Duniya

station talk

We Target the Informed Crowd George M George, Executive Director, Muthoot Group, has recently launched the first talk radio of Chennai christened ‘Chennai Live’. George started his career in the hospitality industry with the Oberoi Group. After completing his MBA from Paris, he joined The Muthoot Group, handling their media and hospitality division. The group has successfully ventured in to new arenas of business and tasted success in a very short span of time, under his able guidance and leadership. He has been associated with radio for the last 2 years and is currently looking after the group’s radio division. www.radioduniya.in

What made the Muthoot Group enter radio? The group has always been thinking about entering the field of media since the last 5 years. So, when the radio revolution was happening, we felt it was the right platform to start off from and then proceed towards other fields as well. We entered the field of radio broadcasting when the Government announced the second phase of licensing. We decided to bid for licenses and make our mark in this field. How has the journey been for Chennai live from the bidding phase to the launch? Over the last two years we have been studying the market, we looked at the various cities to see how radio has evolved since Phase I. We looked at Chennai as the ideal market to start with as we have a long association with the city. So, instead of bidding for multiple licenses, we decided to bid just for one station and see how we can get this right in terms of making a difference. We did not want to be just another player in the market, we wanted to add something to this medium, and then going forward with that change. As for the launch, we did a soft launch in early January and officially we launched on the 8th of July.

What are the disadvantages and advantages you have over nation wide networks? Larger networks can do their programmes from one place and give it to other places, but in the process they miss out on the vital point. The main aspect of radio as a medium is that the programmes broadcast must be relevant to the city from where it is operating. Commercially, yes, it does make sense to do programming from one place and send it to another. However, they end up doing programmes in a way that lacks an understanding of what the TG or the city requires. Bigger players also have an advantage as they are spread all over the country, they can always clock in the revenue just by the number of station they have. Single stations are at a disadvantage when compared to this. Having said that, I think radio is about offering something different to the people and adding value to the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s radio experience. To be really good a station has to be a part of the city and the city has to be part of the station. There has to be an involvement where issues that are very important for the

In spite of being a huge group why did you decide to bid for just one license? If you look at leading networks like Capital FM and Kids FM, you will find that most big stations actually started off with just one station. This is done in order to get the formula right. Also, it is not easy to set up 40-50 stations and say that one programming works for everybody. In the field of entertainment, probably in music you could do that and only up to a certain extent, but radio is much more than that. It is a medium which is flexible and it has much more to offer to listeners. If you really want to make a difference it is essential to start right, even if you start small. Our radio station is the first talk radio station in Chennai, and this is the most unique feature. Chennai Live talks about issues that are very important to the area from where the radio station is operating. A lot of people do not have any connect to radio now primarily because it does not offer any value to them and we hope to change this and that is why we bid for just one license. What were the major challenges in setting up the first station at Chennai? One of the major challenge was that radio is an industry which we were not very familiar with. As a market Chennai is very regional and specific, its a very language and information driven market and at the same time it is growing. To find space in a market like this was an interesting challenge. Getting into the scene with something different, with all that the people were looking for on radio, and to please all the segments that we were targeting was all a challenge for us. In fact, setting up the station itself was a huge challenge. 20

people are taken up. And that is exactly what we are trying to do at Chennai Live. We give out lots of information about various aspects related to the city. For single stations, the advantage lies in the content. A single radio network can define itself and find a space based on the content that it airs and that is the winning strategy. Most of the radio stations do not do that, so they are weak on content which I believe is one of the vital elements in radio broadcasting. Who is your target audience? And what are the special shows that you have developed for them? Our target audience is basically the informed crowd. Talking about Chennai, it is the informed and well connected crowd who want much more from radio than just music. So, our target would range from people who are in their late 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to late 30â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. We have talk shows in the morning that pick up one issue, which is very relevant to the city. Here, we have guests, not necessarily celebrities, but people in the administrative services who deal with particular issues that are of concern to the city. We have people calling in when we have these guests, they September 2008 | Radio Duniya

come up with questions and they have every right to know what is happening in their city. The Right to Information Act is something that is very interesting as every citizen in the country has the right to know how the tax money they are paying is being spent, how is it affecting their lives and what difference are they making. These kind of shows showcase the advantages, disadvantages of what is happening in the city to the people as everybody has the right to know. Can you elaborate on the music and programming line up at Chennai Live? Ours is a talk radio station so we use songs just as fillers. Of the music that we play, the line up is divided depending on the various day parts. About 70% of our music content is English and 30% is regional.

is allowed to do that. Why is radio being controlled? So, it is a welcome move, but why can’t radio stations report their own news just like the other mediums. I do not agree with the fact that radio stations should be restricted to collecting news from certain news agencies and then air the news. We would like to do our own news and we are all geared up for it.

What made you decide on the format of talk radio for Chennai Live?

What would you say are the major issues for the radio industry today?

We did a thorough research before setting up the station. I believe that it is very important to know how radio is perceived before entering a market. Interestingly, we found that about 65 to 70% of the people do not listen to radio. We found that there was a disconnect with radio and realised that there was a huge scope for us. So, our research was more geared towards understanding why there was such a disconnect and why people were not listening to radio. We found that the reason was that people were expecting lots of things from radio but they were not getting anything.

The primary issue is music royalty, there is no debate about that. The royalty that is being paid now is huge and it is definitely eating into many radio station’s revenue. Our case is different as we use music as a filler, but most of the stations are actually dependent on music as their prime content. The kind of rates that are being charged in India is much higher than the rates across the world. I don’t understand why we do not have a regulation in India where royalty is charged from a station as per the revenue that they make or a percentage of it.

There was no sense of station loyalty because listening depended on the type of music being played on a station, Now if a station has to be defined only by the kind of music it plays, it becomes very commodified. There was very little recall among the listeners, in terms of the name or the frequency of the station. We understood that radio was not redefining itself, in a market like Chennai where about 10 radio stations were operating. So, we decided that we had to be different and relevant to the audiences. In order to be more than the others and do more for the people, we zeroed in on the format of talk radio. Which other cities are you planning to move to when the third phase of licensing happens? First of all, we would like to take a look at the cities that are opening up for bidding, We would also like to research these cities before we actually go ahead with the process of licensing. Right now, I can’t specifically say what cities are we looking at for expansion. We are not just looking for bidding for licenses, we are also looking at acquiring stations. What are your views on the recommendation to allow radio stations to air news from certain agencies? This recommendation is good, it is most welcome but I think it has come a little late. I don’t understand why radio stations are not allowed to air news when every other form of media www.radioduniya.in

The other issue would be the FDI cap which is not at par with the other media. It is not right to restrict radio. I think the government is very slow in terms of establishing a body that would govern radio in India. Right now TRAI is doing it, but if TRAI is going to be the body to regulate radio in India then it should be given all control, otherwise there should be another government body to regulate radio, so that most of the industry’s issues can be dealt with faster. What’s on wish list for the radio industry in the future? I wish radio would be taken a lot more seriously as a medium, because I think it has great potential. It is one of the most flexible mediums and it is the only medium that can help in informing people at the time of any natural disaster. I think it is a much better medium than television, print or Internet. I think people within the industry should take the medium very seriously. There are certain players in the industry who are also operating other forms of media and are using radio to compliment that medium rather than taking it as a serious medium. They should take radio to the next level. What I mean is that most of the stations are not bringing in the right amount of content and seriousness or the connect with the audience. Radio was used earlier as a means of disseminating information and infotainment to the audience. All these things have disappeared from the Indian radio scene today, and all the stations are churning out entertainment rather than adding value to people’s life. 21

India achieved great success at the Beijing Olympics, with three medals being won for the country! There was one gold medal for Abhinav Bindra and two bronze medals for Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar. And FM radio stations came up with various innovative activities both on air and on ground to cash in on the Olympic fever, specially after Bindra hit the bull’s eye. My FM has lined up various activities during this period which included Jhelompics – Olympics ka suatela bhai. These activities included on-ground games like Alu Putt, Hawa Hawaii, Bhaag Lay and various on-air games which entertained the listeners. For the closing ceremony of the Jhelompics, MY FM organised a special function where medals were awarded to winning participants. “My FM planned updates for its listeners during the morning drive time show. The attractions of the previous day’s activities were also discussed and important achievements were highlighted,” said Harrish Bhatia, COO, MY FM. Radio Misty 94.3 FM celebrated Bindra’s win by changing the theme of all the shows and titled it “Chak de India”. West Bengal Minister for Urban Development, Ashok Bhattachrya, along with local celebrities from the field of sports, culture and music were on air to congratulate Abhinav. According to Nishant Mittal, CEO, Radio Misty, “Radio Misty is trying to make radio harpal ka sathi and as Abhinav won the gold it was time for us to celebrate with the listeners. All our shows during 22

the day had hit numbers playing to salute Abhinav. We also aired a in-house parody song to salute the achievement.” Red FM also came up with ‘Radio Olympics’ for its listeners. A series of on-air games with a funny twist were organised by the radio station. Big FM brought ‘Radio Olympiad’, where listeners across its 44 stations could participate and win prizes. As part of the offering, several games and contests – both on-air and on-ground – hosted by Big FM across its 44 stations gave participants a chance to walk away with ‘Gold Medals’. Nirupam Sonu, Vice President – Programming, Big FM, said, “With this Radio Olympiad we have created a unique event on radio, wherein every Indian could win and bring alive the spirit of Olympics by just tuning in to Big FM.” The ‘Radio Olympiad’ also saw BIG FM’s key RJs battling it out for the ultimate endurance test, a record breaking on-air RJ marathon, wherein RJs across 36 stations attempted for a Limca Record of 100 hrs of RJing! BIG RJs of Jammu, Jamshedpur, Patiala, Amritsar, Kanpur, Goa, Trivandrum, Bareily, Aligarh, Agra, Udaipur, Gwalior and Surat completed 105 hours to make a new record. Bindra’s victory at the Olympic Games was only the beginning and it showed that FM stations do give coverage to the non-cricketing sports events. The festivities only got merrier when ace boxer Vijender Kumar and wrestler Sushil Kumar won bronze medals in their respective categories. September 2008 | Radio Duniya

programme talk

Adding Flavour to Life

Vikaas Tiwari, Group Programming Head, 95 FM Tadka believes that his engineering and marketing background gives him an analytical approach which helps simplify the puzzle called life. A performer by nature, he started his career as a news reader and then moved on to produce documentaries for Doordarshan, while doing which he also worked as a sub-editor with a newspaper. The upcoming FM scenario thereafter gave a new dimension to the charm of working in media and performing arts. As he wanted to explore and exploit his potential to the fullest he joined 95 FM Tadka in 2006. www.radioduniya.in

How has the journey as Programming Head of 95 FM Tadka been? What have been the challenges and victories? The journey here at 95 FM Tadka has been a fun roller coaster ride, which has taught me a lot and has allowed me to make and execute plans. My experience of television helped in a big way. I must say that radio is certainly a difficult medium as there is no visual, so imagination plays a vital role. All the challenges and all the victories are with my team and by my team. I feel that every body at Tadka is one letter of a word, which when put together becomes ACHIEVMENT. The first challenge for us was to prove that Tadka is Solid Radio; solid in terms of its policy, music, shows, philosophy and ethics. We proved it with our innovative and never done before on-air as well as on ground radio activities. Events like Kranti, Non Stop Sufi (registered in Limca Book of Records), Saat Din Saat Adaaein, Lajawaab series, IPL (Indian Puchkaa League) and Chak de Sona (Fun Olympic) are a few victories. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk a bit about the brand name. Why 95 FM Tadka? Well, the brand name is Tadka because tadka is a taste enhancer! You would never like to have dal or sabzi without tadka. The reason why human beings learned to cook their food was to enhance its taste. They initially used to eat it raw but when accidentally they discovered that roasted food had better taste, people began cooking food. Every thing that you eat has a taste but there is always a possibility of making it taste better and tadka does that. Tadka gives a flavour to life. One more reason for using tadka is that it gives the flexibility of changing the taste the way one wants. We can have different tastes on different seasons, festivals and on special occasions.

we operate be it in Jaipur, Udaipur or Kota. All the three stations have a different flavour but the philosophy remains the same. All the stations are regionalised in terms of language, programmes, activities and song selection. The RJs know the nerve of the city and this helps them to establish a connect with the target audience personally. The activities are also designed in a way which compliments the traditions, culture, language and psychology of the public. What is the profile of your target audience? The target audience of Tadka is 16 years to 35 years. The daily fabric of the station is designed keeping in mind the target group. What are shows that you are extremely proud of? Thadi.com is one show that I an extremely proud of. Thadi denotes the uncensored stage of youth and dot com is the new age attitude. This show is very close to my heart and I am extremely possessive about it. One more reason behind this is that Thadi.com involves a dare because it is a decent blend of desi soch (traditional thought)and modern approach. Though the prime time show Solid Breakfast and the daily late night show RPM (Romance Pyar Aur Mohabbat) are the shows which the whole city is proud of. As the Group Programming Head of Tadka, what is your vision for radio in the country and what are you doing to achieve the same?

Where would you rate 95 FM Tadka among other private FM channels in terms of listenership and reach? I would like the others to confirm it! In a survey conducted by a radio station, within 6 months of the launch of Tadka and 5 channels operating in the city we were ranked No 2. Now, with the latest survey conducted by IRS 2008 we are number one in Jaipur leading in all segments.

The radio scenario in India is in its initial state and genre based FM stations are yet to register their presence. As a result the approach of radio stations today is bound in open intervals. The thought process is still not restricted to have a linear approach which in turn leads to more experiments. Experience is the outcome of experiments you do and I feel that more and more experiments should be done on radio now so as to make the future of radio in India blossom.

All radio stations now claim to be different and innovative. How is Tadka different from the others?

There are some regulatory restrictions in operation as of now. What kind of changes in these regulations would you welcome?

One of the biggest differences between 95 FM Tadka and other radio stations is the frequency. We are “95 FM” – “poori frequency poora maza”. We are absolute in every aspect, team Tadka works for providing absolute entertainment. We work on one to one connection rather than working on a one to many connection. The shows, music, RJs and the segments are designed to maintain the personal connection with the listeners. Since the inception of the channel, we have been able to make the family bigger.

A horse without reins will gallop uncontrolled. There has to be a certain set of restrictions in operations. No sex, no politics, no religion is good to operate with but this fact should also be kept in mind that a trained horse gallops more efficiently. If monitored news broadcast is allowed then it would lead to more variety and being the cheapest medium of communication it can work for the betterment of the society on a larger scale. And yes, if we are looking forward to have genre based stations we need to have multiple licensing.

What is the strategy of Tadka in terms of deciding the kind of content for each city that it operates in? What is the extent of regionalisation that is done in the content?

Do you feel radio stations should be allowed to air news on its own? What is the kind of different reportage that radio can offer to listeners?

The taste of everything changes with a change in place and radio is no exception. Tadka, serves the local taste everywhere

Yes, I believe that radio stations should be allowed to air news but with a sincere check on the content. Radio is very sensitive

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

public media which becomes an originator when we talk news. An improper originator cannot have sincere and true followers. There is a hairline difference between news and entertainment and when you serve it, this has to be maintained. What do you think are the major challenges, in terms of radio programming that the industry needs to find solutions to? In our country, today almost all the radio stations sound more or less the same, weather in terms of content or songs. Every channel claims itself to be regionalised but only a few are able to achieve it. Taking the case of nationalised channels, they operate on national or zonal fabric. Some measures have to be taken to create difference. Radio programming needs creators and not just operators. The major challenge of radio programming is skilled human resource. With the industry coming up in a big way in India, it needs to have skilled professionals. Recognised institutions

should be established to produce professionals who can handle and shape up the future of radio in the country. Here at Tadka, we have taken the initiative in association with Mindpool School of Journalism to train the students in different dimensions of radio such as programming, PR etc. What are you views on the future of niche radio stations in the country? Niche radio stations are the second step of radio in India. Until and unless an efficient revenue generation algorithm is designed, their sustainability is doubtful. What is your dream for the future of radio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; say in 2010? The charm of radio will eclipse the charm of television. The reason is that the number of radio channels coming up in next two years is more than the number of television channels. Moreover, these days there is hardly any difference between news and entertainment channels on television and the programing quality of these channels has also detiorated. India is growing day by day, the cities are expanding and people are now travelling more, radio being the local live media certainly has precednce over television. What genres do you see developing in future? Development of a particular genre or introduction of a new genre by and large depends on youth. The more is the exposure of youth the more is the variety in genre. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s youth wants melody wrapped in their beats, so I think fusion with the Tadka of electronica is going to be the call of tomorrow.

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cover story

Ready For The FUTURE? It’s not often that you get to do an ‘artist’s impression of the future’ of something you are really passionate about. Radio Duniya gave me an opportunity to do some crystal ball gazing into FM Radio in the metros in the year 2010. So as I wander off into the future, I request all those who read this article to do so with a smile on their faces and a little sigh that says ‘Wow

what a wonderful world it would be’…and if you are one of those people who just can’t seem to smile because you do not dream the dream I dream…it’s ok… it’s not your fault… everyone’s entitled to their impression of the future…. and if you don’t like to dream…well then don’t read further … it’s wonderful when you have choices…. Is it not? So here goes…

… am 9 … s It’ 010 2 t 31s h c r … a elhi D Its M in m ’ I and

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

I’m at home, getting ready to do a national video conference meeting of the Metro Radio Evangelists Council. There is no chairman or head of this council as everyone here is a passionate radio lover in their own right and the concept of having one person claiming to lead the others is pretty much outdated now. The council has members in each of the metro cities and this time we have invited a special guest to tell us what’s happening in the smaller cities. A government representative also sits in the council and then reports on the progress to the government and he always comes back with the quickest decisions. We all have stopped travelling frequently as fuel prices are now exorbitant. We all drive electric cars but electricity propelled aviation is still experimental. Besides the bandwidths are so good that no one really travels anymore on work. I have 15 minutes before the others join in, so I turn on the radio on my cell phone which immediately sends a signal to all the speakers in my home and the music starts to play. The display on my mobile gives me a menu of all the stations in the city, the genres and what’s the hottest thing on air to listen to, now appears as alerts on my mobile. So I tune into the music stations ﬁrst and see some of the older stations still playing generic Bollywood music…”ho hum”… I think, “will they ever change?”... when I suddenly receive this alert on my phone display saying they are playing one of my favourite English songs on another channel, so I tune in there and listen to it for a while.

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I had missed reading the news in the morning so I shift to news on radio and can’t seem to choose which station I like better… ‘breaking news’ is no longer a relevant concept as reporting on radio is done by ‘News Credible Citizens’ (NCC) who all connect live to assigned radio stations… every second ….and file their reports…you can choose a headline on your mobile and then listen to the audio report from one of the stations… Oops and then a surprising alert from one of ‘reality radio’ stations which says that a couple is divorcing live on radio! Not being able to resist, I tune in there and enjoy the aural voyeurism. The Council members are now in and the first topic we cover is how much the loyalty to radio has grown. All of us smile as we see that there are more people loyal to radio then ever before. The average time that people spend per station is more than 3 hours, even though there are almost 20 stations in Delhi alone. The various genres of music, talk, reality, news, sport, community are now holding interest like never before. It’s interesting to see that even the Bollywood music genre is now broken up into clear demarcated music styles which are now individually large enough to support a radio station format. I get an interesting alert on my phone that Himesh, the exmusic director and actor has just released his first English pop song called ‘Show me your sparkle’ (a new remixed version of the retro song Jhalak Dhiklaja), I share it with the council and one member comments ‘Thanks to radio, now Indian musicians

can experiment like never before…its not all about Bollywood anymore.’ We all nod in agreement. The council then discusses the topic of getting more licenses into the metros. The government representative is so thorough, she checks her data and says that there is still scope in talk radio and perhaps in reality radio non-music formats and that we should allow more licenses, where as the music ones are quite saturated. We again agree and fix a base price for these licenses which are not too expensive, so that the niche format stations can make money in the first year itself. The council then checks the progress of advertisers and we see brands regularly choosing genres of music or formats that are closer to their brand story versus just running spots on generic channels. One of the council members plays an ‘Entertisement’ … oh we stopped calling them ‘advertisements’ long ago…as they were just not entertaining enough! Now every brand creates a radio specific campaign and makes it thoroughly entertaining to make it more experiential for the listener. Just then our guest from the smaller city FM stations, asks a question “Can we soon have differentiated formats in the smaller cities too as people are getting sick of just music” and we all console him saying it will happen sooner than you think. He also mentioned his concern of all radio talent joining regional TV as such a big burst of growth had happened in that segment. (And yes TV too is now fully mobile… you can watch anything, anywhere…at whatever time you like) We shared our findings in the metros where radio employee attrition had dropped to an all time low as more and more

young people were finding it easy to focus on a format or genre because they were passionate about it. These young people are now ‘specialists in radio’ as opposed to ‘generalists in radio’. The council member was very relieved and said, “Good… now finally the smaller cities will start to make good money too!” I excuse my self as I get a call from an old RJ friend who is doing a show from home…everyone does that now as all broadcast equipment is now miniature and connects directly to a central server which is for nostalgic purposes called ‘the office’. He says he has an idea for a new radio format and I listen to it and its Wow!... I get very eager to share it with the council, but our times up and the rest of the meeting will happen in a week from now. I have to get ready for the next video conference with my music label to discuss the new song my band is releasing online and then there’s this other motor sports club meet online where I still have not submitted my review of the ‘new electric car from Maruti’ Wish I had more time… Just then my kids walk into the room and ask me what I’m doing and I tell them that we’re discussing radio, which is my job. They pull out their palm held notebooks and say they‘re logging into school. They discover the day’s agenda, they need help with a school report ‘On how radio is the most exciting medium in the world’… I smile… am glad to help, though I do remember how once upon a time people seemed to be all gung ho about one way TV and that html based thing called the Internet, amazing how times change.

Vineet Singh Hukmani CEO, Radio One 94.3FM vsh@radioone.in

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

We asked radio professionals... What is your vision for radio in the year 2010? What are the most exciting technological innovations for radio? My vision for radio is to go beyond radio. To make radio accessible to more and more people…both listeners, and advertisers. To move beyond the traditional boundaries of radio and develop properties, which have the power to impact lives in a bigger way than any other media. Technological innovations abroad have been mostly in the area of digitalisation, auto song tagging, devices capable of integrating radio content with other devices such as I-pods, etc. When you talk about innovations from an Indian perspective, the most important factor to consider is how ‘mass’ is it. If a majority of the population can’t afford a new technology or doesn’t understand it, it won’t make much of an impact, as was the case with visual radio. Some of the changes that are interesting to note are the ways in which people are listening to radio. Mobile phone listening is on a rise and radio is increasingly becoming the most convenient media, both in terms of accessibility and cost. Studies have shown that over 40% or radio listening today happens over mobile phones. It is increasingly becoming common to see people listen to radio while on-the-move. Radio has become the medium closest to point of purchase & this has a lot of implications on the way advertisers are using this medium. Abraham Thomas, COO, Red FM 93.5 FM

I wish to see radio being listened to by every individual through mobile phone or any other means. Radio has a vast potential to not only entertain the listeners but it is also capable of changing their mindset, values, work culture and improving the lifestyle. So, I would like to see multiple frequencies being allotted to radio stations to run different set of programmes to suit the needs of the different strata of society. We have a vision to be among the top three radio networks in India. In my opinion the best way to realise our dream is to further expand our network and play according to the listeners’ wishes. In my opinion radio on mobile phone is the most exciting technological innovation for radio. It is helping us in accessing listeners who were out of reach due to technological constraints. With the rapid expansion of mobile phone network in the rural areas radio is constantly going to ﬁnd new consumers for its fare and be able to change the face of rural India. Harrish M Bhatia, COO, 94.3 MY FM

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I would like radio to be a very integral part of everybody’s life as much as any other form of media. I think what we are doing right now is a step towards realising this dream. It is about brining value to people’s life and if we do that by giving them the information they require radio, will become a very important part of their life. The value offered by newspaper to its readers early in the morning has a time space for it, they cannot do without it, the same way they cannot do without the daily news they watch on TV channels in the evening. There is a space defined for this medium and it has become an integral part of people’s life and I would like radio to become the same for listeners. I think radio stations should seriously think about redefining their content to become an integral part of people’s life. There is a famous song that says video killed the radio star, but radio has never died out and it has always been redefining itself. There are lots of technological innovations that are happening on radio, and some of them are really mind boggling. One of the few things is the content (live feed) that is coming on mobile phones. All these are sure signs that technology is being adapted by radio stations and they are actually gearing themselves up to meet these challenges in the future. George M George, Executive Director, Chennai Live 104.8 FM

In 2010 I would like to see digital radio come up in a really big way in the country. When we have digital radio, we can play four channels in a single frequency. This will obviously give more liberty to radio stations to broadcast more programmes as per the demands and needs of the listeners. I would also wish that media planners give more preference to different modes of radio programmes. I feel that they don’t encourage different formats like radio dramas, which I think can come up in a big way. Technologically digital radio will be one of the most exciting technological innovation. The whole FM scenario that we have as of today will change completely Jitendra Ashit Chutia, CEO, Gup-Shup 94.3FM

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

I foresee radio to evolve as a primary medium of communication for both advertisers (revenue) and listeners (reach). The advertising and the listener pie will increase rapidly with the advent of niche stations as the untapped potential of the market will be explored. Programming and client innovations, product differentiation and staying tuned to the “what the listener wants” are critical for radio to reach this stage of evolution. Radio started off as a passive background medium, but it’s increasingly becoming more engaging and interactive with time. Technological innovations like, internet streaming, mobile radio, Radio Data Systems (RDS), HD Radio, digital radio has all served to improve the radio listening experience. S Keerthivasan, CEO Fever 104 FM

2010 is just two years ahead. There won’t be any radical changes, but hopefully the FM Phase 3 will be through by then and news and current affairs will be allowed on radio. My vision of radio in 2010 is to see radio accepted as a more serious medium where broadcasters cease to only play music and try and be more experimental and differentiated in their programming. It is important that radio is looked upon as a medium that delivers effective information. The examples are there in front of you, whether it is Mumbai ﬂoods or effective AIDS campaigns. The ﬁrst and primary step to realise this vision is to move out of mass market cookie cutter programming and rise above the clutter and be heard as a medium. The rest of the world has gone digital and we are still on FM technology.The technology is the same and we are stuck with this technology for the next 8 years. Convergence is still a taboo and a big no no, but there will be a time when FM radio will soon be referred to more as audio than radio. We are competing with new media and other media.More technological innovations also means increase in the price of radio of radio sets and that may not be really be a great idea in a market like India. This is applicable mostly in smaller towns of India, where FM radio is still a novelty. However, some broadcasters are experimenting more with Visual radio, RDS which is good but all of it is still at its nascent stage and needs higher innovations. Nisha Narayanan, Project Head, 93.5 S FM

So are we ready for the future now??? www.radioduniya.in

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Harssh and Archana host ‘Whatte Fun Mornings’ on Mumbai’s Radio City 91.1FM. Full of joie-de-vivre, Harssh joined in the fun brigade at Radio City bringing on board over 5 years of experience of being a Radio Jockey. Archana is a vivacious people’s person and has been a Radio Jockey for almost 5 years. Spinning intelligent entertainment which does not interfere with busy morning schedules at the start of day, the duo give Mumbai a low-down on happenings in and around the city accompanied by lively music.

What made you choose radio hosting as a career? A: I talk a lot! My parents were getting tired of me and radio is an outlet that is perfect as you get paid for talking! Plus, the whole city is listening to you and the best part is you are having fun! Here you are not asked to work but just asked to have fun. What more can you ask for!? H: I got into radio purely by accident. I used to host a couple of shows on television when a friend asked me to audition for a rival station and it clicked. Initially, I thought radio will be a stop gap arrangement and I would work for 6 – 8 months. Now, it has been six years on radio and all I can say is I love what I am doing.

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What are the pros and cons of being a radio host? A: The best thing about radio is accessibility, if you are on TV you do not know who your audience is. With radio you can talk to anyone, right from a roadside vendor to the CEO of a company. It gives you a high to think that you have access to all these people, you can just give out your number and people call you to share their stories. It is just amazing how everyday life becomes larger than life through radio. H: It is the fact that you can talk to someone or talk for someone and give an instinctive reaction to things. It is amazing to think how much you can connect and the number of people that are associated with this. As for the cons, there is nothing negative actually. On second thoughts there is, why are we not equally popular as film stars? We are equally talented!! J Describe your most memorable radio moment? A: Interviewing Lata Mangeshkar was my most memorable radio moment, because I have grown up listening to her bhajans and to talk to the legend is an amazing feeling. She is very affectionate and to ask a lady of that stature to sing is something else. She also asked me to star in one of her music videos and that is how I got to do a video as well. Another memorable moment was when I interviewed Hrithik Roshan, because when he came in for the interview, he said

that he had just 20 minutes to spare, but in the end we ended up talking for two hours! He is very pure, very in the moment, he is very concerned about what he is saying and wants to be rehearsed about everything. H: Last year when Mumbai was flooded, I was alone in the studio from 6 in the evening to 1.30 the next afternoon. I was coming on and going off air from time to time. I got a call from a listener as it was nearing midnight, she said was stuck with her car on a bridge with her sisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s baby, since 2 in the afternoon. It has been raining continuously, so she could move out of the car and did have anything to feed the baby, she had no clues about what to do. I got her car number and mobile number, and I went on air and told the listeners about her situation and I asked them if they could do anything to help the lady and the baby. About five minutes later I got a call from the lady to thanking me, she said four people had come up to her car with milk, water and biscuits and the baby was sleeping peacefully. She said I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t thank you enough! After about a week or ten days, the lady came to my office with a massive king sized bouquet and some food to say thanks to me. She said she was stuck on the bridge till 12 in the noon the next day and after about every 4 hours people kept coming to her car with food and other things for the baby. That was the most memorable radio moment for me, I still get goosebumps when I think about it! What was your first on-air link like together? We have been very good friends for about six years now. We have known each other even before we started hosting the show together. We know each others families, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, dogs almost everything and that should have helped us a lot in doing the show. But our first on air link was complete madness, it was literally like directing a movie without any rehearsals. We did not know who should talk first so both of us wanted to talk at the same time and we were dying to say our lines, it was a complete mismatch and chaos. And then we thought, this is supposed to be a jugalbandi, where both of us are supposed to be talking. After all the initial chaos, we decided that this is not my show or your show but it is our show and we got the thing just right after that. So, out of the chaos came out a very beautiful understanding and equation between us. What is the best part about doing a show with Archana/ Harssh? A: For me he is the most entertaining guy on radio, he is very Junta as he travels a lot and that keeps him very well informed about the city. He can just take a look at a channawala and say from which part of Mumbai he is. He is very energetic both on air and off air and there can be nothing better than doing a show with a man like that. So, it is not just you are entertaining the city, but I am getting entertained by him as well. H: Just look at her, how can you not enjoy doing a show with

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

her? Seriously speaking, I have never met a more positive person in my life. Her low energy is like 25 times higher than my highest energy. No matter in what frame of mind I am, I just have to spend five minutes with her and I am are ready to take on anything. What is the negative aspect of doing a show with Archana/ Harssh? A: There are times, when he is not very expressive, so it is difficult to get things out of him. But unfortunately I know him well enough now, and I read through him most of the times. I don’t think that there are any negatives, as co-jocks it is very important to have a good friendship. Many times people have ego and animosity, but we do not have all that baggage. We are not insecure people and I would say the organisation has helped us a lot in this and on a general basis we are both likeable and nice so there is no bad air. I would say all this background has helped us tremendously to not get in each other’s way. As much as I would love to answer this question, there isn’t any negative aspect of doing the show with him. No doubt there are issues, when two people are together like this, its like being in a marriage because you spend so much time together, but we gel well. H: Within the first week of doing the show together, we sat down with our producer who is a very good friends of ours and decided no matter what we hear, we are going to keep everybody out of our work and sort things out, we will not let anything affect us. In the 1st week we had people coming to us and telling us separately, why the other person is talking more and you are talking less? In fact some people even came up to tell us that we were fighting on the show and we were not sounding happy with each other. Since we had things sorted out from the very beginning we always have fun doing the show, the space that we get while working here is like letting two kids out in a playground.

If not Archana/Harssh, with whom would you like to host the show? H: I have already hosted a show with Shaharukh Khan but would love to do it again. A: Johnny Lever! He can be anybody and everybody and Mumbai is all about him What has been the funniest on-air moment? We have a section called Aao Fix Karein, where we try to solve our listeners problems. A newly married women called us once saying that her neighbour, whose husband was away working on a ship, was acting very strange of late. She would wear revealing clothes and come over to her house only when her husband was around, and it was very embarrassing for her as that lady would talk just to her husband. We told her that we will call up her neighbour and find out what is the issue. We felt being newly married, the caller was a bit insecure and was just imagining things. We thought when we call up the other women we might be scolded or insulted for even implying such a thing. Still, we called her up and asked please don’t mind but your neighbour says that you are eying her husband. She said yes, she was about 20% interested in that man! We were shocked. We blasted her saying how could you destroy somebody’s married life like this? We told her that we were on air and the entire city was listening to the conversation, but she was like if I have feelings in my heart what can I do!? We were rolling on the floor laughing our heads off after that!! A radio host is born or made? A: Everybody seems to think that radio is all about voice, but I don’t think so. It is about the mind, your listeners read you very easily. People in general are not very expressive, so when they hear what they want to say from a jockey in the way they want to say it, they just connect to you. One common thing I have noticed with RJs is that they are on a high on all aspects of life. You need to have your own personality outside the studio and only then you can bring out the best to the show.

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H: We have learnt whatever we know on the job through hands on training. Its basically 70% of what you are born with and 30% of it can be trained. Generally people those who have the ability to connect are born with it. People think that radio jockeying is about talking, but it is more than that. You need to observe things and go through some things in life to be able to talk about things. The more you watch things, the more you connect with your listeners.

Snapshot Queries: The most important things in life.....

A: Mother

H: A clear mind

Imagine that it is the year 2010 and you are still working in radio. What do you see yourself doing?

Live by the mantra..... A: Be happy and you spread happiness

A: I think radio will be far more accessible through various ways, in the sense that you will no longer have to buy a radio set or have it in your mobile phones. You will have access to radio just with the click of a button, it would be far more reachable. Probably I could be sitting in Mumbai and doing a show that can be heard all around the world.

H: If you can’t stand for something, you fall for everything

H: I think I will be the National Programming Head, responsible for handling programmes for at least 20 stations. Business in radio will be much bigger and faster, it will be very much in your face, almost like a news channel. The medium will be funnier, gossipy, fun and snappy as there will be lots of live reporting involved. What would the style of RJing be in the times to come? A: I don’t think there will be a major deviation in the style of RJing in the future. Of course the style will be about engaging more and more listeners, because I think people will need things to make them forget the everyday grind of life. The style of talk will also be more snappy and I also feel that the talk is going to be much less, because with so much engagement there will definitely be more music.

Will never forget..... H: Train journey from Punjab to Mumbai A: When I won an award from Shaimak Davar for dancing Dream about..... H: Being a bigger success A: Being in love and spreading joy to the world My epitaph would read..... H: He came, he did, he never fell A: Love conquers all

H: I think over the years the concept of RJing will change, if all the stations have news, RJs have to talk on topical things, it must also be newsworthy. I think niche radio will come in a big way, in terms of talk and music. RJs will definitely have to be more innovative in terms of what all they can do on air, they would need to be really talented. Just having a great voice will not be enough. What is your dream for the future of radio in 2010? A: Radio is the most simple, humble and personal medium. I don’t think I would want radio to change drastically from the way it is right now. I would want more humane people coming to radio who can connect with the audience. It sounds like a Miss India answer, but I think radio can really bring about lots of changes in the community and that is the best thing that radio can do. I don’t think that the full potential of the medium has been used till date H: Radio stars will be bigger than film stars and they will definitely be better paid. My radio station will be numero uno.

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

What made you choose radio hosting? I have a natural flair for talking, I just love talking to people, and people tell me that its interesting to listen to me. I had never planned to become a radio jockey, it just happened by chance. Once I was traveling with friends and we were listening to a radio station (I’m not going to tell you which one!!!), the host was a total bore and my friends told me that I could do much better than her, just by speaking the way I normally do. So, I decided to give it a shot. Before that, I had never thought of becoming an RJ and then it all just fell in place and here I am! What is the best thing about being a radio host? I am basically a people’s person, I love being with people and the very thought that one link connects you with thousands of people at a time is wonderful. The feeling of being connected with so many people is amazing and radio gets you immediate reaction from the listeners. All my shows are caller based and involve a lot of interaction in the form of giving suggestions. The best part about radio is that I can be myself while doing the shows.

RJ Meenakshi is the bubbly and vivacious host of Big FM Chandigarh’s 9 Baje ki Setting. Her show targets the youth of the city and helps them express their love on-air. She invites listeners to play the game of love and test the love they share. She plays cupid on air and helps those who wish to convey their liking for someone by proposing on behalf of the caller. Her honesty ensures that people confide in and confess to their strange deeds on her show.

Is there any segment of the job that you don’t enjoy? I am not being clichéd or politically correct here, but there is nothing that I dislike about my job. More than a job, its my passion, I get so involved with my work that it is always with me. That is why I believe that I enjoy doing my work without disliking any aspect. Everyday I wait for the clock to strike four. I am living the show 24 by 7. Though we are not supposed to carry work back home, I can’t help it... some confessions are grave, some settings are really strange and the whole day I keep thinking what to do. On my way to work if I find anything interesting I make a point to mention that on my show as well. Describe your most memorable radio moment? There was this caller in my show 9 Baje Ki Setting, whose wife was six months pregnant, and wanted to divorce him. He had physically abused her once, www.radioduniya.in

they have with their boyfriends or sometimes a wife calls up to say that her husband is having an affair. They call up and discuss their issues and they connect with me because of the manner in which I respond to their problems. What inspired you to take up radio as a profession? I feel that I had this thing within me, a feeling of helping people patch up with their partners. I have always been the agony aunt for my friends. I love patching up things for people because I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like to see people around me unhappy. As I said before, it is not just work for me, when I talk to people and listen to their issues, its my passion and I think that is what inspired me to take up this profession. How did the idea of segments like 9 baje ki setting and 8 ki date come about? When I was initially asked about what type of shows I would like to do, I said I would like to do something that involved love and passion. I think I have a flair for talking to people about such topics. Initially many felt that this concept will not work in Chandigarh. There were apprehensions that being a non metro city, people here will not be conformable discussing their private life or affairs on air. I thought I could do it, took this up as a challenge and put my 100% into the show and now by Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grace it is working. It is the most successful show of the city now. Do you choose the music for your shows or is it decided by the station? during her pregnancy. He called me and sought one chance to patch up things with his wife through my show. I called up the wife and she said that, except for that one time, he had never ill treated her and that she loved him very much. However, her parents were forcing her to leave him. I just asked her to stop thinking about what others want and do what she wants for herself, her husband and her unborn child. The husband and the wife spoke on air and within one month she was back home with her husband. It was definitely, my most memorable radio moment, its was a real life, life banao moment for me. How do you establish connect with listeners? When I am on air, I know that there are thousands of people listening to the show at a time, but while talking to the caller, I focus only on that one individual. I make them feel that they are talking to their friend and discussing their problems, my sole focus is on them at that point of time. They feel that there is someone who is interested in listening to their problems, so they open up to me. I have callers telling me about the fight 38

The music played on the show is on request. Mostly, Hindi songs are requested by the listeners. Generally they are dedications which include love songs, slow mood songs. What are the essential requirements for being a Radio Host? I think its all in-built... you just have it in you! The ability to talk to people is the most important thing. Also, how well you connect with your listeners is important, because that is what ensures that they listen to your show again and again. I think anyone can become a jockey, you do not need to have a wonderful voice or anything. How do you prepare yourself for every show? Everyday I make it a point to talk to at least 50 people. I start taking the calls about 3 hours before the show. Some people do not want to come on air with their problems, so I try solving September 2008 | Radio Duniya

it for them off air. So, they all know that even if they do not want to come on air their problems will be solved. What is that one most important factor that makes listeners connect to an RJ? It is the understanding of what is it that really makes a listener connect with an RJ. Understanding what makes a listener come back to your show again and again is essential. The RJ must think from the listeners point of view, what they want to listen to and not what he/she wants to talk about. The RJ has to feel the vibe of the city and accordingly speak on such topics. The RJ must know what the listeners want so that they can connect to the listener immediately. Where do you see yourself a decade from now? I see a real fat bank balance, a better car, I want to be slimmer. I also want to move to television, do some reality shows or journalism. I am really inspired by Barkha Dutt and I want to do something like that. Maybe I would do a travelogue, and show the world to people as a female traveling to all corners of the world. Which segment of your show do you enjoy the most – Love meter, Setting, Confession or Happy to you? Confessions give me satisfaction, because when I hear a confession I have to come up with instant answers and I manage to do that every time. Many times, people call up the next day to thank me and tell me that the solution I offered has worked for them. It is heartening to see so many people opening up, from a female confessing about her lesbian tendencies, to a daughter-in-law confessing about her father-in-law molesting her, to small kids confessing about taking things from friends in school.

the listeners, specially for the confessions. This is because I do not fake any emotions, if my callers are sad, I feel sad for them, if they are angry I am angry and if they are happy I am happy for them! I just tell them whats on my mind and that is why they connect more with me as they see me as their friend! If I tell them to extend their hand and touch me, they actually do that and feel good! Thats how I connect with them. You know, radio is the biggest audio visual medium, even though we cannot see people, we can just connect with them on an unbelievable level. Imagine that it is the year 2010 and you are still working in radio. What do you see yourself doing? I am sure I would be doing radio, because I just love it. Even if I am promoted to a really senior position, I would still be doing a show. It is very important for me to connect with the people and to be on-air. I would probably be more involved in training the new RJs, and guiding them in this journey, already I am part of the RJ mentor programme here as I am a senior RJ now.

I love patching up things for people because I don’t like to see people around me unhappy.

Have you ever faced a difficult caller? How do you handle such callers? One caller has been sending me a bouquet of flowers everyday, for the last couple of months. I have been thanking him on air, but one day I forgot to do it and he landed up in my office, saying that he had to hear my voice everyday and he wanted to go out on date with me! I was shocked, but I had a good talk with him and then I told him I could have coffee with him and we went to the office cafeteria. So, it is important that we handle callers and fans in the best manner possible. A few callers do say that they want a “setting” with me, but I just tell them ki main setting karatui hu, karti nahi hun! And it is all taken well and we laugh about it! These are some of the difficult calls I get, but normally all my callers are very nice to me. How do you get people to confess their deepest thought on air? It has happened over a period of time. I believe I have a good understanding of human psyche, and that is why people like talking to me. It did not take long for me to build trust with www.radioduniya.in

Plus, radio pe meri photo aani chaiye in 2010! By then Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure technology would have developed so much that this dream can come true! What would the style of RJing be in the times to come? I think there would be a lot more talk and the style will be more interactive. The host link is about 60 seconds now, but in the future I think it will be a lot longer and people would like to listen to more talk. Also, there would be greater emphasis on local connect and RJs will be talking to people while they are on the streets, in malls or waiting at traffic signals. I think this connect with people is really going to increase manifold in the times to come. What is your dream for the future of radio in 2010? I think there will be more radio stations in each city in 2010, every city will have 8-10 radio station and people will have greater choice. Also, I feel in 2010, there will be greater employment opportunities in radio, it will be like the BPO wave that swept the job industry. The reach and spread of radio will only grow in the times to come and so will the money involved in the medium. Radio will be everywhere, because everyone will have their own cars and mobiles with FM radio!!!

Snapshot Queries: The 5 most important things in my life .....

Family, friends, credit cards, mobile phone, my listeners When not on-air, I am .... Dancing and acting in front of the mirror I live by the mantra ........ Be happy, speak happy Will never forget ....... When Shahrukh Khan got married, I had a heart attack! Also, the caller who sends me flowers everyday Love listening to...... Depending on my mood, I listen to everything, name it and I listen to it! Music is my soul Love watching...... All Shahrukh Khan movies and English movies.... My USP...... I am real, I do not fake anything My epitaph would read........ I am dead, but am I alive in your thoughts?

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

training

Indian institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It was set up with the objectives to provide training to the information and publicity personnel of Central and State Governments, organise training and research in the use and development of mass communication, make available facilities for training and research to meet the information and publicity needs of the public and private sector industries. Radio Duniya spoke to Prof. S R Chari, Professor of Broadcast Journalism, who heads the Department of Radio and Television Journalism to find out more. How and when did IIMC decide to enter the field of radio training? We started in 1997, and it was more due to the television boom rather than radio training requirements. Radio was added later on, because we have a tradition of training news readers for All India Radio and Doordarshan, it was at the back burner at that point of time. With the FM revolution coming in, we considered developing a more serious syllabus for radio training in a professional manner. We are on the verge of developing short courses of 3 months and 6 months duration on radio jockeying. We plan to start a 1 year training programme on radio management as well. The institute is working hard towards its efforts in converting IIMC into a central university. Once that happens we will be able to do lots more. What kind of radio training does IIMC offer? What sets IIMC apart from other media training institutes in the country? We have a training programme called Radio and Television Journalism. Our focus is more on news and current affairs. www.radioduniya.in

We also have a training programme on community radio, which we call as Developmental Radio Broadcasting. As of now, we do not have a training programme specifically for FM broadcasting. In terms of programming our focus is more on voice training, broadcast language, radio anchoring and radio scripting. These are the areas that we consider essential in our radio training programme. The jockeys should identify with what the listeners want if they want to be successful in what they are doing. They must be able to take up social issues, public issues, educational issues and health issues at a public platform so that these can be discussed properly. We have Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best library and our students have access to more than 20 thousand volumes of books only on radio, television and the media. So, in terms of infrastructure and set-up we are better off than other institutes. We have a very serious approach to training and our syllabus is very professional. We have a tradition of training All India Radio and Doordarshan news broadcasters. There is a systematised structure of training here which involves voice training to the breathing exercises to use microphones properly. 41

the semi-urban villages of this area. We have done lots of programmes with community participation, where they have decided on the programming and everything else. Last year, one of our students came up with a people’s movement programme during the rainy season, to make people more aware about dengue fever. We adopted a village close by for this and students spread out in the village and adjoining areas, where we had a live on-air debate on how to fight this menace. Many people came forward with their own suggestions, in fact the community came up with better suggestions than the Municipal Commission of Delhi. Some suggestions have also been implemented with wonderful results and have made life much easier for the people of the community. So, our students are not only doing shows on radio but interacting with the community and making a difference at the grassroot level as well. In the present scenario job-guarantee is a major factor for students when they enroll for a course. What is the kind of placement opportunities that IIMC offers to its students? The placements are improving, in fact the radio placements are much better now. AIR along with a large number of private FM stations are more than willing to take our students. As of now the placements are really encouraging. In fact most of our students have more than one job offer in hand at a time, often even before their convocation Every year the placement is 100%, and the pay scale is also increasing with time. Last year, the highest pay package was bagged by one of our students who joined a radio company. Can you tell us more about the faculty at the institute? The faculty that we have here for radio training is composed of people from the radio industry itself. The rest of the faculty is guest faculty who come from time to time. The guest faculty has professionals from the field of public broadcasting as well as from private stations. The students get to learn from the best of radio people at IIMC. What is the present size of the batches? How many batches are being run at present? We have a batch of 40 students for both radio and television. Till last year we had a batch of 30, but with implementation of the OBC quota the number has gone up by 10.

As of now, the only issues is that the students move off after completion of their courses which are mostly of one year duration. Once we are granted the status of a university, we hope to get students who will continue with us for a longer duration and then our programmes and initiatives can be sustained for a longer time. Also, we are not always successful with the programmes, but we try to do them so that the community can benefit. What is your view on the radio industry in the country? Radio is growing, particularly due to the new life given to it with the FM revolution. The revisited government policy on radio has helped revive the industry. I feel community radio is going to be the future as lot more power will go to the people, the democratisation of radio will be helpful. I think as awareness spreads, more and more people will come into the fold of community radio. Upcoming community radio stations can take help from the existing ones, to know the whole process better. I feel radio has tremendous future and prospects. It is a very healthy developmental potential for the country, particularly in the rural hinterland. This is not just the potential of community radio stations, but also of FM radio stations. I feel that there is a great scope for language channels. I don’t think radio has saturated.

Are there any plans of expansion – in terms of training syllabus or geographical expansion to other cities? We have another branch in Denkanal, Orissa, where we offer a course in print journalism. We are planning to introduce some radio training programmes there as well. Can you tell us about the community radio at IIMC – Apna Radio? Does it play an important role in giving hands on training to the students? We have completed about two years of our community radio services. During this time we have tried to adopt some of 42

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

What are you views on the growth of radio training institutes in the country, with the growing number of FM channels? In my view there are absolutely no training institutes in the country and whatever little we have is inadequate to meet the demands of the industry. In fact there is a serious thinking required on this. This is also linked with the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to issue more licenses, so newer genres like news, sports, current affairs etc. will come up as the industry grows. With more licenses coming up, there is going to be constraint of manpower. A serious syllabus needs to be developed for training manpower for the industry, most of the current syllabus and curriculum is inadequate as they focus on making the students talk like a jockey. Generally, these training institutes have some celebrity coming and voicing their way of speaking on-air to the students which is not at all a professional way of training new entrants. No serious thinking has been put into course development. What can be a viable solution to this issue of lack of quality training in the country? We have done and continue to do short courses on training. IIMC could be a nodal institute for training the trainers. We cannot train everybody, but we can train the trainers so that they can train the professionals. Couple of institutes including www.radioduniya.in

IIMC can do this and then it can have a cascading affect of having a larger number of trained professionals in the field. The existing university communication courses have no real idea about radio training. I think the UGC should now think about having a professional think-tank to evolve a structured, professional training programme for radio, particularly due to the immense growth seen and experienced by the medium. Being a good broadcaster is not necessarily being a good trainer. There are many misconceived notions about this and as a result many institutes opened up by companies that are in the field of broadcasting have met with utter failure. Training needs to be handled by a dedicated group of professionals who can develop a structured training that can help the industry. Do you feel there should be greater synergy between the industry demands and the kind of training given to students? Yes, absolutely, synergy is a must! In fact IIMC is one institute that has almost the entire faculty from the industry. This linkage helps students understand the industry better. The icing on the cake is when icons from the industry visit us and motivate the students from time to time. They bring with them some of the latest developments and trends in the industry. This is very essential for the students to feel inspired and motivated and also learn about the latest developments in the industry. 43

Delhi’s Radio City came up with a neverbefore initiative in the history of Indian FM radio! The station launched its mega initiative ‘Celebrating Changing Delhi’ in support with Telemission Media Private Limited. Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM felicitated Honourable Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit for her invaluable contribution in the transformation of Delhi during the inauguration of the campaign. Speaking at the inaugural Purohit said, “Delhi is changing and Radio City, being the sound of this progressive, changing city, has changed to reﬂect the very energy and life-force of the Capital. Our ‘Celebrate Changing Delhi’ initiative is a ﬁtting tribute to all those who have toiled over the years to present Delhi the quality of life it enjoys today. Teaming up with Delhi Government and citizens alike, allows us as an FM station, to truly converge in celebration of everything that is good about Delhi.”

Radio City’s mega ‘Celebrating Changing Delhi’ is a month long celebration of the four key themes instrumental in changing the face of Delhi today - infrastructure, entertainment, youth and lifestyle. Reminding Delhiites on how their city has changed for the better, Radio City’s ‘Celebrating Changing Delhi’ will have one week dedicated to celebrating each of the four key themes. For each week beginning August 18, Radio City will devote all its attention to celebrating one aspect of either Delhi’s efﬁcient infrastructure, roads and transport system, world-class lifestyle and entertainment options, or youth hangouts. Allowing the listener on the street to voice his take on this ‘behtar’ city, a grand Radio City caravan will parade around Delhi for a whole month connecting Delhiites involving the entire city. Shiney Ahuja and director Kunal Shivdasani were ‘hijacked’ by Delhi’s Radio City to join RJ Simran in a road show as part of the initiative at Rajeev Chowk, CP. Ushering the FM station’s initiative in true Whatte Fun style, the actor along with the director of the movie ‘Hijack’, stepped in to support this campaign, which celebrates changing Delhi.

September 2008

| Radio Duniya

ommun ty Rad o

news CR News

Satara based NGO gets CR licence A Maharashtra based NGO Mann Vikas Samajik SansthaMVSS has acquired the licence to run a community radio becoming one of the first NGOs in the country to join the CR (community radio) network. The NGO works for empowering the women in rural areas and got the license for Aswad village in Satara. Chetna Gala Sinha, President, MVSS asserts, “Many NGOs had applied with the I&B Ministry and we were the first ones to obtain it. The radio station would be an extension of our NGO activities and will be used as a tool to propagate our financial plans.” MVSS had applied for the licence last year. The radio station will go on-air from 15 September and will initially broadcast for four hours daily. The NGO hasn’t yet coined the name of the radio station, but is working on the conception of the programming. The programmes would be designed on the lines of health, self development; cultural, self financing, micro finance loans, and changes in the rate of interest, programmes like local quiz competitions for the kids are planned.

However, looking at the response, we might decide to go on air full day on weekends.”

MVSS radio volunteer and technical support Reena Ray points out, “We have shortlisted the morning and evening slots because these are the times we might be able to reach a mass audience.

The NGO Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha is based in Maharashtra and Karnataka and operates in areas of Sangli, Ratnagiri and Raigad.

Punjab children learning through radio

Community radio station for Bihar farmers soon

Thousands of primary schools are being provided education through Radio in Punjab, as part of the Sarva Sikhsa Abhiyan (education for all) by the Punjab government.

The Government of Bihar will set up community radio station, the first for farmers in the eastern Indian state. It will inform and educate them about agriculture, social issues and various government schemes. “Bihar will set up its first community radio station for farmers to inform and educate them,” Bihar Agriculture Minister Nagmani said. Decks have been cleared for setting up the community radio station following clearance by the central Government and approval of funding for it.

To make the initiative successful, radio sets have been provided to 13,000 primary schools in the State. The objective is to make education accessible to those children who cannot attend a regular school. Launched on August 7, “Learning Through Radio” programme of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is meant for students of the government primary school. It includes general knowledge, languages, and regular curriculum. Government schoolteachers today impart lessons to the primary schoolchildren through All India Radio as an attempt to improve the quality of education provided at the State-run schools. “We have benefited a lot from radio since it enhances our general knowledge. We should listen to the radio as the programmes help us immensely, just as our parents and teachers do,” said a teacher.”Radio is very beneficial for us. It answers our questions very well,” added another.

Nagmani said that centre had cleared the setting up of a low power transmitter for the community radio station under the Media Support to Agricultural Extension programme. After Jharkhand, it is now the turn of thousands of farmers in rural Bihar to swing to the tunes of the community radio station. The Agriculture Minister said the state government had submitted a proposal to set up four community radio stations but the centre had approved only one at present. “The state government plans to approach the centre again in this connection,” he said. The station will transmit to a radius of around 20 km. Initially it will air two to three hours’ programme a day. The programmes will be made in the local language to attract more farmers. Community radio is expected to play a positive role in enhancing agriculture development in Bihar.

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

Development Alternatives (DA) obtained license to set up a community radio station in Bundelkhand. Christened Bundelkhand 90.4, it is slated to be launched in September, 2008. Radio Bundelkhand 90.4 is named after the rich culture and history of the area, it is located in Taragram, the campus of Development Alternatives, (DA). With this launch, Orchha is set to have its own community radio station, probably the first to go on air in India. The station will operate at 100 Watts Effective Radiated Power (ERP), with an antenna that is mounted at nearly 30 metres from ground level. Radio Bundelkhand has already got a fully functional studio and transmission system set up, courtesy Nomad India and the local staff on campus. On 15th of August a team of 24 community reporters went on air and broadcast a programme.

policy, issues of ownership and management, sustainability and recruitment. In addition to developmental programmes for the benefit of the community, the station will broadcast local music. Bundelkhand has a rich culture of singing local songs for almost each and every occasion. The station has worked as a motivating factor for the females of that region and this was evident during the planning programme where six girls attended the training.

The CR studio now houses a Yamaha 12 channel mixer for transmission, 2 TAPCO 6 channel mixers for editing, three workstations, three 3 microphones with gypsum board used for acoustics. There is also a transmitter of 50 watts with an antenna. The transmitter and antenna are mounted at the DA hostel, and about connected by feeder cable to the studio, which is about 200 meters away.

Radio Bundelkhand has been conceptualised as a radio which will speak in Hindi and Bundelkhandi, address peoples problems, sing local folk songs, encourage local talent, document local culture, and encourage all people to participate in all activities. With such a solid foundation, the station is sure to go from strength to strength.

Radio Duniya spoke to R Sreedher, Director, CEMCA on the launch of Bundelkhand FM. He said “I am extremely happy to note that Bundelkhand CR is being launched as the first NGO run community radio in Madhya Pradesh. Development Alternatives are the first to use a new NOMAD transmitter whose development was supported by UNESCO. While wishing them every success, I wish that the station make use of the frequency to the maximum extent”.

Development Alternatives has been following up consistently with the license application and has finally succeeded in launching the country’s first NGO led community radio. A project planning workshop was organised for the DA team in association with Maara, where it was decided that a community based management committee would be formed. A community based programming schedule would be constituted. The project planning workshop looked at the road ahead and discussed key issues like developing programme, advertising and personnel

He added “I would like to see the radio broadcasting at least 12 hours a day and all the ideas which are originating from the CR Forum gets translated into action here. I hope the radio does not take on the easier path of coming into prominence by being ‘anti-establishment’. We have enough sources available to tackle the corrupt politicians and officials. I hope Development Alternatives devises new formats and projects which will ultimately result in economic development of the area in the coverage zone.”

www.radioduniya.in

The populations served by effective media for development also ensures their active participation overcoming the barriers.

Introduction Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a clue to discovering the single most effective medium for development: everybody has one, but it is often overlooked. What is it? Your own voice. When people talk and listen to each other, using basic communication techniques to gather and present information they deem important, development projects benefit. Taking advantage of this vital medium is easy, as start up costs are low and there is no special equipment to maintain, other than the conviction that local knowledge is valuable. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at the process that has enabled communities to establish and sustain their own communication for development, including nearly 30 low power FM radio stations in West Africa.

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

As policymakers and technicians debate the advantages and drawbacks of various media for development, the intended beneficiaries are often ‘living in darkness’ without the ability to communicate local news. People who are impacted by development may be poor and illiterate, but they are not stupid. In fact, their ability to live at subsistence level testifies to the rich resources within each individual. However, they often lack opportunities to share their wisdom and be heard. Everywhere in the world, even the poorest people recognise a microphone. They know it’s a device that makes information go a long way. And the very simple gesture of pointing to one’s ear lets everyone know they are being heard. These are the foundations of communication for development. Very simple drawings enable everyone to clearly see the agenda for a community discussion.

Counting the voices There are no barriers to participating in community communication: everyone, regardless of age, social status, education, language or ability, is included. Anyone who shows up is invited to join a circle, big enough that each person can see and be seen, a fundamental statement about equality. Everyone has a voice that is respected and heard by the group. Valuing novices is important in this forum, meaning that all genuine questions are noted. It’s also valuable to signify understanding with simple gestures (like a fist with thumb up) so everyone can show that he/she agrees. Finally, each person speaks only for her/himself, and uses his/her most comfortable language. This further emphasises that every speaker is valued.

which shows each question as a series of simple images and words. Each person notes the responses and introduces her/his partner to the group. This transparent process makes it easy to verify information, even without a shared language or literacy. When people speak about what is important to them, they are often talking about development. Health, livelihoods, safety and politics are frequent topics of conversation. All stakeholders can participate, government officials, elected representatives, NGO staff, funders as well as children, women and men, elders, disabled people and family members. Traditional media for development projects often set out to change local situations and behaviours. Yet communication that is simple to replicate can go a long way toward achieving the ultimate purpose: that people improve their lives by communicating with each other about local customs. In many ways, they are experts on development. And they build skills very quickly. Once they have found their voices in the circles, community members are often eager to reach out to others using the simple drawings, gestures and exercises. As they gather and present information to people who are important to them, they learn about target audiences and approaches that work with different segments of the population.

Variable solutions As people use this community communication medium, it becomes clear that no ‘one size fits all’ solution exists. This is an opportunity to challenge conventional

Participants practice sharing information by interviewing each other. This activity follows a script that they design together,

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alternatives, including solar panels to reduce electricity costs. Where governments demand regulation, or equipment is scarce, people find ways to effectively share knowledge and culture. Sometimes they use a megaphone, or a public address system with speakers and an amplifier. Boomboxes can be a conduit for recordings or receiving local broadcasts. Regardless of how the authorities define media, there will always be people who want to communicate merely by using their own voices. The advantage of community communication is the transparent, inclusive method of gathering and presenting information, so the beneficiaries themselves, rather than outside organisations, conduct outreach and surveys.

images of media, and craft new media that work in sustainable development. For instance, in post-conflict Liberia, where resourceful people began very low power radio broadcasts using old boomboxes, young volunteers answered the question of ‘WHO is community radio’ by naming everyone from shoeshine boys and criminals to undertakers and aunties. One person knew that effective media for development could sound just like ‘my best friend.’ Similarly, youth groups in India’s Himalaya Mountains realised that there are many categories of students, and dozens of different walas who have valuable knowledge about their communities. Perhaps the kabadiwalas and radiwalas know more about their neighbours than educated people from higher castes because they pay attention what people use and discard. These community members are inspired to create programmes for themselves and their peers, because they know the value of communication that truly relates to their circumstances. Many narrowcast and broadcast programmes originate at a local tea shop. Experience with community communication helps in deciding whether to adopt mass media technology for development. Everyone who has heard a recording of her/his own voice remembers how it sounded. Local residents can ensure that more people have that opportunity, even without fancy equipment. Mobile phones have recording and playback capability, so everyone can have a chance to participate. The most important aspect is talking and listening to each other, and devising a system that can be sustained by its users to support that dialogue. From UNESCO to grassroots initiatives such as Nomad India, NGOs are sourcing durable low cost equipment for community radio licensees. They are part of the conversation with community members, sharing information on affordable

In India today, states and regions are targeted for development by many different agencies with little coordination at the local level. The outcomes these projects intend to achieve are very good, yet the delivery is cumbersome when people don’t talk with each other. Changing the communication to include everyone in a literacy-optional dialogue may not be easy for funders and project managers, but it is intuitive for many people, especially those who don’t have access to media.

Effective participatory media The populations served by effective media for development also support those media with their participation. People who know the power of a microphone and an ear may ultimately be more powerful agents for positive change than a fully equipped television studio, because they are able to reach their target audiences with meaningful messages. The foundation of successful media for development is empowering all local voices, not just a select few. Most of the information required to support sustainable development is already with the intended beneficiaries. However, without practice in simple community communication, they may not believe that they possess that knowledge. When all stakeholders participate in local dialogue, there is a base of support for whatever media they choose to meet their needs. Stay tuned, for they will be listening and talking.

Deborah J. Winsten Conultant Making Local Voices Count, USA The author is GK3 Media Fellow 2007 dwins10@hotmail.com

September 2008 | Radio Duniya

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