Media Radio News
After private FM radio, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has got active on the satellite radio front. Till date, there are no policies or guidelines for satellite radio players in India. The regulator has asked for industry inputs, by January 31, on issues relating to this service. The objective is to prepare a policy framework.
The government is still analysing the financial bids submitted by SBI Caps and PNB Gilts for the rollout of FM radio phase II. Internal discussions are taking place within the information and broadcasting ministry on the way forward on the second phase of FM radio privatisation.
Steep licence fees have substantially curbed the growth of private FM radio in its infancy. The industry incurred a Rs 200-crore loss last year, on top of Rs 110 crore the year before. In spite of such a scenario, FM stations are focussing heavily on special programming for the New Year.
<p align=justify>“It is the ‘connect’ with the people that carries you. You may have the best voice in town but wouldn’t know how to reach out to people. If you really tell people that listen, you are not a super being and there are times when even you can have a bad cold or something stuck on your throat. On some days when you cough, you tell people ‘galle me kuchch attak gaya’ or fumble five times and say, ‘Anu, tujhe kya ho gaya?’ and people understand. What really matters is to be true and real to your listeners.”
Hindustan Times is actively planning to enter the radio space. It is reliably learnt that HT Media Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Virgin Radio Asia, owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, last week.
The revenues of All India Radio (AIR) have increased in 2003-04. AIR earned a revenue of Rs 117 crore, as compared to Rs 102 crore in the previous year, while DD’s revenues fell to Rs 530 crore from Rs 553 crore the year before.
In a bid to avail a prospective channel for sale of its music album, Radio Gandharv – the 24-hour Hindustani classical music channel of WorldSpace Satellite Radio, has inked a deal with Sony Nad – the Indian classical label of Sony BMG Music. The partnership begins with the launch of Radio Gandharv Collectors’ Choice Albums.
Power 107.8 FM is beefing up its marketing initiatives emphasising heavily on events. Catching up the universal spirit of music, the radio station penned a catch-line, ‘Music without frontiers’ and began a series, ‘Power FM Music Files’. The first chapter of the initiative brought in some of the upcoming rock singers to Kolkata from across the world on December 11.
Having the best voice in town is not enough; a RJ has to know how to reach out to people. What really matters is to be true and real to your listeners, says ,Anurita Gupta, RJ for Radio Mirchi's show 'Khoobsoorat'.
In a set of recommendations submitted to the Government on Thursday, relating to the licensing of community radio stations, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has favoured commercial advertising and news on community radio. Trai has however disfavoured government funding of the community radio.
The government is set to fine-tune the FM radio privatisation policy in phase II in such a way that there’s no scope for litigation.
WorldSpace is going to increase its sales, marketing and distribution activities to penetrate Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad by end-2005. As part of this strategy, the satellite radio plans to initiate experiential marketing in all these three cities.
<p align=justify>“Unfortunately, programming is something that you can’t quantify. We undoubtedly have the best minds of the country working for us and we have put in a huge amount of time and resources in training them. Training them involves getting some of the best people across the world and sending them abroad so that they can spend large amount of time with other large networks and benchmark themselves against the best.”
Radio Mirchi is looking to reinforce its image as the top private FM channel, and is undertaking a number of branding initiatives to achieve its objective. The FM channel from the Times Group is all set to revamp itself in the New Year.
TAM Media Research has launched the first-ever Radio Advertising Monitoring Service – Radio AdEx. The first study takes a look into key revenue sources for the radio vis-à-vis television and print. The study claims the potency of radio as a strong medium, where local advertisers account for nearly 75 per cent of total advertising on radio.
WorldSpace India, wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based WorldSpace Asia, has been allowed to set up a call centre and provide services which include establising and managing customer care centres to cater to company’s customers worldwide.
<p align=justify>“The success of a radio jockey depends on the kind of popularity he can generate by inspiring people to pick up the phone and say hello. And, people would talk to you only when you actually reach out to them. That way, I believe, the must-do for a radio jockey is to maintain a down-to-earth attitude so that listeners can comfortably make calls and speak their hearts out. I think this is the most important asset for a good radio jockey.”
The Trai is in consultation with the Department of Space, private FM radio stations and AIR for formulating norms in the area of satellite radio. In addition, US-based consulting firm Telecomm Strategies is in the process of giving an overview of the international scenario in satellite radio.
The tiff between the government and the Trai has taken a new twist, with the regulator insisting that the present high licence fee regime for private FM radio companies is not sustainable.
Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) that runs seven FM radio stations for the Times of India group, has served the government a conditional notice of termination of its FM radio service in Pune.
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