I rarely listen to FM radio. And when I do, I often donât know what station I am on. Everything sounds the same. Thatâs why when a friend of mine called me up in the middle of last week to tell me that Radio One 94.3 (in Mumbai) had gone English I was excited. I loved Radio One is its earlier avatars, Go 92.5 (2002-2006) and Radio Mid-day in the 1990s. Anish Trivedi, Rahul Bose, Jaggu and Tarana were all part of my growing up years.
A lot of classics were belted through the day and every night was a different genre. It was good listening. But the advertisers evidently didnât think so. There were hardly any ads on Go causing it to morph into Radio One. It played Bollywood and got its ads. What can you say? The advertiser is always right.
Since 2006 though,India opened up to international music in a big way. Roger Waters, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Akon and Prodigy, all played here. VH1 launched in India to play only English music. DJs from all around the world today vie for a chance to play at Sunburn in Goa.
But this change wasnât reflected in the music that the radio stations played. It was all still Bollywood. That there is an audience for English music was evident, but no one was willing to take a jump. Fever tried it in Mumbai and gave up in a few months.
Indians got their English music fix through Facebook, Youtube, iPods and what have you. Itâs this market that Radio One is tapping into. âIn 2006, âEnglishâ was still a niche play with a limited listenership,â says Tariq Ansari, chairman and managing director of Next Mediaworks, that owns and operates Radio One in partnership with BBCÂ Worldwide. âIn the last five years urban India has been exposed through mass media, the Internet and travel, to a global mindset,â he says. Ansari stresses that Radio One is not an English radio station. It is âInternationalâ.
English music listeners tend to think of themselves as cool, they try to stay on top of various trends and are a higher value audience. Ansari says advertisers are coming to them to tap that market. âThere are a large group of advertisers who do not use radio at all at present due to the undifferentiated mass nature of the business. We have already started getting calls from these advertisers looking to associate with Radio One,â he says. Ad rates at Radio One are at a premium compared to other channels.
Thatâs all very well but is there going to be a shift in content? âWe are not just going to be a radio station. We are going to be an infotainment station,â says Vineet Singh Hukmani, managing director, Radio One. âBusiness, entertainment, sports, weâll cover all that. Except news. Anything you can expect to read in a Times of India or Hindustan Times will be covered and held together by English music,â he says.
Inevitably, comparisons will be drawn with Go. But Go was a ânicheâ station at that point. It operated only in Mumbai. It didnât have scale. Radio One operates in seven cities across India and they are betting big on Mumbai and Delhi. 1.8 million people in these two cities watch English programming and 7 million are on Facebook and Twitter. Thatâs the target audience for Radio One. And hopefully for their advertisers as well.
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