Radio is a very very very personal publicly available companion. A companion whom inspite of dating for the whole life without a formal legal marriage one doesn’t get threatened, or get to face the pangs of illness and thereby nurturing or get to have to take to shopping. Best is you don’t get those nasty looks from the society who think if you are not marrying the one whom you date, then you should be being shot in the public for propagating a culture devoid of moral values.
Also I am not getting into the details of the stupidity which our society displays by accusing you for those un-moralistic acts when the truth is that, its our innocent radio which probably might have been giving the winds to your oh so lovey dovey associations. Thanks to such stupidity else radio would have been dead long ago. The same radio which in India has grown from This is All India Radio, the news read by… to, AIR FM Stereo all the time in Shibani’s voice. The private stations well they started on a high except perhaps maybe Radio Midday and Times FM which technically being dead can be safely omitted for the sake of KISS(Keep it simple samjhe? )
Okay go ahead and loathe me for giving that extra respect to the set of radio stations (run by AIR) which appears to you in your imagination as the one with ragged clothes(not jeans else you would have drooled over it), dirt all over which needs a good wipe by you to figure out what is there really. And not to mention with voices which appear to you as those coming from the long dug and long covered graves , after all, the Jocks out there have to rotate themselves a good 270 degrees if not full 360 degrees to push all those buttons and levers and kick the butts of the analogue machines which include even the spool tape machines, all this, while they are happily chatting to glory with you. Mind you this is the real reason of why sometimes they appear to be sounding as if they are dying or rising from the death.
Okay so that’s not why I decided to write this today, I mean those reasons stick to being truth like that mole sticks to your skin, lifelong and even beyond and therefore even now, the real reason, the reason of now, has been the RAM rumblings of late. Aha let me enjoy the tease, yes I better after all that’s what one should do when you are the winner and had been called under dogs for ages.
I mean not long ago Mirchi came out with campaign of how everyone believes and understands that radio means them, and no one else, so you be at whatever position it doesn’t matter, and this was to counter the then rising threat from Fever FM. And this came out from the radio station which not only had the first mover advantage (as a Private player) but also remained an undisputed and unchallenged Number one for then 6 years and now for almost almost 8 years before they got displaced. Yes Mirchi this year got displaced by Fever FM in the Week 9 (ending 5th March 2011) which became the New Number One in Delhi.
Everyone said it had to have happened, notwithstanding Naved’s relentless raising the bar performance with the Drive down show called Sunset Samosa, unfortunately no statistics can capture his performance and so truly RAM could never do that. But since I am writing this article based on RAM ratings, I should stay away from critiquing RAM atleast in this very post :D.
Fever came with a calculated game plan , a plan atleast 4 years late. They had a worldwide reputation (Virgin Radio had) of rising to Number 1 in flat 90 days but here it took them years, but man they did it and was it not so obvious that they would? They worked hard towards their plan and finally got to Number 1. I personally don’t like their dual jock humour show (is it breakfast show or still a noon show? ) the reason being they too shamelessly copied (which I am told these days is the number 1 skill needed to be successful) our Hasto Ke Ghar Baste kind of humour but that aside they kept their focus on listeners and did it publicly and over a period of time. Their commitment was all out for everyone to see and I am glad it paid off. But then that’s not what I am trying to write this article for, so lets get on to what I want to write here.
What no one knew and anticipated was how the ICC World Cup will throw their plans and hard work out of the window. Hehehe O man hail the ICC World Cup, it threw Fever to Number 3 and took Mirchi to Number 2 and brought a Station at Number One which never had a plan to become Number one, never cared where it was on the charts and doesn’t even now care or appreciate that it is the Number one station of the National Capital Region and mind you NCR is not the national capital region just based on its classification by Government (for whatever reasons) but it leads the country as the city with maximum number of active listeners year after year. This city boasts of some really great Jocks and therefore its an achievement which should be toasted, cheered, displayed, flaunted and if I was at the helm of affairs at this station I would have ATLEAST got a promo made which would have subtly mocked at all the other radio stations(subtly coz okay because damn it’s a Public Broadcasting Station)
Yes FM Gold 104.6 in Delhi is the NEW NUMBER ONE station in the ALL 12+ TG Group. 2 Weeks back it jointly became Number 1 and as a gesture of being considerate, let Mirchi share that spot then and now its solo number one for the week ending 26th March 2011. Cricket fever will stay for one more week and then things should change but the fact is that at this moment a Public Broadcasting FM Station is Number one!. And in the world where we salute the rising sun(shining sun to be precise) I hail FM Gold and want to congratulate all the folks who are associated with this station and whoever ever worked or contributed to its success and achievement. I know the people at the helm of the station wouldn’t even note this achievement of the station and to them I want to tell, that by celebrating this success they will be celebrating their listeners participation, association and loyalty and so they better do else they will be failing in their commitment to the public of this nation (this is my opinion).
Mirchi and Fever I am hoping this will take you back to the drawing board and bring you back to the ground minus all the pride and perhaps false ego if there was one, and maybe maybe have you bring out some of the Natural programing in your offering.
And for all those who can’t take a new Number 1 especially the ones who were displaced and are going to say well Sports is something which they are NOT allowed to carry yet and therefore in a nation where Cricket is Religion this was bound to happen. To them I want to ask, well what do you have to say about 10-11am Slot of Gold FM which has the maximum number of listeners as per RAM? No cricket was aired between 10-11am, damn this slot has 7.33 Lakhs listeners as per last RAM Ratings and is the number one show at least for the past 3 weeks. All this when my memory fails me to recollect when in the past a show garnered more than 7 Lakh listeners in a RAM Report. So its better to just accept that there is some ‘Gold’ in FM Gold which is shining and its not just Cricket which is giving it that shine.
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Advent of FM Broadcast in India
The Nation with more than couple of billion ears still rely on audible invisible radio waves to feed it with news and entertainment. Most of these ears still have radio as the only source of entertainment, enriching their lives, fuelling dreams, cementing love and bonds, giving wings to learning and bringing the world as close to themselves as their own heartbeat, 24 by 7.
If it wasn’t the advent of modern times where science unravels so many magic that mystery soon would be an extinct word, then radio would have been the most lethal and potent practice and Jocks those magician and witches touching lives of so many people in ways unimaginable. If it was me who learnt Spoken English (BBC - Professor Grammer and Pop Words), practiced written English (A Date with You(DelhiB), In the Mood(National Channel), HeartBeat(RadioMidday - Blore), Saturday Date(RadioMidday - Mumbai)) through radio then It was Ekam who sealed her first job because the interviewer and she both found liking to this one particular Radio Jockey and his favorite song(read myself, song - Ek Din Fursat mein, Film: Zindagi Rocks). There are numerous such stories and each one has its own unique story about how radio touched and embellished and enriched their lives.
So how did radio start in India, well it would be enough if we start this track back from the time we started the FM Broadcast in India. AIR lists July 23, 1977 as the date when the First ever FM Broadcast happened in India and it was from the AIR studios on the Marina beach in Chennai. But this was purely a technological milestone as the programming wasn’t any different from what had been made available through the Medium Wave or Short Wave broadcast (AM Stations) . It took almost another 16 years for it to suddenly get younger and peppier and probably to also change its gender from being the sober, mature male-ish to a more amiable, affable and alluring female-ish. It was 15th August 1993 when first ever Private broadcast went on air from FM Studio in the Broadcasting house (old) off the Parliament Street in Delhi. That was probably the most important of all milestones for the youth of this billion plus country. It kicked in the whole new revolution, suddenly everyone was hooked to these invisible voices, Television took backseat, Radio Jockeys were the rockstars and India ushered into its Golden period of FM Radio Broadcast.
Government was making money and TimesFM (now Radio Mirchi) and Radio1 and Radio Midday(now RadioOne)were producing some of the finest radio shows. The present middle age population of the metro in India owe their first crush to TimesFM and Radio1-RadioMidday for everyone fell for one of Yuri, Roshan Abbas, Rajat Kapoor, Sidharth Kannan, Shamshir Luthra, Meenakshi Rani, Shreja RamaChandran, Parvati Rathore, Jaggu, Tarana, Nikhil Chinappa, Malaika, Ravi Iyaar, Cyrus Broacha and so many others. They were the true stars, peoples star for they could afford to sit right in the middle of their fans without having to bother about being mishandled or losing their privacy. Then came the blow from the Supreme court where TimesFM and Radio1-RadioMidday were asked to vacate their slots from the then 5 Commercial FM stations operating in India (4 Metros + Panaji) called AIR FM - I. With it came an end to the Era of English/Western led Radio.
Suddenly English JockLinks and Western Music wasnt worth for the radio broadcast and the local languages took over. Most of these jocks adapted local languages and joined AIR Payroll(contracts)until 1st July 2001, when in Bangalore, from their studios in Ambassador Towers, Radio City became the first ever 24 by 7 Private Radio Station to broadcast in India. Rohit Barker and Vera M became the first ever voices to bless this world with their antics and music. Once again Radio used English to communicate with listeners and non local music as the first presentation and it was well received by the listeners. This was to in times to come replicate to the rest of the country with Mirchi launching Indore as their first station and Red FM launching their first station in Mumbai. But very soon it was only Radio City(in Bangalore) and Go FM (in Mumbai) left as the nation's only English broadcasting stations with the rest hatching their chickens on the local language. Radio had moved from being a classy, niche, aspiring (a term I use to mirror the capability of radio to infuse and enthuse its listeners) to just being as one of the listeners and helped radio get its advertisers through mass numbers.
GO FM bled and finally died for India wasn’t ready for niche radio yet and the advertisers wanted numbers and this was when the only way one could credibly table numbers was to take one walk down the street for there wasn’t much of a mechanism to present that statistics. Radio lost out on Infotainment and since then till date it has all been an entertainment channel. Round 2 of Private Radio Happened and Zee TV fronting dubious entity which had pushed up the license fee in round 1 wasn’t there to hack up license fee but Reliance led BIG added that mad fuel to the fire and the licenses weren’t coming down a bit. This added the much needed variety to the stations in round 2 but alas radio failed to offer any differentiation. Radio has been just a "one-of-them" and hasn’t yet been able to lead its listeners, failed to give meaningful dreams, that ability to associate a phase of their life with radio. Jockeys are just another voice, typecast, repeated, blared down the eardrum and are just short of becoming nuisance. Maybe, probably as a return of all good work that it did in the past radio is still heard but just heard and not listened to. I will dwell on what radio could do to be listened to in my later blogs.
(Names, Dates and facts are true and probably not registered anywhere except in the heart and mind of a true radio freak like myself, the opinions expressed here are completely mine)
If it wasn’t the advent of modern times where science unravels so many magic that mystery soon would be an extinct word, then radio would have been the most lethal and potent practice and Jocks those magician and witches touching lives of so many people in ways unimaginable. If it was me who learnt Spoken English (BBC - Professor Grammer and Pop Words), practiced written English (A Date with You(DelhiB), In the Mood(National Channel), HeartBeat(RadioMidday - Blore), Saturday Date(RadioMidday - Mumbai)) through radio then It was Ekam who sealed her first job because the interviewer and she both found liking to this one particular Radio Jockey and his favorite song(read myself, song - Ek Din Fursat mein, Film: Zindagi Rocks). There are numerous such stories and each one has its own unique story about how radio touched and embellished and enriched their lives.
So how did radio start in India, well it would be enough if we start this track back from the time we started the FM Broadcast in India. AIR lists July 23, 1977 as the date when the First ever FM Broadcast happened in India and it was from the AIR studios on the Marina beach in Chennai. But this was purely a technological milestone as the programming wasn’t any different from what had been made available through the Medium Wave or Short Wave broadcast (AM Stations) . It took almost another 16 years for it to suddenly get younger and peppier and probably to also change its gender from being the sober, mature male-ish to a more amiable, affable and alluring female-ish. It was 15th August 1993 when first ever Private broadcast went on air from FM Studio in the Broadcasting house (old) off the Parliament Street in Delhi. That was probably the most important of all milestones for the youth of this billion plus country. It kicked in the whole new revolution, suddenly everyone was hooked to these invisible voices, Television took backseat, Radio Jockeys were the rockstars and India ushered into its Golden period of FM Radio Broadcast.
Government was making money and TimesFM (now Radio Mirchi) and Radio1 and Radio Midday(now RadioOne)were producing some of the finest radio shows. The present middle age population of the metro in India owe their first crush to TimesFM and Radio1-RadioMidday for everyone fell for one of Yuri, Roshan Abbas, Rajat Kapoor, Sidharth Kannan, Shamshir Luthra, Meenakshi Rani, Shreja RamaChandran, Parvati Rathore, Jaggu, Tarana, Nikhil Chinappa, Malaika, Ravi Iyaar, Cyrus Broacha and so many others. They were the true stars, peoples star for they could afford to sit right in the middle of their fans without having to bother about being mishandled or losing their privacy. Then came the blow from the Supreme court where TimesFM and Radio1-RadioMidday were asked to vacate their slots from the then 5 Commercial FM stations operating in India (4 Metros + Panaji) called AIR FM - I. With it came an end to the Era of English/Western led Radio.
Suddenly English JockLinks and Western Music wasnt worth for the radio broadcast and the local languages took over. Most of these jocks adapted local languages and joined AIR Payroll(contracts)until 1st July 2001, when in Bangalore, from their studios in Ambassador Towers, Radio City became the first ever 24 by 7 Private Radio Station to broadcast in India. Rohit Barker and Vera M became the first ever voices to bless this world with their antics and music. Once again Radio used English to communicate with listeners and non local music as the first presentation and it was well received by the listeners. This was to in times to come replicate to the rest of the country with Mirchi launching Indore as their first station and Red FM launching their first station in Mumbai. But very soon it was only Radio City(in Bangalore) and Go FM (in Mumbai) left as the nation's only English broadcasting stations with the rest hatching their chickens on the local language. Radio had moved from being a classy, niche, aspiring (a term I use to mirror the capability of radio to infuse and enthuse its listeners) to just being as one of the listeners and helped radio get its advertisers through mass numbers.
GO FM bled and finally died for India wasn’t ready for niche radio yet and the advertisers wanted numbers and this was when the only way one could credibly table numbers was to take one walk down the street for there wasn’t much of a mechanism to present that statistics. Radio lost out on Infotainment and since then till date it has all been an entertainment channel. Round 2 of Private Radio Happened and Zee TV fronting dubious entity which had pushed up the license fee in round 1 wasn’t there to hack up license fee but Reliance led BIG added that mad fuel to the fire and the licenses weren’t coming down a bit. This added the much needed variety to the stations in round 2 but alas radio failed to offer any differentiation. Radio has been just a "one-of-them" and hasn’t yet been able to lead its listeners, failed to give meaningful dreams, that ability to associate a phase of their life with radio. Jockeys are just another voice, typecast, repeated, blared down the eardrum and are just short of becoming nuisance. Maybe, probably as a return of all good work that it did in the past radio is still heard but just heard and not listened to. I will dwell on what radio could do to be listened to in my later blogs.
(Names, Dates and facts are true and probably not registered anywhere except in the heart and mind of a true radio freak like myself, the opinions expressed here are completely mine)
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