It has been a little more than
two months since I became a
part of the radio industry as
CEO of Radio ONE 94.3FM. We
at Radio ONE have been focussing
heavily on our strategy of ‘community
engagement’. My whole
team has been doing three things
– what is participative
for our listeners, what is truly
differentiated, and what is
desirable for our community
and not the audience at large.
We have had our own track in
place to tell us when we do
well and when we don’t.
Now with RAM coming in we will
be better informed and able
to get better with time. We
are extremely grateful to our
listeners and business partners
for having faith in us and we
will never let them down on.
We expected the growth and positions
that we have achieved in RAM
and am very sure our team will
get more consistent with time
thanks to this continuous data.
Some myths have been broken
rather quick after the RAM data
got released and it was quite
amusing to witness various stations
claiming one position after
the other. It reminded me of
school when the results were
out and everyone wanted to know
who came first and who stood
first in a particular subject.
What mattered even then as it
does now, is one doing better
and better than oneself as time
goes. It was most amusing to
see market leaders of the past
lose their cool and question
the data itself.
Therefore it dawned that what
is important is to use this
robust data to plan our stations
better and use it as an internal
benchmark for excellence. It
was also quite clear that using
heavy marketing spends to fuel
speculation of various No. 1
and No. 2 positions in the form
of sub-text and asterixes is
a wasteful exercise as now RAM
will ensure that all brands
do their homework in choosing
what’s best for their
audience. I am given to believe
that in the last few weeks,
many brands have changed their
plans to give them more focus
using RAM.
Let us come to the realities
and new norms that have been
formed and what all of us should
look forward to:
1. That no one station can be
the No. 1 across age groups
and time bands and time spans.
The era of proclaimed dominance
and legacy is over. So one would
have to look at radio plans
with multiple stations satisfying
reach frequency and impact objectives.
2. That no station can remain
in a particular position of
strength unless they work at
it continuously. So, today anyone
can claim to be a No. 1 or 2.
The question is: Have we figured
out first how we are going to
stay in that position and what
contributes to that?
3. That is better to be realistic
and look at data (internally)
and find the real strengths
and weaknesses rather than try
to insult the intelligence of
advertisers and clients with
short-lived claims. The whole
radio fraternity can risk looking
petty and opportunistic.
4. That ii is better to use
valuable radio funds and make
them hardworking to get close
to one’s communities than
to fund the targets of other
media like Print, TV and Outdoor
with the claims. We as a company
have hardly advertised but grown
in line with our internal targets
of both business yield and community
affinity as we are concentrating
on both on-air and off-air programming.
5. There is no such thing called
a ‘strong’ network
of radio stations -- each station
in each city needs focus to
improve, much like in the restaurant
business where people will come
to you if they like the food
and not because you have 100
restaurants across the country.
We have concentrated on Delhi
and Bangalore, made it rise
as per our standards. Now we
are focusing on Mumbai and then
one by one to the other centres
till we become ‘tasty
to listen to’ in the metros.
We also believe that the smaller
cities will continue to diminish
yield of the network brands
as advertisers will drive prices
downwards in those markets.
People have been calling us
up to congratulate us on being
the ‘consistent No. 2
in Delhi or the No. 1 Bollywood
station in Bangalore’.
Some have been telling us how
we have beaten so many stations.
We humbly accept everyone’s
wishes but will continue to
remind everyone and ourselves
that we will all do well in
the new era of FM if we focus
on the new norms of evaluation.
What the data tells us is that
we are on the right track and
improving, and need to concentrate
on ourselves rather than others
to achieve our objectives. Thank
you RAM for opening our eyes.
Thank you listeners for participating
in Radio One every day, and
business partners for giving
us a mission to work towards.
Send your comments to Vineet
Singh Hukmani
