The Return of Radio
An executive in a car enjoys "Macarena" on FM and a farmer on his bicycle enjoys "Geet gata chal" on Vividh Bharthi….radio seems to offer a mix that appeals to people across various cross-sections of society. Tracing back history, FM was launched in 1977 in Chennai (yup, that early!!). As it gained popularity it was rolled out to other parts of urban India like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta and Panaji.

A more recent development is the entry of a large number of private producers. Radio City from Star Television, Radio Mirchi from Bennett & Coleman (read TOI), Go 92.5 from the Mid Day group, Today from Living Media Group and Win from the Millennium. Like television and print this medium too is becoming more and more competitive, with all of them fighting for the top position.

But what does the present scenario look like, a comprehensive account of where the new players are operating and how they plan to expand in various markets.

Radio Mirchi
Wholly owned subsidiary of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., Radio Mirchi is the FM brand of ENIL(Entertainment Network India Ltd.). With their past experience with Times FM and its success, BCCL launched their new radio channel Mirchi in Indore in October'01, thereby spreading its network to Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Though the programming includes regular music, chat shows, educative programs etc, the endeavor is to position the brand as 'Youthful', thus attracting a whole lot of young audiences. Which does not mean that the young executives or the housewives are to be ignored. The programming caters to their needs as well by dishing out programmes like 'On the Move' in the morning for the executives, 'Chatpati Baatein' in afternoon for the women and Campus Fundas also in the afternoon for the youngsters. With most of the programming being Hinglish, Radio Mirchi is targeted towards the masses. So if you are addressing a large audience, Radio Mirchi is for you.

Radio City
Star Network made its foray into this medium with Bangalore. The metro just lapped up the excitement that the channel had to offer. Star known for being marketing savvy understood the requirement of the hour and set everybody's foot tapping in Bangalore, with good quality music, professional RJs and programming that met the local flavour.

Then they rolled out to Lucknow and very recently to Mumbai. The programming content is similar to that of Mirchi. What sets it apart from Mirchi is City's openness towards innovations and wacky ideas. Creative packaging is its advantage. It is more cost effective and therefore is giving Mirchi a run for its money.

Radio Midday
Radio Midday with it's 'GO 92.5' is another player in Mumbai. They seem to have found a niche for themselves and clearly positioned themselves as 'the English Channel with a local/Indian image'. The channel targets the 25 year old, SEC AB, educated, white collar executive whose needs are clearly English music and programming. Therefore, a focus on international artists popular in India. Not to say that big Indian artists with big fame do not feature in their mix.
So if you want to target a niche population with a fastidious ear for English music you know where to be!

WIN
Millennium's 'WIN' launched in Mumbai towards the end of April'02.

So those who thought that radio is a background medium need to think twice. The medium seems to be infested with a lot of vibrancy and there are more exciting times to look forward to.

What to watch out for:

Center	Players	Expected Roll out
Delhi	Radio City Radio Mirchi Radio Mid Day Millennium Today	September
Calcutta	Radio Mirchi	September
Chennai	Radio Mirchi Radio Midday	September December
Cuttack Bhubneswar Jabalpur	Radio Mirchi	December

All this translates to more and better options for the listener, but this is not a hunky-dory situation for the planners. They will have to be cautious about where to invest. So gone are the days when the planners could simply rely on AIR FM - a channel with assured listenership. With fragmentation setting in and the niches emerging, it would be imperative that the right channel be chosen for the brand.