MUMBAI: Fever 104 FM Kolkata has achieved a casting coup of sorts, bringing an extremely popular, near-iconic pair of radio presenters together for a show especially created as the perfect vehicle to re-launch the duo through a concept that will blend their strengths with the most popular retro songs from some of the most melodious decades of Hindi film music.

It has signed up the popular RJ pair of Rakesh and Pragya, who are returning to Radio in Kolkata with a new weekend show, â€?Rakesh, Pragya aur Popcorn' --  a retro show in which the RJs will take listeners down memory lane on a musical journey from the 60s to the 90s, along with a brand new character, Popcorn, who, incidentally, is a scooter from the 60s, but with a mind and voice of its own.

Rakesh, Pragya and Popcorn will play out 30 of the biggest hits from each year, counting down from 1960 to 1990, and will air weekends -- Saturdays noon to 3 pm, Sundays 10 am to 1 pm, and again 6 pm to 9 pm.

Signing up Rakesh and Pragya will help Fever FM add differentiation into its content at  the crucial presenter level, which, along with the quality of the music,  is what really determines the soul and personality of a program. Both are well known and popular as musically knowledgeable presenters, and have a fan following since around 1994, when they started to make their presence felt with stations like Times FM, which had nationally launched on 15 August 1993 from Mumbai.

That's precisely why we called this show Rakesh, Pragya aur Popcorn,... says Gaurav Sharma, NPH Fever 104 FM. In the world of radio, Rakesh and Pragya belong together as naturally as, say, bread and butter! They are radio icons in culturally vibrant Kolkata. They have travelled across the state, conducting workshops,  and have written several books on Radio. With their years of Radio experience and their love for and knowledge of Bollywood and Bangla music  across the years, I am sure our listeners will love the show....

For its research for the ratings, the Fever Programming team will use a mix of various elements like rankings of countdown shows that were present back then, album sales and any other recorded information available to suggest popularity and rank of songs. Says Sharma, Equally important elements will be requests from our listeners for their own favourite songs from the year in question, as we have to make the show relevant to today's audiences. There will be reward-driven contests asking today's listeners to rate their favourite songs, and identify the top song of a particular year....

That apart, Rakesh and Pragya, who were always strong on interacting with their radio audiences, will add several other interactive elements for listeners. They will present a lot of trivia, dialogues and other city-linked items of nostalgia,... says Sharma. Kolkata landmarks, locations where famous musicians, singers, music directors like Louis Banks, Bappi Lahiri, Usha Utthup, respectively, performed, for example, along with many others, will be visited by Rakesh and Pragya as they journey across the years in vibrant Kolkata on Popcorn, their scooter.... However, for variety's sake from week to week, the show  could jump across not just years, but even decades.

Describing Rakesh and Pragya as old hands at radio, Fever 104 FM Business Head S Keerthivasan  says, They understand the pulse of the city, and being Bollywood-crazy, they bring their own unique flavor to movie- and music trivia... 

So, Rakesh, Pragya Aur Popcorn sounds like an interesting concept with potential, considering how Retro  music content today is believed to be shoring up TVRs on music channels like B4U. Sharma and his programming team are counting upon the strength of this concept and the considerable advantage of having the popular, knowledgeable and experienced Rakesh and Pragya to deliver high ratings. How it fares only time will tell.