Ad rates hike - will the advertiser bite?
The new advertising rates for metros announced by many of the FM radio stations have come into effect recently.
Live bands edge out albums this Navratri
MUMBAI: Till a few years ago, one could see men and women dressed up for the Navratri, swirling their ghaghras and twirling their dandiyas, dancing around a cassette player blaring out prerecorded music.
But today, even in the outskirts of Gujarat, youngsters fancy dancing to the beats of a live band rather than to a CD. Does this mean that the age of Garba cassettes and CDs is over?
Is the drama just beginning?
How long can a listener hear out 'Kabhi kabhi Aditi', on any station he cares to flick to?
The infotainment capsules and snippets like Kamla Ka Hamla and Sud now seem to be morphing into another genre, yet untapped on Indian FM waves.
Continuing govt apathy to news on FM irks industry
Is the chapter on permitting news broadcasts to private FM radio channels over, at least as far as the government is concerned?
This appears to be the view of both Information and Broadcaster Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and I&B Secretary Sushma Singh, who both answered with an unequivocal 'no' recently to media queries whether news would be allowed soon on the FM airwaves.
The move has been perceived by the radio industry as a regrettable step as news is permitted on all other media.
Making music despite the odds
MUMBAI: FM radio operators in small towns have their own set of challenges.
In the third phase of FM radio broadcasting in India, the government plans to issue licences for 680 FM radio stations across 237 cities in the country, mostly very small towns like Achalpur, Bettiah and Churu.
Experts have already cast a doubt on the wisdom of this initiative as nearly 80 per cent of the proposed FM stations fall in very small towns where the FM radio business looks non-viable.
Suddenly spoilt for choice
Maharashtra's cultural capital, which hosted only Radio Mirchi for six years, has four FM players now. Each wants to reign over the Pune airwaves.
The competition in the FM radio space just got hotter in Pune, the university town turned second IT hub of the county that also stakes claim to being the cultural capital of Maharashtra.
Bangalore stations go the Kannada way
The country's first private FM station launched in the garden city almost six years ago. Several other players followed, and in the radio space, Bangalore has turned out to be one city that never let complacency get the better of it.
The trend continues, with many stations having executed an about turn in their programming in the last few months in Bangalore, in terms of format, content and jock talk.
Radio Mirchi, Big FM, Radio One, Indigo, Fever, Sun (Suryan), AIR's Rainbow are the other players in the Bangalore airspace.
Composers sound out industry for rights
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy worked on a relatively humble budgeted Johny Gaddar after scheming music for a slate of big banner films. However, the deal was in their favour as the Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer film fetched the trio a plum 50 per cent share of the music rights.
The composer trio will now revel in the royalties, profits and other
opportunities of monetizing the property. The rules of the music game have begun to modify and this has encouraged 100 odd similarly creative minds in the industry to demand their rights. The rules within the industry are changing, if slowly.
"We would rather use our own local news" - FM players
It's news, but not good news to the FM radio industry in the country. I and B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi's statement in the Rajya Sabha that the ministry is evaluating TRAI's recommendation that FM be allowed to air news handed out by Doordarshan and All India Radio in phase III has not gone down too well with the players.
RADIO STATIONS -Stake Claim to Slice of IPL hype
The Indian Premier League has given radio stations another event to piggyback on. Most have tied up with teams specific to their cities, but there are hardly any exclusive tie ups.
