MUMBAI: BIG FM Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Asheesh Chatterjee, who recently attended The Radio Festival in Delhi spoke about radio, BIG FM’s revamp and more in an exclusive interview with Radioandmusic.

Emphasizing on the importance of radio, Asheesh Chatterjee, who was part of an intriguing panel said, “I think radio has been very traditional and one of the oldest mediums of broadcast. It’s a happy feeling that it is celebrating a day. Radio remains a free-to-air medium for the masses, whether it is entertainment, information, and empowerment, it’s a true medium. RJs have come of their own age to become brand ambassadors, community builders, leaders and we are doing our bit by helping the society.”

Further shedding light on the much talked about BIG FM revamp, he added, “We just changed the tagline of BIG FM to Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho, which is all about changing your way of life, looking at things in a different manner. It may be education, your health, smoking, environment, politics, etc., and other taboo subjects. We all can have a much more informed, open-minded conversation on these subjects and then take a more informed decision and this is something we are trying to evoke. So, that’s a change manifesto, we are adopting.”

On being asked about the financial challenges faced in the revamp, Chatterjee revealed, “This is more of a content fabric change and we have been doing that every few years.”

 “Yes there will be new RJs that will be coming in key markets. We will be re-tweaking some of our shows with a new approach of positive thinking and change. We will be launching our flagship show, Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho with a Bollywood celebrity who would open up the subject,” concluded BIG FM CFO Asheesh Chatterjeee, while making a big revelation, whose further details are awaited.

Meanwhile, Asheesh Chatterjee was part of a panel that had RED FM COO Nisha Narayanan, MY FM Business Head Rahul Namjoshi, General Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Anjum Nigam on the panel. They discussed major issues; radio has been facing like the high cost incurred on licensing,  unavailability of non-interactive music license and why private FMs still don’t have the liberty to broadcast news in an unchanged format etc.

Also Read: We've been asking for non-interactive music streaming license, which has exorbitant rights to play music on digital platform: Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan

Also Read: We need allowance on affordable licensing even if it is in the form of auctions so that more players come into the picture: Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan