MUMBAI: Odisha will have its first Odia language radio stations airing from 1 April 2017 in Bhubaneshwar and Rourkela, if all goes well. Sarthak music’s FM station Sarthak FM had earlier declared to launch on 5 September 2016, which has now been postponed to 1 April this year due to delay is permission from the government.

An all new FM station to launch requires 13 permissions from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Sarthak FM has acquired 11 permissions till now and is waiting for two more namely SCAFA (Technical checks) and the Operating License.

Sathak FM will be on air only if the government grants permission before 1 April 2017. “The two permissions are on hold since last one and a half month. The government is delaying with an excuse to antenna height of the transmitter. We are hoping to get it cleared with all permissions in the next 15 days,” said Sarthak Music managing director Sitaram Agrawala.  

Sarthak FM is all set to entertain the listeners. They plan to give the audience a complete Odia content in Bhubaneshwar and a mix of Sambalpuri (Kosli) and Odia in Rourkela. They also plan to launch a new song each day. These songs will be created by Sarthak Music team. The team already has a bank of 100 songs that are ready to play.

Odisha has other competitors in the market like Big FM and Red FM who provide 100 per cent Hindi content while Radio Choklate has 80 per cent Hindi and 20 per cent Odia. According to Agrawala, it is the Hindi content on FM that led to the Orissa audience switching from FM to Television.

“The revenue FM received 10 years ago is the same they receive today, no increase in revenue. The only reason to be observed is Hindi content. FM’s are meant to be connected with the audience. Due to the language difference, the connection is not happening. Also the new singers today are unable to build a connection with the audience that singers of Udit Narayan’s generation could,” said Agrawala.

Thus, perceiving the situation, Sarthak FM is coming up with a unique content to connect with all age group listeners and to eradicate the revenue stagnation.

Furthermore, Sarthak FM is not concentrating on monetary benefits. They want many more radio stations to take inspiration from them and air more regional content.

“We do not have advertisers at present neither are we chasing any. Sarthak FM is fine to work independently until six months. We wish to create our standard in the market and then there will be advertisers coming to us to know our rates,” ends Agrawala.

Sarthak FM will be a 24-hour radio station which will air on 91.9 frequency.

Also Read: Sarthak Music ready to launch FM stations at Bhubaneswar, Rourkela