MUMBAI: The recently head Jury Meet of Radio Connex 2018 was a galore of some brainy people, who had a thought on every entry, they evaluated. Some renowned names were on the Jury panel, including Mr Anil Wanvari – CEO and founder of Indiantelevision Dot Com group, Mr Prahlad Kakkar - Ad Film Maker, K.V Sridhar - Founder and Chief Creative Officer Hyper Collective, S. Yesudas - Co-Founder and Managing Director Y&A Transformation Pvt. Ltd and Rajil Sayani – Manager of Ameen Sayani.

Radio Connex 2018 is the brainchild of Mr Wanvari, who shared the idea behind coming up with this first-of-its-kind event. He said, “We were very happy to introduce Radio Connex as a property, this year, because I believe that radio has been playing a very important role in creating new advertising formats. Neither do the agencies nor do the brands understand, how to treat radio stations, though they work closely with them.”

“We wanted to discover the best ongoing practises and encourage even better practices in terms of radio advertising, servicing clients and offering them 360 degree solutions. We were very careful about the categories; we have put up and have focussed on Community Radio Stations, 360 degree ad solutions, in house ad developed for clients. We really want to bring out the best from radio and also highlight the use of radio as a communication medium to select communities, who are really tuning in,” CEO and founder of Indian Television Dot Com group Anil Wanvari added.

The other juries, who graced the occasion, also expressed their views, both, about Radio Connex 2018 and its Jury Meet.

Hyper Collective founder and chief creative officer K.V. Sridhar “I think it’s a very good initiative, which has got beautifully sorted categories. As any jury and award show, you will see some good work, some not so good work. As a group, we tried very hard to curate the best work throughout the day and tried mentoring the video. One little advice I wanted to give to all the audience as well as to the entering agencies, ‘if you bring your story in a much better way, present it well and get entered in an appropriate category, your chances of winning will be much higher’.”

Celebrated Ad Film Maker Prahlad Kakkar said, “Radio Connex is the most comprehensive one, I have come across, in terms of awards, appreciating the depth and quality of radio in this country as well as its growth. You have an award function, which is really to reward the kind of endeavour and effort that has been put in the industry as a whole and not individual people only.”

“It’s a great initiative and I am happy to be a part of it. One thing, I liked in particular about Radio Connex is the Community Radio angle. It’s a great way of recognising this medium. Also, it is a cause driven and not a commercial initiative, which is putting them on a platform and giving them recognition, which is great. You guys have done a good job,” said Founder and Managing Director Y&A Transformation Pvt. Ltd S. Yesudas.

Rajeel Sayani, who is the son as well as Manager of the legendary Indian Radio announcer Ameen Sayani also, was impressed by Radio Connex 2018. He exclaimed, “It’s a great initiative. What attracted me at the beginning was the design of the emblem, after which, I started going in detail about the event and its categories.”

On the various social campaigns evaluated, Sridhar had a favourite as he shared, “It’s an universal truth that I am involved with Laadli for last 14 years. So, my heart goes to anything that has to do with women. I think the entire debate on the menstrual cycle in the community radio was a fantastic piece. Also, this kind of dialogue needs to happen at every stage, home and village. I think community radio is a big thing and if you can open a dialogue there, you are taking progressive steps. Also, the other one that talks about transgenders was impressive. These are the issues, even in urban societies and work places; we escape from talking about them in the open. But, when we see these issues are discussed in open at a Community Radio, we can say that at last we are an open society.”

Prahlad also had a thought on the social campaign entries, sent by participating radio stations.  “We, as a country, have managed to put a satellite, yet we exist in the 12^th Century when it comes to the way we treat woman. The medium like radio is accessible to everybody, who has a cell phone today. Also, when it comes to the reach, today, radio is the most powerful medium in this country, especially for social change. We have to open dialogue about taboo subjects like the way we treat women and girl child etc. that are preventing us from becoming first world. Also, one of the biggest reasons, in terms of our work force that is preventing us from becoming first world is that we have a very low opinion of including women in our work force. But, if we manage to do that, we will be much ahead of where we are today, “ he commented.

Yesudas, who liked two of the social campaigns in particular, from the entries said, “All of them were good in their own way. Most of the social campaigns and causes are difficult to be spoken in public. I particularly liked the menstrual one, which has got a lot of traction with a lot of conversations going on it. I also liked the SRS (Sexual Reo-orientation Surgery). For someone, who has gone through this surgery, to come up and talk about it in a community radio, particularly to a small community, where people know that person, is pretty challenging. Also, it’s a very interesting well-packaged content.”

Lastly, Sayani, “I think all of them were good as there were situations, which one normally doesn’t see covered in regular radio. When independent radio started, we were Radio City and there were several social issues that were not generally covered. It’s nice to see social issues be brought up and tackled too.”

The whole day-long event was held at WeWork, Mumbai. With a fabulous Jury Meet, it will be great to watch out for the actual event, which is slated to be held on 10 October 2018 in Mumbai.