MUMBAI: With an aim to put the city and its people in the front seat, Radio City has started a nationwide campaign- ‘City First Aap First’, which allows listeners to provide their view of the cities to their respective Radio City stations. Apart from this, the network has added a real estate show which has partnered with NDTV Profit, in order to add the element of innovation to its programming.

In order to provide new programmes to its listeners, Radio City has planned to sign more multi-media deals that will attract new listeners and entertain the existing ones.

Apart from all this, there is a lot happening with the station, which Radio City's CEO Apurva Purohit mentioned in a conversation with Radioandmusic’s Jescilia Karayamaparambil. Purohit spoke about the campaign, partnerships, Phase III and more.

What is the idea behind the campaign ‘City First Aap First’?

‘City First Aap First’ focuses on the brand’s ‘consumer first’ ideology. Our listeners’ preference and choice has always been the primary driver when we create content. Through the campaign, we are trying to reiterate to our listeners how they are pivotal to our programming and celebrate them -‘City First Aap First’.

The ‘City First Aap First’ campaign is a tribute to all the listeners whose continued support made Radio City an undisputed leader over the past 13 years.

Will there be a change in the style of campaigning in different stations?

The fact that listeners want the latest information which is relevant, useful and inspiring will continue to be the bedrock of the campaign and this would be the need across stations. To what extent and in what fashion a station delivers these in an entertaining format is defined by its core promise. Clearly, one important part of this campaign is providing information that our listeners want and obviously it will be local in nature. It would be more about the city and its mood.

Keeping in mind the recent NDTV partnership, will Radio City have other partnerships in the pipe line?

We are looking at many more multi-media partnerships and we will continue to drive the space. NDTV Profit is just the beginning and today, clients need a lot of consolidated offerings including digital. We are very happy to be part of the initiatives. I cannot talk about the deals that we are looking at, as many deals are under discussion but many such partnerships will take place soon. Currently, our focus is on media partnership.

How has the network done so far in terms of growth? And which stations are standing out in terms of growth and listenership?

We have been leading the charts in Mumbai and Bangalore for 200+ weeks now. I think we will continue holding the position as we are constantly sharpening our position through programming. In terms of growth rate (revenue wise), we have been growing at a very attractive 16-18 per cent CAGR for the last three to four years. We will continue to maintain that growth, everybody knows that for last three or four years, we have been delivering EBIDTA margins of 30 per cent.

What will Phase III bring to Radio City?

We have been ready with the plan for a long time. Our strategy and funding is ready for the Phase III auctions. We eagerly look forward to the auctions, which will allow us to expand our footprint across the country. Radio City is planning to invest up to Rs 300 to 400 Crore for FM service expansion.

Are you looking at investors to come on board for Radio City with Phase III just around the corner?

No, we are looking at debt to fund our expansion plans.

How much have you invested in the Digital side of the business?

We have 13 stations on PlanetRadiocity.com and it is the largest web radio portal today. With Music consumption online and internet literacy increasing in smaller cities and towns, Web Radio is gaining a lot of traction and finding roots from across major and minor towns. People are turning to Web Radio for a hassle free mode of music consumption online while at work or at home. They are exploring different genres and experiencing newer sounds. Whether it is the spiritual station, Radio City Smaran or language channels like Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, they are all doing extremely well in terms of traction. We are also very conscious of the fact that the consumer is diverse and so are his interests. Keeping this in mind, the content is tweaked to suit these needs. Our listeners choose from a wide range of genres and our listenership has seen a steady growth ever since our launch. We have kept the engagement levels on all our stations very high and that has given us loyal listenership from India and abroad.

Will we see Radio City with any new live properties?

We have been present in the space of live properties for over five years. Our marquee properties like ‘Radio City Super Singer’, ‘Gully Premier League’ and ‘Radio City Freedom Awards’ have been around for a few years now. All our existing properties are quite successful and we plan to get newer and better seasons of the existing properties. We recently concluded Radio City’s ‘City Chef’ which was very successful and our calendar is full in terms of programming such content.