MUMBAI: Kerala based radio station; Radio Mango recently launched an app, which aims to reach out to the Malayali community across the world, especially those in the Gulf States and the Rest of India. The app has been made available on iOS and Android platforms.

Radio Mango, COO, Sunoj George Abraham said, "The idea of an app has been in our minds for a while. Since it is easier to stream a station based in UAE than one based in India, we decided to launch the app. This also gave us an opportunity to provide news which is not permitted in India. The project took around six months to execute." The app has been launched with a streaming feature, and the radio station intends on adding more layers to it in the coming months.

The station commenced its operations in the UAE in October 2014. When asked about the response from the market, he did not divulge much information stating, "We have been accepted enthusiastically by our target audience in the UAE and have a very positive word of mouth. We have not completed one year of operation yet, so it is still early days."  

Recently the radio station, as a part of a large scale programming on-air activity, flew down the spouses of UAE residents who have not been able to meet their families for years. The station then treated those families to a grand holiday, desert safari, dinner cruises etc in the UAE. The campaign received positive responses, and now Radio Mango has several more plans in the pipeline that will be executed over the coming months.

Radio Mango, a part of the daily newspaper Malayalam Manorama, had not participated in the in the part one of the Phase III auctions. Commenting on their participation, Abraham said, "We will be participating in part two of the Phase III auctions. The first part did not have any frequencies available in the cities of interest to us."

With radio stations like Big FM, Red FM and My FM, increasing their ad rates, Radio Mango has also opted to hike theirs. Radio Mango, director programmes, Ravi Nair said, "Seeing the phenomenal growth that the radio industry witnessed last year, it is natural that rates would go up. Given the reach, coupled with cost-effectiveness of the medium, rate increase is the way forward. We have increased our market operating rates in tune with our strong listenership base from this fiscal onwards." According to him the existing properties will be repeated this year and the radio station plans to add on a few more to their kitty.

One of Radio Mango’s live properties- 'Decibel’, recently concluded its third edition in India. The next edition is expected to be launched by the end of this year. Despite the success that it has enjoyed, the radio station does not intend on adding any more live properties.

No long ago, Radio Mango also concluded its CSR activity in India, 'Ente Keralam Ethra Sundaram', which translates to 'How beautiful is my Kerala’. It was launched on 14 February, 2015, and was conducted by the station, encouraging the cleanliness wave that is sweeping across the country .