MUMBAI: RADIO ONE, the Ekdum Fataafat Station, celebrated the launch of its station in Pune at a glittering party held at Pune's new O Hotel. This launch marks the completion of the Radio One's western footprint, with stations already operational in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Bollywood stars from soon to be released film Haal-e-dil, Amita Pathak, Nakuul Mehta and Adhyayan Suman as well as producer Kumar Mangat and old time greats Jackie Shroff, Amol Palekar and Rati Agnihotri joined Radio One owner Tariq Ansari and Sabina Sanghvi, Station Head Pune in cutting a cake to celebrate the evening. Also adding zing to the evening were the who's-who of Pune including Suresh Kalmadi, who played guest of honour.

Over the last three weeks, Radio One ran a contest in the city called "Pune Ki Choice Ka Voice" that invited city residents to choose the winner of an RJ hunt that was conducted on air and supported through ground activation. The impetus for this idea came from Radio One's strategy of encouraging a sense of ownership for the station amongst city listeners by enlisting their participation in the selection of what songs were played on air, topics RJs spoke about as well as who the RJs were. Playlists include songs that people requested on air as well as at ground activities that the station conducted, and the same method was used to select topics that RJs speak about.

The winner of the three week long RJ hunt Abhimanyu, was delighted to join RJ Sangraam and Jiya on stage and was laughingly capped with a Radio One cap by Suresh Kalmadi, guest of honour for the evening.

Says Sabina Sanghvi, Station Head Pune, Radio One "Radio One is positioned as the Ekdum Fataafat station. We've decided to go about building a station in the city with the help of our listeners including their choice of RJ's, conversation, music, all so that they can find that instant and relevant connect when they tune in."

Says Vineet Singh Hukamani, CEO Radio One,"The launch of the station completes our footprint in western India. Pune is a city with a deep cultural and artistic legacy, and participation of the people of this city in the creation of the station will ensure a wonderful and pertinent connect for our listeners."

"The progressive Pune-ite is as at home with Marathi as he is with Hindi, and we feel this is a tremendous opportunity that we can leverage," he adds.

Radio One has 6 stations operating; Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune and will soon launch in Calcutta.