MUMBAI: Radio One’s success story has been there for all to see with its recent financial results silencing its critics permanently. While other stations try to innovate with festivals or bringing in some new content, for Radio One it has been a journey of continuous innovation due to the differentiated set of audience they cater to.

The network launched niche stations in each of its operating markets, with the aim of specifically catering to a particular segment of listeners. After conducting various researches, a call was taken to convert Mumbai and Delhi to international formats as the genre was lacking in the cities. In cities like Kolkata and Ahmedabad where retro music has its roots, stations were mostly playing retro in their night shows. On the basis of such results, the management changed according to the market needs to give to the audiences a new listening experience.

Radio One national programming head Anil Machado says, “For us, it’s not about innovating because of a reason. Due to our format and listenership, we face a continuous process of innovation. We took a stand to go retro in Kolkata as most retro singers belong to the city. And all the formats in our cities are doing very well in their given space. The results state it too, that it’s very feasible for us.”

Aiming to keep its programming also efficient in terms of content, the network introduced a special cricket based show in all its markets in tune with the IPL season. The show features cricket experts Dean Jones and Ayaz Memon talk about the sport and the matches being currently played.

Inspite of having a different format with no major competition in the space, it is a constant process to keep innovating to maintain its sustainability and reputation with the listeners. Thus, the network hosts unique shows including ‘Play Your Music Day’ on the last Wednesday of every month. The show features celebrities come in the studios and play songs of their choice.

“30 per cent of the listener pie wants to listen to something different and that is the key for us going forward, as everyone else is playing the cat and mouse game. For us, getting in fresh content in shows is done on a daily basis. So while we have all these shows coming in, for our bollywood stations we keep roping in stars to come in our studio,” he states.

Their association with Mooz Entertainment for Guns N Roses helped benefit the concert greatly as it helped them attain a ready audience. The product on a whole has been helping the network largely, and the model is helping them attain a dedicated audience.

Machado reveals, “Radio has a big problem with frequency versus name. We don’t face that due to our content. The product is giving us excellent listenership. For us, radio is a personal medium and we are getting that back to the people.”

While the network has a certain segment of advertisers on-board which includes brands like Ray Ban, Adidas and Lufthansa, the format only limits them to one section of advertising unlike the other stations. However, Machado claimed that it is not posting any negative impact for them and is instead a good move as they have a private set of advertisers which are not on any other station.

With one word – differentiation being the key driver for them, the station’s focus for the year ahead only remains to stay true to its model and offer unique properties to their listeners on-air.

The company had posted an Ebidta profit of Rs 18.41 crore for the year ended 31 March 2013, as against Rs 0.25 crore in the year ago period. The Ebidta margin for the year ended 31 March was at 36.5 per cent.