MUMBAI: Radio One college radio Championship kicked off on Monday across Radio One stations in the country.

This annual RJ hunt is conducted in colleges across metros in India, at the end of which, the winners, a team of two per city are selected to join Radio One's programming team on air. This activity received over 2000 registrations from colleges across the country last year.

In the first phase, participants have to register for the contest by filling out a form stating their name, college, and contact information. They also have to answer some initial questions such as "What would you name your first show on radio?" based on which a panel shortlists contestants to be auditioned.

Auditions are held internally within each college, with participants competing in pairs. Contestants are tested on different aspects of being an RJ, through role plays. The panel looks at the contestant's presence of mind, wit, his ability to deal with various studio and outdoor broadcasting situations, his knack of presenting current affairs in an engaging manner and so on. The eminent panel of judges is made up of leaders in performing arts such as Bollywood personalities, TV and theatre actors, RJs, Anchors etc.

A selected team from different colleges is trained at the Radio One studios by the station's leading RJs. The next stage of the contest is an on-air competition, where each college team competes with the other and is judged by a Radio One panel. The pair of winners from each city receives an internship with Radio One.

Commenting about the activity Radio One CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani says, "We are happy that we have been able to grow Radio One's College Radio Championship far above our expectations keeping in tune with the high growth rate of our station."