OFFICIAL SONG: 9/11 Twin Towers Heaven Remix Video (I Miss You Daddy kluc 10 Year Version)
The experiential era of radio
FM Radio is an engaging medium which caters to a huge base of listeners to fulfil their needs for information and entertainment. The aural medium, which has remained a companion of the Indian masses since the inception of All India Radio in 1936 has grown to be one of the most leveraging experiential medium of the day. With the advent of private radio stations through Phase I and Phase II of licensing, FM radio has changed itself to the most dynamic and balanced source of form, content and entertainment.
The favourite in-car medium, radio has the ability to establish a connect with the listeners. Radio as a medium is moving towards the local and regional essence with the major FM players establishing their stations at tier2 and tier3 cities. The core of private radio stations is the focus towards the local regional content and music (both, regional and bollywood music) with which the targeted listeners can easily associate. Thus, the stations are becoming brands, delivering a promise and perception as expected by the listeners.
The popularity of FM radio lies in the content it provides, in the form of RJ’s chat as well as music. Youth-centric radio stations like Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM - it’s hot and 93.5 Red FM- Bajate Raho follow the strategy of getting into the listener’s mind through their lingo and daily activities, something with which they are associated and gelled well. The medley of songs, contests and talk shows, events, gossips and the daily activities of the city delivered by popular radio jockeys have altered the radio-listening habits of the people. The widely spread radio stations offer diverse programming content like Love Guru on Radio City, the show which focuses on relationships and providing counsel, companionship and comfort to the listeners and the shows like Purani Jeans on Radio Mirchi, the one dedicated to the good old hindi melodies. Similar is the case with the channels like Meow 104.8 FM dedicated to a particular target segment i.e. women and thus taking the lead in it.
The medium has much to be explored in terms of branding as an advertising medium. Radio FM, which holds 3-4 percent of the advertising pie has a greater capacity to engage with the audience. On ground activation, events and participative shows form a major part of radio content and pose immense scope for branding. Deliverables in terms of gift vouchers in the participative shows have grabbed an extra listener to the stations. Emotional element on which the radio stations bank, lends it all the credibility and a bond with the listeners. Thus, all this can be very well taken into account to communicate the brand message, both, of the radio station as well as its advertisers.
The third phase of licensing aims to bring with it a more specialized and focussed approach towards the content being disseminated at large. FM Radio aims to reach the diverse sets of audiences with diverse needs by the way of diverse content.
With the increasing clutter on the radio bandwidth due to the advent of a large number of private FM channels, and much more awaited with the Phase III of licensing, having a strong brand representation becomes extremely essential which is done through seamless integration of the brand (i.e. radio stations’ brand image) with the engaging content that encourages listeners to stick to the brand’s message.
Thus, the medium which is easily recognized by the local population of the city because of its localized approach gets an added advantage over other mediums vying to get the audience’s share of mind. However, like every other medium, radio FM is also bagged with limitations with the most important being that it is consumed along with other mediums or tasks prioritized by the listener, thus limiting the scope of the medium.
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Frequently Asked Questions...
May I ask what radio station plays cute is what we aim for and musics like that.?
Answer:
Yeah. I'd say mostly pop stations. Probably like Z100 or something.
