Radio Revolution

Radio industry in India is set for a big boom in the coming years. Many private FM stations are getting launched everyday in almost all the big cities of our country. Many years back before TV was invented, radio was the only source of entertainment. But when TV came into existence, the FM, which comprises of frequency band from 87 to 108 MHz, lost its popularity . There were only maximum of 2 FM stations in big cities, that too run by the Govt. of India.

But things have changed these days. Private FM stations have taken over and are ruling the air waves. Advertising slots are queing up and the advertisers do not mind shelling out a few extra pounds for a slot in a popular FM station that too in prime time. These stations get somewhere close to 1500-2000 bucks for a 20 sec slot in prime time. The number of people who listen to FM are increasing day by day and are catching up with the ones who watch TV. As Radio recievers have become cheaper(you can get a FM reciever for as low as Rs.50), even a common man can afford it.

These FM stations attract listeners by including interactive programmes wherein the listener can speak with the RJ and ask for a song to be played for him/her. Because of this radio revolution, the demand for RJs has gone up. RJ ing has become a popular profession these days, but RJing is not an easy job. It requires some special skills such as good oratory, voice modulation etc. RJs are paid handsomely and as a result many youngsters are attracted into this field.

As far as Chennai is concerned, there are total of 9 stations(7 private and 2 Govt.) which play non-stop music for 24 hours. There is stiff competition among these stations and they mainly target the youth section of the listeners comprising the age group of 15 to 30. Almost all the stations start with spiritual music in the morning followed by an rather soft breakfast time programmes. The tempo of the songs played increases slowly as the day progresses. They also conduct various SMS contests to attract many ppl. Some stations conduct mapping survey among the ppl of a particular city about the kind of music they like to hear at a particular time. So, is this the beginning of what we can say as a "Radio Revolution"??