from community policeman to radio talk show host to CEO of the Kings XI Punjab cricket team, Anil Srivatsa pads up for a new innings.
Now CEO of the Kings XI Punjab cricket team, which plays in the Indian Premier League, it should come as no surprise that the 42-year-old Anil Srivatsa has a healthy disrespect for formal corporate structures.
“I don’t intend to be just another suit-clad CEO,” he says. “I will be on the practice grounds with my team, helping out as an extra hand or doing whatever the coach tells me to on the field, even if that means throwing practice balls to teammates,” he says simply. He has been passionate about cricket since his childhood and says he is enjoying every second of his current involvement with the game, including being surrounded by its star players like Yuvraj Singh, Brett Lee and Kumara Sangakkara.
Srivatsa is not new to the world of cricket marketing. He worked with Kelly Broadcasting Systems in the US in 1999-2000, where he oversaw the creation and development of a cricket channel on the pay-per-view model. It was then that he roped in Eros International to broadcast the 1999 World Cup and international matches between India-Pakistan in theatres across Canada, US and the Caribbean.
“I brought back the diaspora to watch the 70mm telecast of cricket matches,” he says with pride. “This even involved producing and hosting TV teasers of historic match sequences, so that we could rekindle interest among the dormant Indian [cricket-loving] diaspora.”
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In 1989, straight out of journalism school, the 21-year-old Srivatsa began a two-year stint as a Special Police Officer in Bangalore while also doubling up as the editor and publisher of a local magazine called Blossom City. “I spent evenings hobnobbing with the city’s elite and covering their social dos,” recalls Srivatsa.
He says he personally visited 350 newspaper stands across Bangalore every month to distribute the magazine. But the magazine was plagued by cash-flow issues after the 1991 Gulf War, and Srivatsa moved to the US to study.
He met and married his wife Deepali while studying telecommunications at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Those were hard times, he recalls.
“I worked for an Indian restaurant,” he explains, “and later as a board operator at a local radio station where
I was paid $5 an hour, then the minimum hourly wage.” From struggling to earn $400 a week, Srivatsa ended up producing the docu-drama series Medical Detectives for the Discovery Network.
In 1997, Srivatsa began broadcasting a radio show called Anil Ki Awaaz, first from the studios of Princeton University and then from a makeshift studio in the basement of his house. Soon, he had secured a loyal following, particularly among young people.
He describes the hard work behind the scenes: “Funding a radio show wasn’t easy, as I had to go from door to door seeking advertisers who would have an interest in sponsoring ad spots on my show, which was meant for the Indian community. I managed to get four advertisers after I invested $400 which I loaned from my wife for airtime — but overall, I think I did okay,” he adds modestly.
Anil Ki Awaaz reached more than 50 cities in the US, and amassed a fan base of tens of thousands of NRIs. Such was the show’s popularity that when advertisers shied away from radio advertising in the aftermath of 9/11, Srivatsa had only to ask his listeners to send in contributions to keep the channel running. Nearly $20,000 poured in that month. “It made me realize how popular my shows were,” Srivatsa says, “and in return, I kept the radio show going for 10 years.”
Srivatsa appears to revel in the knowledge that he’s adept at breaking the corporate mould. “Whether I am hosting radio shows, modelling, anchoring or producing shows for TV,
I hate to do things the regular way. It’s good to be disruptive,” he says.
Three years ago, he moved back from the US to launch the India Today group’s foray into radio. As COO of the Radio Today Broadcasting venture, he swiftly launched Meow 104.8 FM in six FM radio markets. He himself hosted a late-night radio talk show that was on air twice a week, provocatively titled Meow Between the Sheets, in which women from all walks of life spoke about their lives and loves.
“The kind of participation we got and the level of intimacy that we were able to achieve indicated that people didn't mind sharing their personal lives on air, so long as they were given the option of remaining anonymous,” Srivatsa reasons.
An all women’s channel and talk shows of this nature were both a novelty for India. To have achieved a measure of success with both is something for which Srivatsa can take credit. Although his show went off the air when Srivatsa moved on from Meow, he still owns the intellectual property rights and hopes to bring it back to life someday — if not on air then online, where it originally began.
“All experience is an arch...” and Srivatsa’s life to date has provided varied learning, given the varied nature of things he has done. He has been through the grind, navigated the ups and downs and always kept his sights on the big picture. It can’t have been easy. What is his formula for coping? “I try to maintain a cordial distance from people who don’t understand me, to avoid being misunderstood,” he says.
That lends itself to interpretation, but for the moment, Srivatsa is gearing up for his newest challenge and looking forward to the prospect.