FM radio signals jobs boom

273 stations ready to go on air in a year's time.

With the number of FM radio stations in the country set to jump from 27 to over 300 in a year's time, a mad scramble for professionals like radio jockeys, engineers and air time salesmen is set to begin.

There are about 100 radio jockeys on air right now and the demand for such professionals is expected to shoot up to 2,500 within the next 12 months.

Naturally, the fees being offered to them have shot through the roof. After all, the new entrants are expected to invest almost Rs 1,200 crore; a significant part of this can go into hiring professionals.

At present, radio jockeys earn anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 85,000 per month, depending on the popularity of their shows. Experts in the industry feel the money can easily double in the months to come. In the metros, the rise can be steeper "" almost 200 per cent.

All told, sector analysts peg the additional manpower requirement to at least 6,000 direct and another 10,000 indirect jobs.

"The sector will see unprecedented demand for trained professionals as radio has been an under-served medium in India so far. There has been no history of an assured supply of trained people," said Rajiv Mishra, director (FM stations), BAG Films, which bagged 10 FM stations in the second round of bidding.

"It is the technical and marketing guys who are poached first. We are actually the last in the link but yes, there will be lots of poaching and it is good," a leading radio jockey said.

The impending manpower crunch is not lost on the FM players. "We will have a three-pronged strategy for people. The first one is, offering remuneration, then making them feel part of the organisation and then to train them to meet job requirements. We are looking at getting people from other sectors to undertake operations like space selling and direct selling," explains Rajesh Sahwney, president, Reliance Entertainment, which has won 45 stations in the auction.