Tarun Katial of Big FM, when not launching private FM radio stations at breakneck speed, is a follower of Vipassana and, as Shuchi Bansal discovers, against animal killing - even if that means saying no to leather shoes.
It’s not difficult to see why Tarun Katial, the 34-year-old head of Reliance ADAG’s FM radio business (under the Big FM brand), makes a dash to Igatpuri (three hours from Mumbai) every other month for a refresher course in Vipassana, the ancient meditation technique. The young chief operating officer probably needs to catch his breath in the midst of launching private FM radio stations at breakneck speed. In the last 18 months, Katial has set up 46 FM stations and a team of 1,000 people to run them. Big FM’s last station was launched in Shimla recently and is probably the only private FM radio frequency in Himachal Pradesh.
With that development, Big FM has its entire radio network, under phase II of private radio reforms, up and running. “It seems like a dream,” says Katial, former business head at Sony, adding, that for a television professional like him, setting up the radio business was a steep learning curve. “In television, one size fits all. That’s just not possible in radio. Radio can only be local,” he observes.
Clearly, Big FM’s 46 stations are catering to specific audience needs. So there is Dogri music for Jammu, Assamese for Assam, Chota Nagpuri music for Jharkhand and Bundeli for Jhansi. “We source regional music from local labels. Each city has a different taste and tempo for music,” he says. The local consumer insights picked up while launching channels in over 40 cities are invaluable and utilised elsewhere, Katial feels.
With its tag line Suno Sunao Life Banao, Big FM is already leading in select cities. According to Radio Audience Measurement data produced by TAM India, Big FM tops the charts in Kolkata and Bangalore. It was the first private radio in Bangalore to play Kannada music and talk to the audience in the local language. This forced Radio Mirchi and Radio City to change tack and switch to Kannada too.
Katial may have launched stations in all the frequencies allocated to Reliance, but his work is far from over. He’s currently busy with the de-merger of the radio operations from Adlabs Films which held the FM licences. The information and broadcasting ministry has allowed the transfer of licences to the new entity Reliance Unicom Ltd. The de-merger will allow financial flexibility to the radio business, which can now function as an independent organisation, get valuated and raise resources.
Having established the radio brand, Katial’s next challenge is to make it profitable. The business, built with an investment of Rs 554 crore, is loss-making. Up to December 31, 2008, Big FM’s revenue was Rs 142 crore. The last quarter figures are yet to be announced. Yet Katial, who studied marketing management at Bombay University, is confident of an early turnaround. “Nearly 27 stations are doing well and some of them are close to operational break even,” he points out. Besides, he expects to ramp up the revenues through 360 degrees solution that Big FM offers its advertisers through Big Live (the events arm) and Big Street, its Outdoor wing.
Katial refuses to comment on Reliance’s plan to revive its television broadcasting business which was put on the back burner thanks to the media meltdown. However, he admits that the company’s television software division under Big Production is producing shows for different channels.
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It is clearly not easy to get the reticent Katial to talk except when it is about Vipassana. The vegetarian and teetotaller practices meditation every morning and calls it a day after a run at his local club. He was introduced to Vipassana by his aunt and actor Vivek Oberoi’s mother five years ago, he recalls. Ever since, he has undergone several short and long-term courses at the Vipassana International Academy at Igatpuri.
So what’s the essence of Vipassana? “Introspection. It disciplines the mind and allows you to view attachments in an objective manner,” he says. It has made him turn against animal-killing too, so much so that he does not wear leather shoes any longer. There are enough foam shoes available at Bata as well as international brands, he reasons.
For the moment he is happy with building the Big FM radio business but would rather “teach or become a consultant in the long run”. In India, radio still needs to evolve. New York or LA has scores of FM stations which do not play the same body of music unlike India where all the stations sound alike. That is set to change, claims Katial. “Segmentation of radio stations is on the cards. In the next 12 months, you will hear different sounds emerge from Indian FM stations.”
