Adlabs to start FM service in Chandigarh

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance group's Adlabs Radio will kick off its FM Radio service 'Big 92.7 FM' in Chandigarh soon.

Also, in the fray are Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd's "My 94.3 FM, Dil se", which is planning to launch its services in Chandigarh by the end of this January or in the first week of February. Not only Chandigarh but also the small cities like Hisar, Karnal, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala would witness the proliferation of FM radio services by private players soon.

Out of more than 250 FM stations scheduled to be launched, the region (comprising the Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir) will have 25, with two in Chandigarh, four in Jalandhar, four in Patiala, four in Amritsar, four in Hissar, two in Karnal, three in Shimla and one each in Jammu and Srinagar.

Speaking to Business Standard, Adlabs Radio Regional Head Mohit Sharma said, "Initially we would launch our services in Chandigarh followed by Patiala, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Shimla and Hissar." Reliance has bid Rs 15.61 crore for the Chandigarh FM radio licence. Recently, they launched their services in Jammu & Srinagar.

Experts believe that the launch of the FM services in the region will give tough competition to AIR (All India Radio) Chandigarh that has been serving the northern region.

Also, it would create demand for radio jockeys, voiceover artistes, scriptwriters, and technicians. So this would be boom time for radio producers, broadcasters and all those related to this profession.

But at present the industry is facing scarcity of trained manpower. Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd Station Head told Business Standard, "There is a scarcity of trained manpower in the industry. We need creative people not geniuses moreover it doesn't means that creative talent is available in metros only or Chandigarh, so we are ready to recruit people from small town or cities also."

She said, "We would start our service in Chandigarh by end of this month or in the first week of February and later on in Amritsar and Jalandhar."

Hardeep Chandpuri, director of one of the training institutes said, "There is immense demand of Radio artists in the region, so in order to bridge the gap between demand and supply we are engaged in training manpower. Lot of our students got placed in Adlabs and Synergy media."