Cricket waves

RADIO: World Cup fever catches up on air as private channels rope in stars and offer contests in their effort to repackage the game.

Just when you thought the good ol' days of tuning into cricket commentary on a radio station was a thing of the past, private radio channels have lined up impressive programming to entice more and more listeners.

If TV channels have gone berserk with dedicated analysis and hours of coverage for the 45-day long cricket World Cup, then radio channels too aren't far behind. Experts airing their views, detailed analysis of the matches, contests and promotions are big on several radio stations.

Big 92.5 FM, for instance, has two programmes "" Big Googly and Big Cricket Expert "" where Shekhar Suman and Harsha Bhogle will be talking about the fun and the serious part of the matches, respectively.

Red FM has also lined up a panel of experts including former cricketers Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli, along with TV star Mandira Bedi, for a special series called Cricket Masala.

Says Abraham Thomas, COO, Red FM, "We have always been associated with any cricket series where India plays, but this cricket season we will be upping the entertainment quotient."

Agrees Vikram Mull, creative director, Big 92.5 FM, "Cricket is the biggest and the most celebrated sport in the country and we have attempted to provide relevant and credible on-air content keeping our listeners's requirements in mind."

Radio Mirchi, on its part, has added a bit of nostalgia in its programming.

Says Ria Mukherjee, regional programming head, Radio Mirchi, "This is the 9th World Cup and India won the World Cup last in '83, so 9-8-3 is the winning formula for India."

The channel will also have cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh airing their views on the Cup.

A lot of sponsors have come in and radio companies expect to generate a fair bit of revenue out of the cricket World Cup. The revenues are estimated to be close to Rs 50 crore, which is a massive figure, considering the overall radio advertising pie stands at about Rs 450 crore or so.

There are other ways too by which radio companies are trying to engage more viewers and generate revenue for themselves.

For instance, Radio Mirchi has a cricket contest called Kaun Banega Cricket Champion, while Red FM has a prediction contest in association with Ceat where people will have to predict the cricketer of the week.

So, if you feel that there is an overdose of cricket happening on TV, tune in to radio and chances are that you might end up feeling the same way!