First, variation play

MEDIA: As new cities tune into private FM stations, the warm-up season is all about sound.

Since the second phase of bidding for FM radio stations ended, there are quite a few new channels that have been launched.

Although certain regulatory problems have hindered launches in several cities, two big players on Indian FM airwaves, Radio Mirchi and Radio City, have begun their operations in Hyderabad and Jaipur respectively.

So how has the going been so far?

Kaushik Ghosh, senior vice-president, Radio Mirchi, claims that the response to both the new stations has been excellent: "It has been over a month since we launched our station in the two cities "" the response has been overwhelming. We see people are tuning to Radio Mirchi in a big way."

Radio Mirchi 95 FM Hyderabad is the 10th station of ENIL to start operations. Radio Mirchi 105 FM Jaipur and Radio Mirchi 93.3 FM Bangalore went on air on 17 April.

Meanwhile, Radio City 106.4 FM went on-air on May 30 in Hyderabad. This station is hoping that music expertise, innovative programming, and its brand promise of "City Mein Kho Jao" will enthuse listeners to tune in and lose themselves in its charms.

Research findings are helping the station do just what's required for that, according to Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City. "Hyderabad is an extremely important market for us," he says, "and we are eagerly looking forward to engage with our listeners."

As expected, the launches have been supported by heavy-duty promotional exercises. Radio Mirchi launched a couple of contests to engage viewers recently, while City too has done the same in Hyderabad.

Localisation is very important if you are entering south India, a market dominated by local languages. Says Ghosh, "In Bangalore, we have created a more localised product. Our RJs speak only in Kannada, while the songs played are both in Kannada and Hindi. Though at present the Kannada songs played are negligible, it will go up soon."

Radio City, on the other hand, has been aiming at the upper-end audience in Bangalore. It plays local as well as Hindi music "" with Bollywood music being top of the charts. The RJs too speak mostly in English and Hindi, but no Kannada.

Ghosh says, "In Jaipur, we play only Hindi songs, but the music selection is different from that of Delhi. It is more tuned to the local taste. In Hyderabad, we play only Telugu music."

As of now, it looks like warm-up time for these players, but expect things to heat up when more cities get connected: and the race begins to get as many Indians as possible tuned to the same brand wavelength (if not actual frequency).