MxMIndia

Tag: Tomato FM

  • The seventh edition of India Radio Forum (IRF), organized by Partners in Media Asia (PIM), will be held on May 22 at JW Marriot Hotel in Mumbai

    Industry gears up for India Radio Forum 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    It is that time of the year, when radio players across the country meet to discuss issues pertaining to the industry, listen to ideas from advertisers and agencies, celebrate creativity in radio advertising and commemorate the medium itself. The seventh edition of India Radio Forum (IRF), organized by Partners in Media Asia (PIM), will be held on May 22 at JW Marriot Hotel in Mumbai.

     

    Amitabh Srivastava, Country Manager – South Asia, Radio Netherlands Worldwide who has been attending the IRF since the last four years and plans to do so this year, explained that radio is still at a nascent stage, thus such forums on radio are good for the industry as it discusses critical issues, it provides a good platform for all stakeholders, and in the long run, such forum on radio will benefit the industry. He further said that in the last four years that he has attended the annual event, he observed that IRF has ensured that every stakeholder participates in the event. He also said that smaller stations have been given their due weightage and their issues have also been discussed at various events.

     

    George Sebastian, COO, Club FM and GM Marketing, Mathrubhumi and Ravindran Nair, Director Programmes, Radio Mango would also be among the attendees at IRF 2012. When asked whether smaller stations have been isolated at the IRF this year, Mr Sebastian said that he has been attending the IRF since its inception and found that even the issues of smaller stations are addressed at the IRF. “IRF used to be a full day event, now it has been reduced to a little more than a half day. This is the only regret I have towards IRF. Such events most certainly benefit the industry, particularly the awards which recognizes good talents.”

     

    Mr Nair of Radio Mango said: “IRF helps maintain the vitality of radio stations, it gives one insights into how radio has developed in other parts of the world; it also provides ideas and new ways to monitise contents as well as gives us the client perspective about the medium. The only irony, however, is that the IRF has been reduced from a two day event to merely one day.”

     

    Unlike previous years, Mr Naval Toshniwal, CEO Tomato FM and Vice President, Pudhari Publications will not be attending the IRF this year. Ms Monica Nayyar Patnaik, Joint Managing Director at Eastern Media Ltd is also among the few industry veterans who would not be attending the IRF this year for personal reasons.

     

    Speaking to MxMIndia, Ms Patnaik was of the view that such forums do benefit the industry as it helps one learn from each other, helps find solutions to overcome issues and challenges, provides creative ideas and that awards also contribute in a bigger way in recognizing ones creative talents.

     

    Another industry player who did not wish to be mentioned was of the view that such events do help the industry positively, however, it all depends on implementing the lessons learnt from the various presentations made and panel discussions. “IRF is a good forum, but the industry must learn to implement what is discussed at such events, which has not happened so far. There has to be an action plan to implement all that is discussed at such events, only then will we see the industry grow even further.”

     

    Anurradha Prasad, President of Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) and Chairperson cum Managing Director, B.A.G Network will also not be able to attend the IRF this year due to prior commitments. She, however, added that right now everything boils down to the passage of the Copyright Bill in the Lok Sabha. It has already been passed in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha), and once it is passed in the Lower House (Lok Sabha) too, and becomes law, it will significantly improve the growth of the Indian radio industry.

     

    The speakers list at IRF 2012 comprises of industry veterans not only from the radio industry, but also advertisers, and veterans from the creative and media agencies. IRF 2012 will kick-start with the CEO Roundtable, wherein industry biggies will discuss the current strength and weaknesses of the radio industry, and strategic options to improve the business and their vision for the industry in the coming three years. The panelists will include Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City; B Surendar, Sr. VP & National Sales Head, Red FM; Harrish Bhatia, CEO, My FM; Harshad Jain, Business Head, Fever FM; Joy Chakraborthy, CEO, Oye FM; Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi and Rabe Iyer, Business Head, Big FM. This session will be moderated by Atul Phadnis, CEO, What’s-On-India.

     

    The second session at the forum – ‘It’s the Message, not the Medium: Growing your Advertising Revenues,’ will delve on important creative attributes that make radio commercials more effective and the unique qualities of radio as an advertising medium. Jason Brownlee, Founder, Dollywagon Media Sciences will be the speaker of this session.

     

    Another interesting session at this year’s IRF is ‘Radio and Social Media’, a panel discussion on the effect of social media on the listeners and the radio industry. This session will be moderated by Suman Srivastava, Founder & Innovation Artist, Marketing Unplugged. The panelists of this session include Premjeet Sodhi, COO, Lintas Media Group; Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors – Viacom18; Satbir Singh, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Euro RSCG; and Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, GroupM South Asia.

     

    There will also be a session on ‘Maximising Radio’s Asset: How to Gain Share of Market Spend’. This session will be moderated by Apurva Purohit, CEO,RadioCity. The panel members are Ajit Varghese, Managing Director – South Asia, Maxus and Motivator; Arpita Menon, Head – Media Planning & Buying, STAR TV; and Shubha George, COO, MEC. This session aims to provide the client point of view and that of media planners and buyers on radio’s critical role in meeting market challenges and opportunity it presents in achieving a better ROI and sales goals.

     

    ‘The Radio Pitch Challenge’, the last session just before the 2012 ‘Excellence in Radio Awards’, will see planning teams from media agencies invited to pitch a compelling and effective presentation to the judges. Each team will talk about a product or service in five minutes or less. They will present 16 slides with only 15 seconds per slide, ending with a radio promo not more than a minute long. The winning team will be awarded two tickets worth over Rs1,00,000 to the 2012 Singapore Formula1 Grand Prix.

  • According to Radio Establishment Survey 2011 findings, although the mother tongue of 51 per cent of FM device owners is Marathi, an overwhelming 80 per cent of them prefer Hindi music

    Will Marathi content be a shot in the arm for FM in Mumbai?

    By Robin Thomas

     

    What’s common between radio stations in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolhapur, and Kochi? They give almost equal prominence to local music along with the Hindi or Bollywood songs. This is in direct contrast to the Mumbai market where FM stations mainly play Bollywood songs which are quite popular with the Mumbai listeners.

     

    According to RAM’s (Radio Audience Measurement), Radio Establishment Survey 2011 findings, although the mother tongue of 51 per cent of FM device owners in the city is Marathi, an overwhelming 80 per cent of them prefer Hindi music and RJ talks on radio. Nevertheless, the survey also revealed that as compared to 2007, the preference for music and RJ Talk in Marathi has witnessed an increase in 2011.

     

    It’s not that the all the FM stations in Mumbai have ignored the Marathi speaking audience. Big FM, Radio Mirchi and Radio City play Marathi songs, but only on Sundays and they are the only radio stations to do so.

     

    Big FM, for instance, has been airing Masala Chaha every Sundays between 7am to 9am since 2009, much before Raj Thackeray’s diktat to the radio stations to play Marathi music. But even then, a Big FM spokesperson was of the view that although there is a market for Marathi music, Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city, most Mumbaikars prefer listening to Bollywood music. “There is surely a market for Marathi music, given the high population of Marathi speaking public. However, Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city with a wide audience base, and a mass channel has to play the music that appeals the most… which is Hindi, a lot of it being Bollywood. Phase III will unleash the true potential of radio and will allow for more differentiation in content, along with newer genres and radio stations that will cater to a more specific audience base.”

     

    Radio Mirchi airs ‘Mumbai Dhol’ every Sunday, between 12 noon to 3pm, hosted by RJ Rohit. ‘Mumbai Dhol’ covers the culture of the city, the happenings and plays back to back Marathi music, contemporary and the classics.

     

    Indira Rangarajan, VP, Programming, West & Central, Radio Mirchi stated: “The response to our Marathi show – ‘Mumbai Dhol’ has been very good. Following the resurgence of Marathi films and music, we had decided to experiment with a slot specifically for Marathi songs and it has worked well. I believe there is plenty of scope for Marathi music in Mumbai and over the years this popularity will increase further.”

     

    RadioCitytoo plays Marathi retro songs every Sunday evening between 5pm to 6pm during ‘Sandhikali Aasha’, a radio programme hosted by RJ Vishaka.

     

    After looking at the Marathi content being offered by these three stations, one wonders if there scope for more Marathi content on Mumbai radio stations? Or will the Marathi music lovers have to wait a little longer for a radio station that caters to their tastes?

     

    Unlike the private radio stations, the government-owned FM stations, AIR FM2 Gold and AIR FM1 Rainbow, play a mix of Hindi and Marathi songs every day. The private radio stations would do well to take a lesson from these government-owned radio stations.

     

    Naval Toshniwal, CEO, Tomato FM, a Kolhapur-based FM radio station, was also of the view that although the potential for Marathi music is huge, Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city will play more Hindi or Bollywood songs. “Yes, there is a huge scope for Marathi music in Mumbai. However, no private FM station would want to play only Marathi music, it will have to play Bollywood or Hindi songs too because of the cosmopolitan listenership. Looking at the current FM scenario where every station sounds the same, I believe that a radio station which plays a little more Marathi music will create some amount of differentiation in the market.”

     

    FM stations in the city play Marathi hit songs during prime-time, especially on occasions like Maharashtra Day or Gudi Padwa. For instance, Big FM Mumbai will be playing Marathi songs during the breakfast show from March 19 to March 23, celebrating the occasion of Gudi Padwa.

     

    According to Janardhan Pandey, Associate VP, Mudra Max: “Although the market may not be big, the potential for Marathi listenership is huge in Mumbai. The issue, however, is that there has not been any serious attempt by FM stations to woo the Marathi listeners. Awareness about Marathi programmes aired on radio stations seem to be non-existent, the Marathi programmes or music are played during mostly non-prime time. However unless a FM station does not aggressively promote its Marathi programmes, and plays Marathi songs more frequently, it will neither add new listeners nor will it attract new advertisers. There are a lot of retail advertisers in the city catering to the Marathi audience.” Ajay Rao, Vice President, Dentsu stated: “There is a huge scope for Marathi listenership in Mumbai as Marathi generates high level of passion.”

     

    The good news is that increase in the frequency of Marathi music on radio stations could mean attracting new listeners to radio, and perhaps even new advertisers. Moreover, multiple frequencies may bring some good news to the Marathi music lovers as it will bring new genres of radio stations.

     

  • Naval Toshniwal of Tomato FM on the success mantra of his talk-based radio station in Sangli, and radio consumption behaviours in Kolhapur and Sangli markets.

    [MxM Radio] I don’t see news as a game changer: Naval Toshniwal, Tomato FM

    By Robin Thomas

     

    He completed his MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune in 2003. He joined the radio business of Pudhari Publications and is said to have played a key role in winning the bids for Kolhapur and Sangli FM radio. Naval Toshniwal is the CEO of Tomato FM and Vice President, Pudhari Publications. In conversation with MxMIndia, Mr Toshniwal spoke at length about the success mantra of his talk-based radio station in Sangli. He also shed some light on radio consumption behaviour among the people of Kolhapur and Sangli markets, besides talking about the overall growth and challenges facing the radio industry.

     

    Q: How would you rate the year 2011 for Tomato FM and the radio industry?

    As every year, 2011 too was good in terms of acceptance of radio as a medium by advertisers. We saw more and more advertisers coming on board and using radio more effectively as a result the maturity and the acceptance of the medium have gone up. In addition to this development the year 2011 also saw bleak in advertising revenues were bleak, although the revenue levels have grown at the corporate level. The same year also saw a lot of content and marketing innovations in radio, a lot of and on ground activities and other activations that have helped the advertisers achieve their final objectives.

     

    Q: What is the Kolhapur and Sangli market like from a radio consumption perspective?

    Unlike other markets what is more significant about Kolhapur and Sangli is the fact that the overall penetration of radio in these markets is very high. Radio as a medium is very successful here, and it has been so for many years. However, the popularity and penetration of the medium further increased only after the entry of private radio stations. The kind of involvement the people in these two markets have with the medium is very high. The overall acceptance of medium too is very high. The listeners look up to the medium not only for music, but also for regular updates about their cities, their State and the Country.

     

    Q: Initially Tomato FM was present in both Kolhapur and Sangli, it has now been renamed to Aaple FM in the Sangli district. What was the entire concept behind this move?

    When we conducted a survey in the Sangli district we found out that there was a huge demand for a talk-based radio station which not only allowed the people to listen to experts discuss and debate on various topics but, also allowed them to participate in the discussions. Today, I can say that we have been successful to a very large extend in this format. Earlier there have been various attempts to start a talk-based radio station which more or less did not work. If you are starting a talk-based radio station there must be a very strong local connect to make the channel a success.

     

    Q: Do you also play music on the talk-based radio station? What is the talk and music content ratio in Aaple FM and what is the station language?

    Aaple FM is a completely local Marathi talk format radio station that plays only Marathi songs. However the majority content in Aaple FM is talk whereas the music content is very low. The songs are played for only 16 minutes an hour.

     

    Q: The government has approved the MIB’s phase III proposals, e-auctions, news through AIR etc. How do you view these developments in terms of growth in radio?

    Honestly, despite all these developments I don’t see any buoyancy or excitement in the industry. I believe this is because with every development proposed by the government there is also a handicap to it. For instance despite the government allowing news, the source of news is restricted to Prasar Bharati. So what is the differentiating factor here, news will sound same in every station perhaps without any local connect.