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<ul><li><keyword id="9171" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Ambani">Anil Ambani</keyword>’s Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd will be giving away its entire stake to Music Broadcast Ltd, which runs <keyword id="236136" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio-City">Radio City</keyword>. </li><li><keyword id="82551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-FM">BIG FM</keyword> operates across 58 stations in India. </li><li>The move to sell to MBL will result in reducing its outstanding debt by ₹1200 crore.</li></ul>The troubled Anil Ambani-led <keyword id="6360090" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-capital">Reliance Capital</keyword> Ltd and group company Reliance Land is letting go of the popular BIG FM Radio. Ambani’s Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd will be giving away its entire stake to Music Broadcast Ltd, according to IANS. According to the IANS report, MBL will acquire a 24% equity stake of RBNL by way of a preferential allotment for a total consideration of ₹202 crore. After getting the necessary regulatory approvals, MBL will then acquire the remaining stake for ₹1,050 crore. "We are delighted to announce the asset monetization transaction with Music Broadcast Ltd, a leading FM Radio broadcaster. This transaction is part of our overall strategy to reduce exposure in non-core businesses and will reduce Reliance Capital's debt by an estimated Rs 1,200 crore," Amit Bapna, CFO, Reliance Capital, was quoted as saying in the statement. MBL currently runs the radio channel Radio City. “Radio City is the first private FM to have a digital presence with Radiocity in and currently has 52 web radio stations with an average of 60 million streams per month,” Apurva Purohit, President Jagran Group &amp; Director, Music Broadcast Ltd, had told Business Insider in an earlier interview. Meanwhile, BIG FM operates across 58 stations in India. With this acquisition the numbers for MBL are only set to grow. “In the last 3 years our revenue CAGR has been 15% which is almost double than that of the industry. Profit before tax has outpaced the growth of revenue, showing a CAGR growth of 34% in the last year too,” Purohit had said earlier. However, things are looking quite grim for Anil Ambani. In its <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/rcom-q4-net-loss-at-rs-7-767-crore-119052701249_1.html">Q4 report</a>, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication, which has already declared bankruptcy, has reported a loss of ₹7,767 crores. For the Reliance Capital group, the move to sell to MBL will result in reducing its outstanding debt by ₹1,200 crore. An earlier<a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/reliance-capital-plans-to-reduce-debt-by-rs-10000-12000-cr-in-3-4-months/story/325418.html"> report i</a>n March had said that Reliance Capital was looking to reduce its debt by ₹10,000-₹12,000 crore. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/anil-ambani-wants-the-government-to-help-nbfcs/articleshow/69531897.cms">Anil Ambani wants RBI to play Big Brother to ‘gasping’ NBFCs</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/anil-ambanis-rcom-to-go-through-bankruptcy-process-with-nclt/articleshow/69228691.cms">The creditors of Anil Ambani’s cash-strapped Reliance Communications are finally making it undergo bankruptcy proceedings</a>

Anil Ambani tries to fight off debts, sells BIG FM Radio to Radio City

<ul><li>With more and more people getting comfortable with shopping online, <keyword id="623994" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-commerce" source="Orion">social commerce</keyword> has seen a huge boost in the last few years.</li><li><keyword id="82551" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="big-fm" source="Orion">BIG FM</keyword> has just launched its social commerce platform called <keyword id="12545809" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="big-living" source="Orion">BIG Living</keyword>.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="295639" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="abraham-thomas" source="Orion">Abraham Thomas</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer, <keyword id="694101" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-broadcast-network-limited" source="Orion">Reliance Broadcast Network Limited</keyword>, who tells us why a radio network ventured into social commerce and everything this new platform will entail.</li></ul>The pandemic brought about a huge change in the retail ecosystem. Thousands of people who could not imagine buying products without first touching and feeling them, slowly got used to the idea, and adapt to it. While social commerce had been witnessing a gradual growth even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdown sped up the adaption atleast by a few years. Identifying this opportunity, radio network BIG FM has launched BIG Living, a social commerce platform that will offer products ‘designed for consumers who care for themselves and the environment and want to live a sustainable life.’ “Over the past few years, we have witnessed the growing power of influencers. People are increasingly turning to influencers to get a sense of new products that are coming in. So we feel social commerce itself is becoming an integral part of every brand’s marketing mix. BIG FM has a large number of extremely trusted, credible local influences in our RJs, and in every city. Not only do they have a large followings on radio, they also have considerable followers on social media, both on their personal as well as the BIG FM handles. So we are trying to synergize the strength of our brand to positively influence consumers towards a curated set of brands and also offer fulfillment,” explained Abraham Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited. The aim of BIG Living is to connect consumers to an array of like-minded brands, artisans and designers who share a similar philosophy of sustainable living and each product will be specially selected by BIG FMs RJs. From a brand’s perspective, the aim is also to enable them in expanding their footprint to other markets and building a community of people who believe in a brand. How it also helps the brand is that it will get amplified on all the digital assets of BIG FM which will help it reach out to a much larger audience, at various touchpoints. “On BIG Living, we will give audiences the opportunity to try out latest products recommended by our individual influencers. We are trying to curate brands that are in sync with our philosophy,” he added. To start with, BIG Living will offer products from 5 categories including Health &amp; Wellness, Giving Back, Locally Made, Artisans and Designers and Workshops. A few brands that have already signed on include Gourme Foods, Soulspiti, <keyword id="12545811" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lux-lyra" source="Orion">Lux Lyra</keyword>, Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale, Jiden INC, <keyword id="12545810" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sunrise-masale" source="Orion">Sunrise Masale</keyword> (<keyword id="6357073" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="itc" source="Orion">ITC</keyword>), Bare Necessities, To Be Honest (TBH), <keyword id="2837350" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sheth-brothers" source="Orion">Sheth Brothers</keyword> (Pratikar Green Tea), amongst others. With the launch of this platform, BIG FM will serve as a platform for brands to contribute to the overall well-being of individuals and communities and help businesses to expand and flourish. With a 360 degree campaign, the social commerce website will be extensively promoted across social media platforms of BIG FM and its partner platforms.

BIG FM has just launched its social commerce platform BIG Living, here’s all there is to know about it

<ul><li>Radio, like many other sectors was impacted adversely after the lockdown when ad spends plummeted.</li><li>However, a lot of players have been experimenting a lot to make sure they stay relevant for all their stakeholders.</li><li><keyword id="82551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-FM">BIG FM</keyword> recently launched a digital platform to get closer to the younger audience, it has also been offering brands innovative solutions to reach out to their consumers, <keyword id="295639" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Abraham-Thomas">Abraham Thomas</keyword>, CEO, BIG FM tells us.</li></ul> When the government announced its decision of a nationwide lockdown in the end of March, nobody was prepared for what was to follow. Its been over three months, and while the country is slowly opening up, a lot of businesses are still dealing with the business impact of the lockdown. The lockdown led to a lot of advertising expenditure being cut down. Sectors like experiential and OOH witnessed almost a complete shutdown. Sectors like live events, Radio and even TV had to write to the government to ask for its help in ensuring organizations can weather the storm. Meanwhile, ad spends on other traditional mediums like Print also plummeted. However, in the middle of all this, the organizations that have been able to be agile and open to change and experimentation are the ones who have felt lesser impact on their businesses. For radio, while digitization had been happening for a while now, the lockdown gave the needed push to the entire exercise. BIG FM recently forayed into the Live web radio space with the launch of its platform BRO – Big Radio Online. “We believe Radio + Digital is the new normal,” said Abraham Thomas, CEO, BIG FM, when we asked him about the launch of the platform. He said that while the radio station had been working on evolving into an audio entertainment network, the pandemic gave it the much-needed impetus. “While our journey to evolve into an audio entertainment network started before the pandemic with the relaunch of our website bigfmindia.com to an OTT-esque platform, the lockdown gave us a further impetus to expand our medium and create multiple touch-points for our audience. The launch of BRO is an important milestone in our journey towards evolving into a platform agnostic audio entertainment company. BRO serves as the perfect platform for the young adults who seek content that is entertaining as well as motivating,” said Thomas about the platform. He added that the aim of the platform was to touch every aspect of life that is important to the youth of India. Apart from the platform, BIG FM also launched a one-stop destination for the long tail of advertisers to create solutions, create packages, buy spots and make payment on <keyword id="9526740" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="buyadsonbigfm-com">buyadsonbigfm.com</keyword>. The increasing importance of Digital Radio for BIG FM Thomas believes that for organizations, the need of the hour is to become digital-first entities. On why they thought of speeding up the launch of BRO, Thomas added, “We did it because it enabled us to reach out to a wider set of audience. Through the platform, we wish to provide our listeners an immersive audio experience through podcast content coupled with music. The content has been curated keeping the interests of the young adults in mind and the platform boasts of a wide repertoire of shows spanning across genres ranging from Bollywood, career and lifestyle to romance, information and fashion. The focus has been to strengthen our offering in a way that will instantly connect with the young adults.” The business impact of the pandemic The initial few weeks of the lockdown had a huge impact on almost all sectors and even Radio was impacted. On what kind of impact it had on BIG FM’s business and how they tried to minimize the overall impact on the organization, Thomas told us, “April and May saw a steep decline in advertising spends, certain categories have shown a quick recovery in June. At BIG FM, our primary focus is to innovate whilst being flexible and agile to cope up with the changing times. Such crises lead to changes in consumer preferences and it is important to understand them. Since Radio plus digital is the future, the focus will be on adding incremental reach through multiple touch points. So we are adding digital audio, podcasts and web radio to our offering.” The radio station is also working on creating a lot ofs non-music content that can be consumed as podcasts on audio streaming platforms to newer audiences. It is also expanding the reach of its content IP’s. “We recently collaborated with <keyword id="685487" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Spotify">Spotify</keyword> for a content partnership which sees some of our most-loved shows and marquee properties be available on the audio streaming platform. Through our initiative Big Small Shots, we are also providing clients customized IPs that address a specific and immediate objective. We are also looking at taking a step further by making the concept of storytelling more hyper local and relevant to the regional language market in order to convey various brand and product messages through weekly storytelling,” he added. Bringing advertisers back to radio While things are slowly inching back towards normalcy, the task at hand is now to get back advertisers to invest on the medium. Things already seem to be moving in a positive direction as there are visible signs of recovery in a few sectors. On what are some of the sectors who have started putting their marketing monies on Radio, he shared, “The first category to start advertising was the banking, finance, insurance sectors. With safety and assurance coming to the fore, categories like insurance are taking up multiple opportunities to drive their message with the live yet safe content that we are continuously creating. This is closely followed by the FMCG sector that is seeing huge opportunities in personal hygiene, sanitizers, soaps, ready-to-cook products and branded commodities that are related to the requirements of the current pandemic.” Meanwhile, Healthcare, Pharma and Ayurvedic products are also witnessing increased demands. FMCG is seeing a lot of launches and since a lot of them are local brands, are also using radio as a medium. There’s also been an increase in activity in e-commerce, Entertainment, Automobile and Local Education, he explained. “Emerging markets are leading this recovery. Radio with its high local reach and playing a key role in calming, assuring and engaging their audiences, advertisers are exploring numerous opportunities to synergise their messages on radio,” he added. On why marketers should still consider Radio as an important medium in their mix, Thomas said, “Radio has evolved over the years from being a mere music and entertainment led platform to a much more responsible, informative, credible and purpose-driven network. It has always stood the test of time on several occasions, the most-recent being the on-going crisis. As per the recently released AROI report, 82% of the population tuned into radio during the COVID-19 lockdown along with the average daily time spent listening to radio increasing by 23% up to 2 hours 36 minutes daily during this period. In addition to the above, the study also reported that radio listening at home has moved up from 64% to 86% underlining the love of the medium. It also revealed that Radio is rated the second most credible medium by listeners bypassing TV, Newspaper &amp; Social Media by a huge margin.” On what they are offering to advertisers, he said, “Through our initiative Big Partnerships, we are exploring synergies with different platforms to offer amplified reach to our advertisers and our content. We have signed up over 20 partnerships where clients can get a potential audience reach of 15 crore. These include audio streaming apps, digital platforms, OTT platforms, TV, OOH and we are in active discussions with multiple partners. These are win-win partnerships where the incremental audiences can be monetised.” Making Radio future-ready If there’s one thing that most organizations have learnt from this experience, its being more agile and ensuring you stay relevant to changing consumer needs. On what he learnt from this experience as a leader, Thomas said, “Embracing technology across functions has become crucial. At Big FM, we continue to be more agile and resilient by adopting digital led solutions. From creating multiple touch-points to reaching out to our audiences and communicating with them in a manner they relate to the best, to adopting remote work from home model across each of our 58 stations across the country, we are moulding ourselves with the changing times. Our RJs are also doing their shows from their homes using their sound equipment systems connected via VPN ensuring seamless business continuity.” About what the radio industry needed to do to become more resilient and future-ready, he said, “Radio as a medium has grown exponentially. The urgent need is to evangelise Radio and the role it can play in the revival of the economy. The cognizance that it is a completely free-to-air medium that’s immensely credible and also instantly available to the masses 24X7, makes radio the perfect companion for brands and partners in the post-lockdown world.”

There’s an urgent need to evangelise Radio and the role it can play in the revival of the economy: Abraham Thomas, BIG FM

<ul><li>Radio and podcast companies have to work from their studios. So how are they functioning remotely amidst the Coronavirus threat?</li><li><keyword id="82551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-FM">Big FM</keyword> and <keyword id="3826899" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mirchi-Love">Mirchi Love</keyword> have instituted work from home for the entire team. On the other hand, <keyword id="9734" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio-Mirchi">Radio Mirchi</keyword> and IVM Podcasts are still calling their drive-time jocks and speakers, respectively, to their studios. 90% of their employees are working remotely. </li><li>The use of technology has enabled most of these players to allow their employees to work from home.</li></ul>In wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, lots of agencies and media companies have asked their employees to work remotely, in an attempt to implement social distancing. However, there are a lot of organisations for which working remotely might be difficult, like radio stations, that work out of their studios. So how are these radio stations dealing with the situation? Have they asked their employees to work from home and if yes, how are sole of the roles, that require people to be in studios, being carried out. We reached out to some of the people heading a few of India's biggest radio stations to understand how they have been working. Big FM says it has been making use of advanced technology to make work possible during a time like this. Abraham Thomas, CEO, Big FM said, "Big FM has moved completely to a remote working model where all our 59 stations are live from their homes, thanks to technology while our business teams interacted with over 500 clients, all in a day's work, from home. We believe we have two key responsibilities, a) stay safe - our teams, our families, our communities and society at large and b) stay open for business to keep the economy moving forward and people employed so that societies are able to function." On being asked what kind of technology they are using to make their work possible from home, he added, "We had built-in contingencies and our disaster management plan helped us to shift seamlessly to remote working using our sound equipment systems connected via VPN." 
	<div type="twitter" handle="bigfmindia" handlename="92.7 BIG FM" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1146347435826040832/o6yLq9qK_normal.png" favoritecount="137" retweetcount="12" status="Privileges of working from home!! Nothing can keep BIG FM and it's RJs away from its listeners! For the Next Few Da… https://t.co/lzec65yNzN" createdat="1584379008000" id="1239601522293391361"></div>



 Mirchi Love is also stationed at home. They are using Virtual Private Networks and softwares to do their work remotely. Indira Rangarajan, National Programming Head, Mirchi Love, said, "Our listeners depend on us to give timely and important updates especially during times like these and we’ve geared up to do just that. However, this is not at the cost of the health of our colleagues. The entire organisation has worked together to ensure that we give our best on air while working from home. We are using all possible tools at our disposal to make this happen." On the other hand, Yatish Mehrishi, Chief Operating Officer, Radio Mirchi said that they have allowed 90% of their employees to work remotely. Drive-time jocks are still going to the studio to record, strictly on their private vehicles. They also have a backup plan in place in case the situation worsens. He said, “90% of our employees are working from home. We just set up a board meeting today and only the internal team was part of it, else, everybody is working from home across the country. We are asking the drive-time jockeys to come, do their shoots and go. They come and go at different times. As a broadcast medium, we have a responsibility towards the public as well. We have to send in the right messaging, be in touch with the government. However, if the situation goes out of control and jocks cannot come in, we have technology available so that they can work from home. Our IP systems are all in place, all systems are equipped to facilitate that. Right now it is not so bad a condition.” Only one person is allowed in Radio Mirchi’s studio at a time and they are sanitising it twice a day. So what are the challenges of having employees of a radio station work remotely? Nisha Narayanan, COO and Director, RED FM and Magic FM explained, “As a radio network, we have certain in-built studio equipment which are crucial while producing on-air shows. RED FM’s technical team is trying to make it as convenient as possible for our teams to work effectively together when working from home. Special softwares are being installed on laptops as an alternative to studio-based equipment to ensure a hassle-free production process. Through such measures, our teams are constantly working towards ensuring smooth operations even when we are working at home. Working from home has certain other set of challenges such as the teams would not be readily available for each other and delay in on-air scheduling among others. Keeping in mind all these challenges we are virtually connecting everyone to ensure no work is being hampered during this period. For employees who might have to visit the office for some important work that cannot be done from home, we have arranged for all the necessary safety measures at our office.” Narayanan further shared that the organization is taking a lot of measure to ensure that people who do have to come to office are safe. She shared that RED FM is encouraging meetings via video conference wherever possible, visitor screenings at the entry gate, increasing frequency of office sanitization and has also implemented the temporary discontinuation of biometric attendance. “We are also providing cab services to employees who might have to travel for some urgent work or in case of any emergency,” she added. IVM has also instituted work from home for most of its employees. However, for some, it is still a work-in-progress. “It's a tremendous challenge given our busy studio recording schedules. We've instituted WFH for most people and want everyone to be safe,” said Amit Doshi, Founder, IVM Podcasts. Kavita Rajwade, Co-founder of IVM Podcasts, adds, “Our studio is not 100% shut but we are minimising operations from there. We are going to temporarily move to recording online and remotely.”

How Radio channels and podcast networks are recording live shows remotely amid Coronavirus threat

<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image">Erik TorenbergErik Torenberg.</div></div>Detroit-based entrepreneur Erik Torenberg, also known as "T-Berg," believes that anyone can have fun rapping.
That's why he's launching <a href="http://rapt.fm/">Rapt.fm</a> into public beta to let people rap battle each other in real-time. 
Rapt.fm is relatively simple. If you combine a Skype video call, two rappers, hip hop beats, and an audience that votes on the winner, you get Rapt.fm. 
So tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, artists like Soul Khan, Yonas, Big Pooh, Chester Watson, and others will rap live on the site. They may even battle with an audience member.
As part of the launch, Rapt.fm and Tommy Boy Records are hosting a rap contest on YouTube where the winner will get a record contract. Tommy Boy has signed hip hop artists like Queen Latifah, De La Soul, and Naughty by Nature.
Torenberg says he believes that aspiring rappers will get discovered on Rapt.fm. 
The rap tech space got on people's radar around the time when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rap-genius-interview-2012-10">top VC firm Andreessen Horowitz invested $15 million in Rap Genius</a>, a site that helps you understand the meaning behind rap lyrics, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-startup-could-wipe-out-cliffnotes-2013-2">poetry, speeches, and books</a>. 
In Rapt.fm's case, it's looking to raise a $500,000 seed round soon.
Rapt.fm launched an early version in January 2012 to a limited number of people. Up until this point, Rapt.fm users showed a lot of loyalty to the platform, Torenberg says.
In July, for example, Rapt.fm had 7,000 users. Sixty percent of them were returning and would spend 25 minutes on average on the site.
In order to practice what the company preaches, Rapt.fm requires all of its employees to rap. They don't have to be great, Torenberg says, but they have to love doing it. 
"Our goal is to be a tech company and a hip hop collective," Torenberg says. "That everyone in our crew raps and appreciates rap, regardless of skill-level. Imagine Facebook meets the Wu-Tang Clan."

This Guy's Startup Wants To Help Aspiring Rappers Get A Record Deal

<ul><li>The radio industry has been grappling with decreasing ad spends on the medium.</li><li>In wake of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">Coronavirus</keyword> outbreak, <keyword id="8947255" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-association-of-radio-operators">the Association of Radio Operators</keyword> for India has written to the government seeking a bailout package.</li></ul> The Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) has written a letter to the government seeking a bailout package, in view of the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on the industry. In the letter, the industry body has requested the government to consider the concession requests it had made in December 2019. Considering a lot of brands are cutting back on spending on media, the industry body is expecting the radio industry, that is already grappling with decreasing ad spends, to be further impacted. And to seek a government intervention, AROI President <keyword id="1637280" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anurradha-Prasad">Anurradha Prasad</keyword> has written this letter to Union minister of information and broadcasting <keyword id="119642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prakash-Javadekar">Prakash Javadekar</keyword> on March 16. As of now, the industry body has asked for a three-pronged bailout package. Speaking about the request <keyword id="2688166" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nisha-Narayanan">Nisha Narayanan</keyword>, Director &amp; COO, RED FM and Magic FM said, “The industry has collectively asked for a three-pronged bailout package till the economy stabilizes. This included a one-year moratorium on all licence fees and charges by the government and <keyword id="139640" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prasar-Bharti">Prasar Bharti</keyword>, and restoration of government advertising on radio, besides clearing the long-pending payments from the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity. We hope that the government helps restore normalcy in this sector in these desperate times.” Emphasizing on the criticality of the request from AROI to the government at this juncture, Abraham Thomas, CEO, Big FM said, "The FM Radio business was already reeling under the effects of the cut in Ad spends by advertisers including Government with most players expected to degrow by -20% this fiscal. Covid19 crises has put additional pressure on us to invest behind uninterrupted business continuity services. Ad spends on the other end has completely dried up. Radio is a fixed cost business and directly/indirectly employs close to 20,000 employees. The impact of all this is going to be huge." For the past few years, advertising on radio has seen a decrease. Even advertising from government that used to account for 10% of the industry’s revenue, has cut down on its spend on the medium. That, coupled with the Coronavirus crisis, has further hit radio ad spends. The aim of this bailout package is to bring about some relief for a lot of stations that are planning steps for cutting cost, including cutting down on staff. The primary asks of the AROI from the government, points out Thomas, are as follows: <ul><li>Increased Spending: Government which used to account for almost 15% of the Radio Business, has decreased spends by over 70% in the last year alone. Spends at this time will help rally the citizens together and keep the communication live, local and credible.</li><li>Clearing Overdue Outstanding payments: Over 6 months of Govt. outstanding payments are due and clearing the payments now will be a big relief for the industry.</li><li>Defray Costs: A waiver on License fees, Prasar Bharti rentals, reduction in GST rate and moratorium on payment of GST, on Loan &amp; interest pay-outs are some of the requests made by the AROI to the government.</li></ul>

Association of Radio Operators for India writes to the government for a bailout package

<keyword id="11753755" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="radio-players">Radio players</keyword> have always been a medium for listening to and enjoying music from traditional times. In today's modern world, <keyword id="12905" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio">radio</keyword> players have still not gone out of fashion for some and are available in different looks and forms. Listening to live music from radio stations gives a different vibe rather than listening to your regular playlist. We have created a list of some of the <keyword id="11753756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="best-radio-players">best radio players</keyword> for you. <bulletContentEmbed name="B07GZRR6NP" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07GZRR6NP_head"> <div type="image" title="Preloaded Songs" msid="84885625" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07GZRR6NP</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07GZRR6NP_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07GZRR6NP_3082425796557560"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Saregama Carvaan Mini Hindi 2.0- Music Player with Bluetooth/FM/AM/AUX</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">Enjoy 351 super hit pre-loaded songs with this music player from Saregama. It features multi playback options like- USB port, Bluetooth feature, AUX port which should allow you to enjoy your music collection. This music player features an in-built FM radio which should let you enjoy live music from radio station channels. Also, it has a battery life of up to 5-hours.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07GZRR6NP_2131950301386758"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This music player is said to come with preloaded songs.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed> <bulletContentEmbed name="B07YNV1L55" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07YNV1L55_head"> <div type="image" title="Compact Design" msid="84885726" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07YNV1L55</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07YNV1L55_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07YNV1L55_3322061711146346"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Zebronics Zeb-County Bluetooth Speaker with Built-in FM Radio, Aux Input and Call Function</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This compactly designed handy Bluetooth speaker from Zebronics claims to have an in-built FM radio. This FM radio should let you enjoy music in an ancient radio manner. The speaker offers multi-connectivity features like- USB, aux and micro SD card that should help you listen to music in the way you like. Also, it is said to take 4-5 hours to get charged.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07YNV1L55_6026258293714003"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The compact design should make it easy to carry.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed> <bulletContentEmbed name="B08C7CCDN1" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08C7CCDN1_head"> <div type="image" title="Voice Recording" msid="84885680" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08C7CCDN1</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08C7CCDN1_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08C7CCDN1_9020375677055582"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Amkette Pocket Blast Bluetooth Speaker with FM, USB/SD MP3 Player with Number Pad and Voice/FM Recording</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This Pocket Blast Bluetooth Speaker with FM from Amkette claims to have other connectivity options like- USB, aux, SD card for listening to music. The speaker features a number pad on the top that should make the selection of FM channels easy and convenient. It is said to have a well-defined bass for pleasant music. The in-built voice recording feature should allow you to record songs as well as voice.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08C7CCDN1_5175798719213097"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The number pad makes you select a radio channel without any hassle.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed> <bulletContentEmbed name="B07BL22Q5K" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B07BL22Q5K_head"> <div type="image" title="Retro Design" msid="84885710" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B07BL22Q5K</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B07BL22Q5K_body"><bulletContentRow name="B07BL22Q5K_1063830465395194"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Noizzy Box Retro XS Vintage Classic Portable Bluetooth Speaker with LED Light/Display/FM Radio/Support Micro TF SD Card/USB Input, AUX</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This retro design portable Bluetooth speaker from NB Noizzy Box is said to give a vintage look and should add grace to your home decor. Its small size body should make it convenient to carry anywhere at any time. The speaker features an in-built FM which should let you enjoy live music. It not only features FM and Bluetooth, but also an aux, USB and SD card port with LED light background.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B07BL22Q5K_8894974494204028"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">The vintage look and retro design should add grace to the decor where placed.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed> <bulletContentEmbed name="B08VGPZBX2" columns="1"><bulletContentHeading name="B08VGPZBX2_head"> <div type="image" title="Portable Design" msid="84885768" hostid="261"></div></columnHeadThumb>B08VGPZBX2</columnHeadTitle></columnHead></bulletContentHeading><bulleteContentBody name="B08VGPZBX2_body"><bulletContentRow name="B08VGPZBX2_3253763087767568"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1">Pagaria WALKIE Portable Alarm Clock FM Radio, with Bluetooth, Earphone, Voice Recording, USB/TF Playback</bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">This portable alarm clock FM radio speaker from Pagaria claims to have a dual alarm system and big display. The speaker offers various connectivity options to listen and enjoy music. Its small size should make it pocket-friendly and convenient to carry. Also, it is said to have a battery suitable to run for up to 6-hours and a high-sensitivity FM antenna.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow><bulletContentRow name="B08VGPZBX2_2705707516253930"><bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowHead col="1"></bulletContentRowHead></bulletContentRowHeading><bulletContentRowBody><bulletContentRowCell col="1">It is said to have a dual alarm function.</bulletContentRowCell></bulletContentRowBody></bulletContentRow></bulleteContentBody></bulletContentEmbed>

Best radio players in India 2021

<keyword id="3205550" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="LeEco">LeEco</keyword>, the global internet and technology conglomerate, which has created ripples in the Indian market for being a disruptive and innovative brand has launched its first radio campaign nationally. The radio campaign spots have been conceptualized by Orchard , a unit of Leo Burnett Ad agency and implemented by Madison and will run across 7 radio channels in Tier 1 &amp; 2 cities. 
 
<keyword id="3264116" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="LeEco-Day">LeEco Day</keyword> v2.0, the company’s second super offer carnival in India will be held on the 7th and 8th of April and will offer unprecedented gifts and discounts to its customers on Flipkart. From a chance to win Mahindra KUV 100 as a bumper prize, to an easy exchange offer, the carnival will be an exciting day for Indian buyers. 
 
To promote the same, LeEco has collaborated with major radio channels across the country like Red FM, Fever 104 FM, Radio Mirchi, Big FM, Radio City, My FM, and Radio Tadka. Channels across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Indore, Lucknow, Patna, Surat, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad, will air details on offers and discounts, users can avail on LeEco day. 
 
Through this campaign, the company aims to target the age group of 15-30 years by enticing them to upgrade from their existing smartphones to LeEco’s Superphones. 
 
Talking about the campaign, Atul Jain, COO LeEco India said, “LeEco’s philosophy has been to provide customers with an encompassing and unprecedented experience. Our initiatives like the LeECo Day are part of our efforts to go-beyond customer expectations and provide them with the ‘Le experience’ we are known for globally. Considering most of our users are millennials and listen to radio which commuting, we decided to promote the LeEco Day at such a large scale over radio. We are sure that customers will make use of the LeEco Day 2.0 to the fullest and join the family of superphone users.” 
 
Since the launch of its phones the Le 1s and Le Max, LeEco devices have established themselves as the phone of choice among users, with their best in class performance and competitive pricing. LeEco has been aggressively marketing its devices in India and has already been present across traditional and new media outlets since January 2016.

LeEco tunes into FM for LeEco Day; launches high blitz radio campaign

<ul><li>Every year, World <keyword id="12905" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="radio" source="Orion">Radio</keyword> Day is celebrated on 13 February. </li><li>The theme of the 2022 edition of World Radio Day is devoted to ‘Radio and Trust’ because despite a global decline in trust in the internet and social media networks, radio continues to be seen by people as one of the most trustworthy news sources.</li><li>We speak to industry leaders to understand where Radio as an industry stands today in India, how it has evolved and what more needs to be done to make sure it continues to stand the test of time.</li></ul>Back in the late 70’s, English new wave band The Buggles shot to fame with their incredibly catchy debut single, Video Killed The Radio Star which rued the technological changes that they thought would eventually kill the audio medium. This was the time when television was slowly becoming more popular and people were slowly moving from radio to the visually attractive video medium. Fast forward 43 years and Radio has turned out to be one of the most resilient mediums. Radio has not just survived the coming in of television but also more technologically advanced audio devices be it our Walkmans and CDs, to now even audio streaming app. It has been the ultimate survivor that has evolved with the dynamic changes in consumer behavior and has adapted well to the changing times. While the pandemic led to an obvious drop in ad volumes on the medium, things are slowly on the path to recovery. If recent data from TAM is to be believed, after a 27% drop in radio ad volumes in 2020, there was a 29% year-on-year growth in 2021. Every year, World Radio Day is celebrated on 13 February. The Day was decided by UNESCO back in 2011 during its 36th conference. The theme of the 2022 edition of World Radio Day is devoted to ‘Radio and Trust’ because despite a global decline in trust in the internet and social media networks, radio continues to be seen by people as one of the most trustworthy news sources. We thought this would be a good time to look at Radio’s evolution and understand what has led to the medium’s resilience and continued relevance. The evolution of Radio: Adapting to changing consumer needs Despite being one of the oldest mediums, Radio has stood the test of time. Apart from the fact that it has massive reach in the country, it still remains one of the most trusted mediums. Over the past few years, most of the major FM players have gone <keyword id="50691" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="digital" source="Orion">digital</keyword> because at the end of the day, it is all about evolving with consumer needs and giving them exactly what they want. On a few things <keyword id="29490" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mirchi" source="Orion">Mirchi</keyword> has done in the past few years to stay relevant, <keyword id="6630520" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prashant-panday" source="Orion">Prashant Panday</keyword>, MD &amp; CEO, Mirchi, ENIL said, “We’ve understood that our listeners want their radio station at their convenience. We have therefore curated some of our stations which are available on Gaana.com. In international markets (US, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain to begin with), we have launched our own digital platform on which our consumers across those countries can consume Mirchi radio stations from their own country and from back home in India! Secondly, we have understood that our listeners love audio stories. With this platform, we offer exciting audio stories and entertainment across multiple languages! Moreover, we also make podcasts and audio stories for external platforms like Gaana and Spotify.” During the last two years of the pandemic when the internet was full of misinformation and fake news, radio came to play a critical role, that of a trusted source of information. “In addition to bringing people closer during the lockdown, it also built a community that thrived on shared togetherness and positive influence,” explained <keyword id="2891361" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="abe-thomas" source="Orion">Abe Thomas</keyword>, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited. “At BIG FM, we partnered with multiple audio platforms for our marquee properties and key offerings. Collaborating with these platforms opened many industry doors for us, sparking the idea of perfect amalgamation of radio and digital which gave rise to a host of opportunities to distribute content to a global audience. Entering the Web Radio space through digitalization, we forayed into the digital radio space via a touchpoint like BRO – BIG Radio Online. We also entered the podcast space as a prime example of a radio network taking the next big step towards becoming an audio entertainment company,” he added. In fact, Big FM also launched its social commerce platform BIG Living last year, to build a stronger connect with its consumers. The past few years have brought about a sea change in consumer needs and preferences and for the medium, the task has not just been to understand this evolution but also to change with it. “As listeners have evolved in respect to their content consumption choices, we have consistently strived to produce a full-fledged package that includes viable content, good music, and wholesome entertainment on radio as well as on our digital platforms. We were the first ones to adapt to the digital medium and launched our first internet radio station 11 years back. We have grown to provide 18 online radio stations, each with its own distinct and relatable regional programming content. We are seeing favorable <keyword id="35666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising" source="Orion">advertising</keyword> sentiments for radio as we continue to emerge as a pioneering force in the Indian radio space and expand our digital capabilities,” shared <keyword id="3148434" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ashit-kukian" source="Orion">Ashit Kukian</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer, Radio City. However, what has continued to keep the medium relevant is keeping consumers at the core of everything they do, said <keyword id="2688166" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nisha-narayanan" source="Orion">Nisha Narayanan</keyword>, Director &amp; COO, RED FM and Magic FM. “The audience has a wide spectrum of entertainment options available today. Customization is the key word today where each one wants to be in his own space and enjoy the entertainment. For giving the most to our consumers, we are constantly in sync with their aspirations and needs. We strive to provide our listeners with a wholesome experience built over Radio, Digital, on-ground events and IPs and a wide array of content in the formats of podcasts, indie music and user-generated content creation and dissemination,” she shared. Putting the best foot forward for advertisers With evolving consumer needs, the expectations of advertisers have also evolved. While ensuring the medium puts its best foot forward for its listeners over the years, a lot of work has also gone behind coming up with robust advertising solutions for advertisers. Talking about why radio continues to be a strong advertising medium, Anupama Singh, Consultant – Content Management, Carat India, “Radio as a medium, at one end of the spectrum, works as the last mile reminder medium and at the other end, helps the marketers to reach the audiences in the media dark areas, where electricity/literacy can be a challenge. The privatisation of Radio in 2001 opened a lot of opportunities to the marketers- large and small. For large marketers, radio helps to build frequency and hyper-local targeting. For retailers, it is a cost-effective medium that helps them reach their audience with the least spillover.” So how has the medium been working on giving robust solutions to advertisers? Talking about the kind of solutions they have been working on providing, Narayanan said, “We never believed in offering vanilla solutions as radio offers opportunities to innovate and micro target at the city levels. With our RJs being influencers in their own way, we firmly believe that a good solution, coupled with its delivery are equally important.” She further ads that their approach has always been to offer integrated solutions comprising of multimedia platforms. “We are also collaborating with many of them in designing their creatives through audio and video, besides taking care of other communication needs. Integrated multimedia campaigns and on ground, digital podcast productions for the clients are something that we take up as customized projects,” explained Narayanan. Today, it is all about coming up with bigger and better solutions for advertisers, said Panday. “We used to house our digital products within Solutions in the past. We are now carving digital products out of Solutions. With our platform launch in international markets, we will start aggregating audiences on our own platform. This will give us unprecedented insights on our consumers, something that has been missing on FM radio and even external platforms. We will also finally have our own digital inventory to offer to advertisers. Therefore, a whole lot of action can be expected from Solutions and Digital. Together, we expect this to grow from one-third to half of our revenues in the near future. FM radio may grow at 6-8% in the years ahead, but Solutions and Digital can grow at 15-18% CAGR for many years to come,” he said. What the future looks like As a medium, Radio has a huge potential. It is an interactive medium that holds its listeners’ attention by offering socially-viable content and enhanced on-air properties. The medium’s digital platforms have become another consumer touchpoint. Moreover, most radio stations have powerful influencers in their RJs who have been able to build a deep connect with their listeners on various social media platforms making them strong voices in the industry. However, with consumers wanting to access content according to their own convenience, one of the biggest challenges for traditional radio was the fact that it could bit be accessed on-demand. “However, to address this, the radio industry is now transforming themselves into an audio entertainment company by venturing into podcasts, videos through web radio, and social content for the modern generations who want content at their fingertips at all times. The change in consumption patterns has given rise to a new trend in the radio industry with digitalization being the new trend,” said Thomas. On what is feels need to be done to ensure the medium stays relevant even in the future, Kukian said, “There needs to be a true amalgamation of traditional and new-age medium with radio being the core. Within the world of digital, Radio as a platform provides a direct emotional connect with the audience. In today’s time, radio is not confined to just on-air audio content, but has also moved to online platforms and this phenomenon is only bound to grow as we move forward. Therefore, integrating radio with digital viz ‘Radigitalization’ a term coined by me, is going to play a central role for the radio industry in the future.” Sharing a similar thought, Singh added, “Using innovative content formats on digital platforms such as podcasts and partnering with various music platforms like Spotify and Gaana to market their content going forward, is what the future for radio looks like.” Private FM stations worldwide have been fast moving from analog to digital globally and the future could look very different. HD Radio from Xperi Corporations that offers Digital Radio Technology for Radio Stations, Car Radio System, Mobile and any device which has radio built in services has successfully conducted a trial to provide digital radio technology for FM frequencies with All India Radio (AIR) recently. Speaking about how things are at an inflection point, Ashruf El-Dinary, Senior Vice President, HD Radio, Xperi Corp said, "While countries across the world have been transitioning their mass media from analogue to digital over the past 20 years, in India, Radio broadcasting has largely remained analogue. Moving from analogue to digital broadcasting is an effective way to future-proof the radio industry while closing the digital divide. Our HD Radio team has developed FM broadcast solutions that deliver information, entertainment, and critical alerts to automotive, home and mobile devices. We created the future and see great opportunities for digital radio broadcasting in India."

World Radio Day 2022: How the Radio industry is paving the way for its next phase of growth

Broadcasters of private FM channels have raised concerns about the restrictions imposed by the <keyword id="510157" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Information-and-Broadcast">Ministry of Information and Broadcast</keyword> on multiple permissions in a city. 
 
The information memorandum issued by the ministry says that no entity will be allowed to have more than 15% of all channels allotted in the country. This however, excludes the channels located in Jammu &amp; Kashmir, North-eastern States and island territories. The private broadcasters want the cap to be extended to overall auctions and not just for the partial Phase III auctions. 
 Ms <keyword id="2688166" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nisha-Narayanan">Nisha Narayanan</keyword>, COO, RED FM opined the following views about the pre-bid conference. 
 
“15 percent cap is a major issue we have raised with the ministry of information and broadcasting which will affect all big players and RED FM specifically. Ideally we would have liked to reach out to more cities but it now restricts us to be present in few cities only. As a natural corollary, the likelihood gets skewed towards metros and mini metros and the C and D categories will be left out. The other option is to surrender some existing stations and bid for more cities which again does not help the growth of radio. We would also like the existing frequencies to be there in the new cities since we have all built a brand around it. Moreover they are widely recognized in the listeners mind over the last 10 years. Networking, brand and marketing campaigns, content syndication etc becomes a lot easier with single frequency network.” [sic] 
 
Image courtesy: Thinkstock

15% Cap Is
An Issue, Feel Private FM Broadcasters

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Social network Ask.fm was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/31249209">almost shut down following its acquisition in 2014, the BBC reports</a>.
The anonymous question-and-answer service had become involved in controversy after<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-ninth-teenager-since-last-september-has-committed-suicide#.ko0z2Z9l2"> more than half a dozen teen suicides were linked to cyberbullying on the platform</a>. Grieving parents launched <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509874/Mothers-campaign-close-Ask-fm-daughter-Izzy-Dixs-suicide.html">campaigns to have the website shuttered</a>.
After months of bad press, it was <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/askfm-is-moving-to-ireland-2014-11">bought by Ask.com in August 2014</a>. Despite the names, Ask.fm and Ask.com were unconnected prior to the acquisition - the latter is owned by IAC.
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/31249209">In a new interview with BBC Newsbeat</a>, Ask.com CEO Doug Leeds has revealed that IAC considered shuttering Ask.fm completely after its acquisition. He defends the anonymity that characterises the site as letting users "ask questions that you wouldn't feel comfortable asking," but recognises that "when anonymity is being used as a method to cause harm then we can take action and it isn't appropriate for our service."
In 2014, Ask.com "did look at shutting it down and we thought about it significantly as an option," he says.
Instead, the company has launched a new <a href="http://ask.fm/about/safety/about-company">"safety center"</a> to help protect its users. There are 143 million registered accounts on the site, with more than 25 billion answers in 49 languages. 50 new questions are asked every day.
The controversial social network has also brought on a safety advisory board comprised of "leading figures in online safety," and introduced new filters to automatically scan for problematic content. "It's a big investment in clever technology and people, that's what's going to make the difference," says Leeds.

Ask.fm was almost closed down in 2014

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/17191485958/">Robert Couse-Baker/Flickr (CC)</a></div></div></div>In a world first, Norway is beginning to switch off FM radio on Wednesday, with the intention of totally phasing out the technology by the end of 2017.But there's just one problem - the majority of Norwegians are dead against the plans."The main reason behind this big technological change is that we want to offer a better radio service to the entire population," Ole Jorgen Tormark, head of Digitalradio Norge, said (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/11/norway-begins-switching-off-analogue-radio">via The Guardian</a>).The country is heavily mountainous, making it difficult to ensure its 5 million citizens can get an analogue signal. Instead, it will switch to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), which offers more stations and better coverage.However, many people aren't happy about the change. <a href="http://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2017/01/10/norway-prepares-for-controversial-fm-radio-shutdown/">According to AFP</a>, a poll found that 66% of Norwegians are against the shutdown, and just 17% support it.Only a third of cars in the country have DAB radios, AFP reported, meaning the majority of vehicle owners face potentially costly upgrades if they want to be able to keep listening on the move. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38529435">There are reportedly 15 million FM radios in Norway</a>, all of which will become obsolete.The shut-down is rolling out in phases. At 11.11 AM local time (10.11 AM GMT), Nordland, a county in the north of the country, switched off. All of Norway will have stopped using the analogue broadcasting method by the end of the year.Norway may be first, but other countries are also eyeing up a switch. The <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> plans to make the jump after DAB is responsible for 50% of all listening, and its coverage is similar to FM, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38529435">according to the BBC</a> - a milestone which might be reached in 2018. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/south-korean-tech-watching-people-eat-online-mukbang-2016-12">This teen makes up to $1,500 a night eating dinner in front of a webcam in South Korea</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="MwMDZkdzr7V54pSPAwMT1JU7p7MqmuY1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

In a world first, Norway is starting to switch off FM radio today - even though most citizens are dead against it

<ul><li>As we enter a brand new year, we want to crystal gaze into what the year holds for us.</li><li>In today's feature, experts from the <keyword id="12905" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio">radio</keyword> industry tell us a few big trends we need to watch out for in 2021.</li></ul>We have finally left 2020, one of the most difficult years we have faced collectively in recent times, behind. It was a year that affected businesses, lives, markets, and the world in general. And it obviously had an impact on the media and entertainment industry too. While it affected almost all media platforms, it affected some mediums more than others. Traditional mediums like Print, OOH, Experiential and Radio bore the brunt. With advertisers stopping most of their marketing activities, especially in the first few months, AdEx witnessed a major dip. Specifically Radio as a medium is largely dependent on <keyword id="3381059" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-advertising">retail advertising</keyword> and when retail saw a complete shutdown, the medium suffered too as advertisers pulled back on ads. Many radio players had to cut salaries and rationalize manpower. However, according to most experts from the industry, it was also a great teacher. It taught the industry to innovate and efficiently reduce cost, that they feel will come handy for organizations in the future too. Now, with things slowly getting back on track, most leaders are excited about 2021. We spoke to a few of them to understand what to expect from the upcoming year, and the trends that we should look out for in the Radio industry. Here’s what they had to say: <keyword id="295639" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Abraham-Thomas">Abraham Thomas</keyword>, CEO, <keyword id="694101" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Broadcast-Network-Limited">Reliance Broadcast Network Limited</keyword> <div type="image" title="Abe" msid="80041608" hostid="261"></div> The year 2020 has surely been a great teacher as it enabled us to broaden our horizon and explore possibilities like never before. Radio has been re-imagined in the minds of the listeners and its transformation into a complete audio entertainment platform has been a stellar one. For 2021, we see the medium seamlessly integrating digitization further and taking massive strides as the emergence of audio will take precedence across all innovations. This year, the advancements of digitization enabled radio networks to build a holistic audio entertainment experience for listeners as well as for brands to leverage. For the coming year, we are certain that there will be an expansion in the audio space with radio further venturing into avenues that harnesses the power of the medium. The changing landscape of consumer behaviour presented us, at <keyword id="82551" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-FM">BIG FM</keyword>, with opportunities and we established ourselves as an audio entertainment player. After the launch of our web radio platform Big Radio Online this year, we are strategically advancing into a myriad of avenues such as gamification, chat bots, social commerce and many others. This will enable us to present an immersive experience and also a deeper level of engagement with various stakeholders. We see this dominating the innovations and leading the trend for next year. These avenues will further integrate radio into becoming a one-stop audio entertainment destination. Radio as a medium has constantly reinvented itself, is in line with the evolving times and will continue to expand its wings and dominate the audio content space in the year to come. <keyword id="6630520" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prashant-Panday">Prashant Panday</keyword>, MD &amp; CEO, MIRCHI <div type="image" title="DSC_9512" msid="80041548" hostid="261"></div> “The pandemic has hit the business of every advertiser. It has increased the risks for them. In 2021, and in years further ahead, advertisers will want to reduce risks associated with media buying. To this end, they will demand more “solutions” to their marketing challenges from their media partners. They will scale back on pure media buying, and put more monies on solutions. Media companies will have to add marketing and creative people to their teams, who can understand the challenges of advertisers, and develop solutions accordingly. Media companies will move towards becoming marketing consultancies, though they will not directly compete with advertising agencies. Media companies will extend the brand messaging that ad agencies create through innovative last-mile adaptations. In order to do this, media companies will have to develop a suite of products, very different from their core product. Mirchi for instance, has developed digital products that include original video content, other videos, online radio, and audio solutions using the plain old telephone system. We have also developed a suite for on-ground and on-TV IPs like the Mirchi Music Awards, the Mirchi Cover Stars and the Mirchi Neon Run. Such products will give advertisers an opportunity to reach their target audiences more predictably and efficiently.” <keyword id="3148434" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ashit-Kukian">Ashit Kukian</keyword>, CEO, Radio City <div type="image" title="Mr. Ashit Kukian, CEO, Radio City" msid="80041566" hostid="261"></div> Radio has always been one of the most trusted and reliable media, more so in this year. We saw an increase in listenership during the lockdown, contrary to the belief that the consumption would dip as people stopped traveling. A trend we noticed this year and forecast for 2021 would be growth in radio, in terms of listenership and business from the Tier2 and Tier 3 markets. With increase in 5G penetrationand consumption shiftby brands to advertise more in Tier 2 &amp; Tier 3 markets. Categories like e-commerce, OTT platforms , FMCG &amp; Retail would like to leverage these markets. Due to radio's reach and accessibility, these brands will look at advertising their messaging on radio to leverage a wider audience. Also, radio is one of the most effective medium that disseminates credible content and any brand in the current situation wants to be associated with a medium that communicates their message in a positive manner. This will in turn help the radio industry increase its revenue and eventually come out of the woods stronger.

Radio: Trends to watch out for in 2021

<ul><li>After TV, Radio sees a strong growth during the <keyword id="91743" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lockdown">lockdown</keyword> period; 51 million tuned into to seek credible information. </li><li>Time spent listening to radio increases to 2.36 hours everyday. </li></ul>Radio has always been a constant companion to everyone, both in good and tough times. It is one medium that has a PAN India reach right from the grassroot level to the metros. According to the latest research by AZ Research PPL across a sample size of 3300 people among 18+ UA population, 82% people have been tuning in to radio during COVID-19, with FM channels emerging as the second most credible source of information for the masses. As per the research, radio has a credibility score of 6.27, second only to the internet which is at 6.44 and TV at 5.74. Infact, the <keyword id="638144" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radio-industry">radio industry</keyword> witnesses a listenership of 51 million people, which is nearly as much as television’s reach of 56 million and social media’s reach of 57 million. A few more noteworthy highlights of the research include radio’s at home listenership which has increased by 22% and has grown from 64% to 86%. The time that people spend listening to radio has increased by 23% to 2.36 hours everyday during the lockdown, second only to television. According to <keyword id="267232" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anuradha-Prasad">Anuradha Prasad</keyword>, President of the <keyword id="987254" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Association-of-Radio-Operators-for-India">Association of Radio Operators for India</keyword> (AROI), “It is very encouraging to note that Radio is evolving as one of the most preferred and most credible source of infotainment. We are now almost catching up on TV in terms of audience, the rise of 23 percent in total time spent per person on radio is phenomenal. We are grateful to all our listeners and look forward to help evolve this media into greater heights.” Sharing his thoughts about the study, Abraham Thomas, CEO, Big FM, said, “The findings are in line with our expectations as we have been witnessing a sizeable increase in the response and engagement levels to our content since the outbreak of this crises. Radio has led by example during this time and the feeling of knowing that you’re making a difference in the lives of our listeners is truly amazing. The high levels of trust on radio, high in-home listening and high listening on mobile habits have driven this surge in time spent and reach. We thank our listeners and will continue to be there for them, entertaining and informing them and together we will win this. I truly believe this is Radio’s finest hour.” Commenting on these findings, Ashit Kukian, CEO, Radio City, said, "Since its inception, radio has maintained its widespread reach and due to its ease of accessibility, it has turned out to be one of the most accessed mediums. With these latest findings, it yet again proves that radio is one of those mediums which has the power to create awareness on local and national issues. I take this opportunity to thank all the listeners for believing in the power of radio and for letting us prove time and again that radio will be on the forefront of helping the society in issues like the coronavirus outbreak which has turned out to be a global pandemic." Harshad Jain, CEO – Radio and Entertainment, HT Media Ltd and Next Mediaworks Ltd. said, “As the COVID-19 pandemic takes over the world, the role of entertainment mediums become all the more crucial. Radio being a critical medium has the dual responsibility of not only entertaining the listeners, but also ensuring that correct and genuine information reaches the country’s citizens. At a time like this, the power and effectiveness of our medium increases manifold. People are now tuning in to the radio sets more than ever for their daily entertainment needs and also to stay updated with credible information. With the entire country under lockdown, the listenership has shifted to in-home listening. The entire radio industry stands together in these tough times to successfully win the fight against coronavirus.” Commenting on the findings, Prashant Pandey, MD &amp; CEO, ENIL, said, “I’m happy to note that as per the AROI research, radio listenership has grown strongly during the lockdown period. This is not surprising considering the amount of very useful information radio is giving on a daily basis. Radio is a strong medium for advertisers to use effectively now and always.” Nisha Narayanan, Director &amp; COO, Red FM and Magic FM, said, “Radio has been playing a much bigger role, it has been able to unite the linguistic and ethnic diversity and connect people from all backgrounds with its numerous arrays of frequency. Radio offers last mile connectivity and the latest findings have proved once again that it’s a powerful and trusted medium to deliver messages to the audience. We would like to thank all our listeners who have supported us and believed in the power of radio.” *Source: All SEC 18 + UA: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune &amp; Hyderabad.

Radio industry listenership surges to 51 million

New Delhi, Feb 2 () Following are the top business stories at 2040 hours:-

DEL40 BIZ-BUD-LIC-LD LISTING
LIC public offer likely in 2nd half of FY21, says Finance Secy
New Delhi: Listing of insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) may be done in the second half of the next financial year, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said on Sunday.
 
 DEL32 BIZ-FM-LD NRI
NRI tax not to apply on bonafide workers in Middle East
New Delhi: The government on Sunday clarified that the proposed tax on NRIs will not apply on bonafide Indians working in tax-free foreign countries and is intended to tax only those seeking to escape tax by exploiting their non-resident status.

DEL30 BIZ-FM-TAX
New tax regime to definitely benefit taxpayers in some brackets: Sitharaman
New Delhi: With experts terming the new tax regime complex and unavailing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the new structure will definitely benefit taxpayers in certain brackets, and more clarification will be issued by the government, if needed.
 
 DCM34 BIZ-BPCL-EOI
Govt to issue BPCL EoI in next few days
New Delhi: The government will come out with the expression of Interest (EoI) inviting bidders for privatisation of BPCL within few days, a senior official said on Sunday.

 DCM33 BIZ-FM-LD ETF
FM says 2nd tranche of Bharat Bond ETF within this quarter
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the second tranche of Bharat Bond exchange traded fund (ETF) is likely to hit the market in the current quarter.

 
 DCM24 BIZ-BUD-LD NITI AAYOG
Stock market's reaction on Budget surprising: Niti Aayog vice chairman
New Delhi: Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar expressed surprise over the stock market reacting negatively on the Budget proposals, saying investors probably expected some big bang reforms and ignored the initiatives towards investment and growth.
 
DCM23 BIZ-MARKET-OUTLOOK
Budget overhang, RBI policy, Q3 earnings to decide market course this week: Analysts
Mumbai: Budget overhang is likely to dominate trading pattern in the equity market this week, while participants will also keenly watch other developments like RBI policy, release of key macro data and quarterly earnings, according to analysts.
 
 DCM22 BIZ-BUD-DIGITAL INDIA OUTLAY
Govt increases Digital India Program fund by 23% to Rs 3,958 cr
New Delhi: The government has increased the outlay for digital India programme by 23 per cent to Rs 3,958 crore for 2020-21 compared to the actual allocation in the current fiscal. 

 
DCM21 BIZ-SEED FUND-DPIIT
DPIIT working on guidelines for National Seed Fund: Mohapatra
New Delhi: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on guidelines for a National Seed Fund that was announced in the Budget for 2020-21 to help start-ups and budding entrepreneurs, a top government official said.
 
DCM17 BUD-UIDAI
Govt pegs UIDAI's allocation at Rs 985 cr for FY21
New Delhi: The government has raised fund allocation for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) - which issues biometric ID to residents - by 17 per cent to Rs 985 crore for the next fiscal starting April 1. BAL
BAL

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