The Resurgence of Radio in India

Gopinath Menon, Executive Director of the advertising agency, TBWA Anthem, said, "Radio advertising is aptly suited for local promotions, and once audiences can be targeted, it has tremendous potential to eat into local mediums." Reportedly, there are more than 150 million radio sets in India - three times more than the number of TV sets in the country. On the basis of this data, private radio broadcasters claimed that radio had vast potential just waiting to be exploited. They aimed at duplicating the success of satellite television (which transformed the television industry in the 1990s) in the radio sector, with the help of latest digital technologies and innovative programming. According to estimates, radio's share in the total advertising budgets of corporates was likely to grow to 5% by 2007 as against less than 1% in 2001 (Refer Table I)...

Prasar Bharati had also imposed certain strict conditions that created resentment among the private players. These players were not allowed to offer news or current affair programs, and they were given only a fixed number of slots per city. As a result, only a few players remained in the race. They were given licenses to set up 37 stations that would operate across 19 cities in India (Refer Table II for the key private players in the Indian radio industry). With the launch of 'Radio City FM91' in July 2001, in Bangalore, by STAR and Music Broadcast Private Ltd. (MBPL), the industry began its second innings. Besides Bangalore, MBPL had FM radio licenses for five other cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Nagpur and Lucknow. The Lucknow and Mumbai stations began operations in the next few months...