The 6th of the same

Hyderabad now has six FM radio stations and they all appear to be chasing the same audience.
We now can boast of 6 of the same( OK one slightly different .. but five essentially the same )
and here is what appears to the target market for the stations

• AIR : Oldies ( or rather whoever has not migrated to other stations ? )
• AIR Rainbow : Youth
• Radio Mirchi : Youth
• Radio City : Youth
• Big FM : Youth
• SFM : Youth

hmm.. All of them have a mix of Telugu & Hindi songs. Shouldn't one of them just stick their neck out and go "only Hindi" ? or go "only Telugu" ? How many "me too" stations do we need ? In fact things come to such a pass, where unless the stations play their signature tunes or RJs recite ( yell ? ) their slogan, you don't know which station you are listening to.

Is there no market for Classical (Hindustani/Carnatic/Western) music ? How about a station that plays only English Music?

Extrapolating the Indian Listenership Track to Hyderabad, We should have about 25% of 5 Million = 1.25 Mn listeners. Surely there must be space for more niche stations.

Back to AIR

After a short tryst with private FM, I am back with All India Radio (AIR). Nothing beats AIR especially their evening 9 to 11 programs : Kahkashaan, Ek Fankaar, Chaaya Geeth & Aap ki Farmaaish. Private FM ( In Hyderabad you get Radio City, Radio Mirchi, Big FM ) seem to lack content, their RJs lack poise and have low Music to Noise ratio.

Big FM 92.7

BIG FM 92.7 has finally rolled out in Hyderabad. The first day was quite disappointing. Their evening RJ with his American accent Hindi managed to get on my nerves and the guest they had on the show, Amit Saxena wasn't a natural. Together they stumbled along merrily till the clock finally ran down and the torture came to a close. The late evening program was better not much RJ intervention, and better songs. So decided will listen to BIG FM for a few more days before writing them off