With clever
programming FM radio will eventually become a part of peoples daily lives. Regular updates
on the weather, the state of Bangalore traffic and local city events will be interspersed
with its main content " Music.
The Indigo Radio FM broadcast will spread over a 60- Km range, 7 days a week, 24-hour
long. Unlike Television, FM is ‘Passive Listening’. While Television is out to
grab attention, FM can be left on, quietly filling in and therefore quite a companion for
the housewife in the kitchen, the drivers on the road, the casual listener or the die-hard
music fan.
The other advantage over Television is the sound quality. With stereo sound in digital
quality, FM listening is a rich experience like listening to your Stereo CD’s minus
the trouble of selecting and playing them.
Another plus for FM is that for the listener there is no additional investment
involved."Practically every music system available on the market comes with the
FM feature built-in. Most cars are fitted with a player with an FM radio attached. So you
don’t have to spend anything to listen to FM. Just tune in and chill out. With the
launch of FM, there will also be new car stereo systems being launched in the market,"
says Ajith Menon.
Simultaneously ready for launch along with the FM station or even earlier is the new music
division of BPL labeled Indigo Music. Its entry into the mainstream area of music
publishing promises to be ‘different’.
‘Like our logo, (which is a saffron coloured letter I surrounded by blue) it will
be a blending rather than a fusion of Indian and International styles, using live
performances of artists to further propagate the genre,’ is what Jagadeesh M.R.,
Indigo Music’s Business Controller told Online Bangalore .
This refreshingly new concept in Indian Music Publishing history is sure to have airplay
time on Indigo Radio.
When asked if the international trend of continued airplay being responsible for pushing
up album sales would be adopted, Vernon Ibrahim says ‘ We are not going to
forcefully thrust certain kinds of music on listeners but we will definitely play what we
feel is a good song with the ingredients of a surefire hit. Like for eg. the Nusrat
Fatehali Khan’s single from the film Dhadkan and the only A.R.Rehman single on the
Fiza sound track’.
The revenue for the station will flow in from advertising in the form of jingles and
sponsored programmes. With a targeted audience of 2 million listeners, FM is a very
effective vehicle for brand promotion, especially during the prime time listening hours
from 7 to 11 a.m. in the morning slot. With license fees of over 9 crores and stiff costs
for transmission equipment, programming and personnel, it should be some time before
enough revenue is generated to break-even.
The team at Indigo Radio is young, motivated and musically inclined. In fact all the major
players in the team are musicians. Vernon Ibrahim was the lead vocalist of
Bangalore’s headbanging metal band ‘Millennium’, Content Head Honcho Vineet
Singh was the Crooner for Bands like ‘Rockless’ and ‘Stonecold’, Ajith
Menon is an accomplished a rhythm guitarist"while Jagadeesh has wielded the axe for
‘Stylus’ and ‘Earthbound’. Even BPL Innovision’s Chairman and
Managing Director Rajiv Chandrashekar is known to play a mean guitar! "This gives
us a definite edge, as we can relate to the artists and performers on a genuine sound and
feel basis", says a confident Ajith Menon.
We agree. We hope Bangaloreans will also agree and enjoy the thrill of the re-birth of the
radio!
Stay tuned while I go and wipe the dust off my FM receiver!
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