The DRM Consortium will highlight its recent achievements under the Broadcast Engineering Society (BES) conference and exhibition - BES EXPO 2019 on terrestrial and satellite broadcasting at New Delhi from January 17 to 19.  

BES EXPO is rated as the biggest broadcast technology show in India with nearly 300 exhibitors from 25 countries and an estimated 3,000 professionals and decision-makers attending. 

The DRM Consortium (www.drm.org) and some of its Indian and international members and partners (including BBC, Communication Systems Inc., Fraunhofer IIS, Gospell Digital Technologies, GeekSynergy, Inntot Technologies, NXP, RFmondial), will present the latest DRM receiver models and solutions as well as letting visitors experience a live DRM transmission for local coverage. 

Visitors will be able to learn more about the latest DRM encoder equipment with full CAP compliance able to support the roll out of DRM Emergency Warning Functionality in India.
A three-day conference on the theme "Next Generation Broadcasting in the IT World" will be held in parallel with the exhibition and will include three DRM sessions. One of these will be a panel discussion on the successes and next steps necessary for getting receivers to the population in parallel with the introduction of DRM transmissions in the country. 

According to Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Consortium Chairman: "As the DRM digital radio All India Radio roll-out makes India potentially the largest digital radio market in the world, the DRM Consortium is keen to showcase the many benefits of DRM emphasising its local coverage potential. Digital radio DRM is already showing its superiority, as its features and benefits overtake anything the analogue mode can provide. Using the full DRM standard in both AM and FM, all its extra services, is the only way to make it attractive to the Indian listeners, to the whole country engaged on the digital path."

94.3 Radio One India is the first media company in India to win the famed Kotler Excellence Award for excellence in ‘marketing differentiation’.

The awards, named after Prof. Philip Kotler - an American marketing author, consultant, and professor, were developed to recognize genuine mastery in the field of marketing by celebrating exceptional achievements of business professionals.

Kotler is currently the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the author of over 60 highy influential marketing books.

The Kotler awards are given out at the World marketing summit (WMS), an independent global organization, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, committed to "Creating a Better World through Marketing" and thereby alleviating poverty. The World Marketing Summit was founded and convened in 2011. The summit has been held earlier in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Japan and was held for the first time in India with the theme ‘Industry 4.0 – Transformative Marketing, Block chain, Ethics and Disruptive Innovation’.

94.3 Radio One India was awarded for excellence in marketing differentiation for its work on  clear segmentation and  ‘disruptive differentiation’.

Vineet Singh Hukmani MD & CEO 94.3 Radio One India, said: “This award re-affirms our management’s faith in clear segmentation & disruptive differentiation.  We are happy to receive this award on behalf of our 6 million strong tribe of upscale listeners in India, that we call ‘International Indians’.”

Indian network Radio City has launched the ‘Ek Kapda Abhiyan’ campaign in the northern city of Lucknow – the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country.

It aims to spread warmth and extend a hand of support to the underprivileged to fight bitter cold this winter.

The 15-day-long campaign, which was launched on December 10, urges listeners to donate winter clothes, blankets and quilts for those living on the streets who cannot afford to buy winter supplies in the state.

The station has partnered with an NGO in Lucknow to facilitate the distribution of the donated clothes.

The campaign is also being replicated in five other cities - Agra, Bareilly, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

India’s Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has decided to shut down All India Radio’s only national channel to cut costs and to rationalise services.

It has also ordered five Regional Academies of Broadcasting and Multi-media (RABM) in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Thiruvananthapuram to shut down with immediate effect.

The move would leave AIR with no national channel of its own.

The multilingual channel, which was started in 1987, operated overnight from 6 pm to 6 am, broadcasting hourly news, panel discussions and programmes of national importance, catering to all segments of the Indian society.

The archival material maintained by the National Channel, operating from Todapur in West Delhi, would be sent to the central archives of the AIR in Delhi “for digitization – wherever necessary – and preservation for posterity”.

According to sources, one of the major reasons for the decision is the channel’s weak transmitters and small listener base.

Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Shashi ShekharVempati told ThePrint: “We have been reviewing areas that have not been effective and where technology is getting obsolete and will invest in new areas that we expect to be relevant and technology is forward looking, such as digital. This is an ongoing exercise and will continue.”

GatesAir, a wireless, over-the-air content delivery solutions provider for radio and TV broadcasters, has won turnkey FM radio contracts in India with private broadcasters Sambhav Media and ENIL.

-The deals comprise Flexiva FAX air-cooled transmitters, auxiliary RF equipment and rigid transmission line for 30 stations, extending GatesAir's market-leading share of FM radio transmitters in India. Both contracts also include turnkey installation, commissioning and technical support services through in-country partner Horizon Broadcast Electronics.

 GatesAir outperformed competitive solutions across transmitter size, energy efficiency and brand recognition to win both deals. 

The Sambhav Media project covers 13 FM radio stations (two 5kW and 11 3kW sites) that the broadcaster won following the FM Phase-III auction for new private FM broadcast licenses. Each station will also receive a 1kW backup transmitter, with all sites operating in fully redundant 1+1 configurations. Deliveries are now in progress, with seven stations on the air in the Gujarat region. The project marks Sambhav Media's entry into the radio broadcast space.

"Based on our experience and knowledge of the radio broadcast market, we will only choose premium products that remove our transmission worries," said Jagdish Pavra, Director of Engineering, Sambhav Media. "After many discussions with different manufacturers in the premium market, we selected GatesAirtransmitters because of their high efficiency, smaller footprint and, most important, the redundancy within their transmission systems. We are now on the air at seven sites with GatesAir transmitters, and are very happy with their performance as well as the services GatesAir provides."

 The ENIL deal covers two purchases, including 14 stations won in the FM Phase-II auction. Each will installone 5kW transmitter. The second order includes two 10kW transmitters and one 6kW model across three additional stations. In selecting GatesAir and its Flexiva transmitters, ENIL emphasized improved reliability and total cost of ownership over its previous long-term supplier as key factors.

 Flexiva transmitters leverage GatesAir's PowerSmart 3D designs to reduce size, weight and power consumption. These three operational benefits were paramount to each broadcaster's decision, in addition to the company's visibility throughout India.

"The use of common transmission infrastructure for broadcasters in India often means that each broadcaster has limited real estate," said Rich Redmond, President and Managing Director, International for GatesAir. "Our PowerSmart 3D architecture optimizes transmitter size and weight, enabling our customers to comfortably install Flexiva transmitters in tight spaces. Furthermore, each customer's reliability, performance and efficiniency evaluations included electricity cost comparisons between GatesAir and competitive transmitters operating today in India. This clearly demonstrated that GatesAir would provide the best signal while reducing annual bills, and improving long-term total cost of ownership."

 Redmond adds that the reputation of its partner Horizon Broadcast Electronics as a service-oriented transmission expert put GatesAir over the top in both cases. In addition to installation and commissioning, Horizon will handle all post-installation support include spare parts delivery and on-site maintenance. "With more than 400 GatesAir transmitters on the air today in India, our customers are assuredly in reliable hands with GatesAir and our partners at Horizon," he said.

Indian network Big FM has launched a new breakfast show in Mumbai with actor and comedian Vrajesh Hirjee.

The show, ‘Mumbai Maska Maar Ke’, airs weekdays from 7 am to 11 am.

Hirjee used to co-host the breakfast show on the same station from 2007 to 2008 when he quit radio in order to focus on his acting career.

A company spokesperson said: "With the launch of our refreshed breakfast show, we want to offer the listeners a transformed morning experience. The show will highlight a positive side of the city while keeping the humour intact. RJ Vrajesh will not only put forward his point of view effectively, but will succeed in bringing smiles on the faces of our listeners with his sharp wit."

Vrajesh Hirjee said: "My association with the comedy genre goes back a long way, but making people laugh while they're hurrying to work – and stuck in a traffic jam or a crowded train compartment is a huge responsibility. I am looking forward to revisiting my radio avatar."

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) has named DRM Stakeholders’ Group in India as the 2018 winner of its annual DRM Enterprise award for Southeast Asia.

The group, led by national distributor BECIL, was honoured at an event in New Delhi this week for its contribution to the successful rollout of DRM in India.

George Kuuruvilla, Chief Managing Director, BECIL received the award on behalf of the group, which has more than 40 members.

Experts representing the public broadcaster, the Indian and international chipset, receiver and car manufacturers, various other agencies and content suppliers were all present.

Some of the prize winners talked about their own DRM work and how they are convinced that the full DRM standard is the best solution for India. Others stressed the sound quality in DRM and the need for more pure DRM and less simulcast. Others underlined the need for special content for DRM, different on the DRM channels than on the analogue ones, the attractiveness of a digital sports only channel.

India’s Big FM network has undergone a brand revamp and has introduced a new logo and tagline – ‘Dhun Badal Te toh Dekho’.

The company welcomed the new year with the launch of #IAmNotSorry, a campaign to celebrate individuals who walked off the beaten path of life and broke social stereotypes. The campaign saw participation from celebrities including Prasoon Joshi, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Ayushmann Khurrana, Nargis Fakri, Richa Chadha, Ali Fasal, Sunny Leone and Sonu Sood. 

This key messaging will now form a part of the larger brand positioning of the radio network to encourage listeners to 'think differently'. The network says it intends to be a 'Thought Inspirer and an agent for positive change’.

The station has also realigned the programming to reflect the new positioning by playing music tested with the audience besides bringing on board some big names from the radio and entertainment.

Sonu Nigam has lent his voice for the theme song of the new brand positioning.

Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, THWINK, Big FM stated: "With the new positioning, BIG FM will play a meaningful, relevant and compelling role in lives of consumers. It will not just be about entertainment but a brand that has a purpose. With its extensive reach, localised content and credible RJs the brand will play the role of a 'thought inspirer' and an agent of positive change in society. Our new tag line of 'Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho' reflects the philosophy that 'Changing the world for the better starts with changing your thoughts'. If we want real Change, it is important that we are not rigid in our approach and thinking but are open to looking at things from multiple perspectives."

Indian network 93.5 Red FM has launched an anti-air pollution campaign called ‘Kolkata Ki Hawa Tight’ to spread awareness about the declining air quality of the city which has recently topped the national air pollution survey. 

The station wants to educate listeners about the repercussions of their daily activities that add up to deteriorate the city’s air quality of.

In order to do their bit to mitigate air pollution, the stations presenters have pledged not to take their cars out for a week and are encouraging listeners to use public transport or share their ride.

RJs Praveen, Nil, Nilam, Abhishek, Rashmi and Sharique will conduct their individual shows from listeners’ cars.

The campaign will also highlight certain specific cases where this city’s greenery has been completely ruined due to haphazard construction work. Along with that it will showcase how heritage monuments have been pushed to decay by careless human action.

Celebrities like Abir Chatterjee, Anupam Roy, Usha Uthup, Rekha Bhardwaj, Parambrata, Srijit Mukherjee and Harsh Neotia have supported the campaign.

Nisha Narayanan, COO, RED FM, says: “Pollution levels in Kolkata has reached an all-time high, emerging as one of the most polluted cities in India owing to heavy traffic, emissions from industrial and household sectors. We are trying to make everyone aware of small but essential steps which can help to save up on fuel, electricity and energy and help curbing the air pollution levels.”

 RJ Praveen RED FM, says: “Kolkata has never faced such a crisis before and as a responsible citizen who can reach out to millions via radio, I feel I have to step up and do my bit. The presence of Kolkata in the list as one of the most polluted city in the world, is a matter of ultimate shame for us; because we have failed to keep our city clean.”

Indian network Radio City’s web platform Radiocity.in is back with the 8^th season of its annual Slappies award to recognise and felicitate the worst of Bollywood last year.

The tagline for this year’s awards is ‘Swachh Bollywood Abhiyan’ (Clean Bollywood Campaign).

Slappies 8 will have two phases - the voting phase, followed by a grand finale award announcement.

Listeners can vote for the most deserving ‘slaps’ of the year

Listeners can vote for the most deserving ‘slaps’ of the year till February 4 from Top 8 shortlist entries across 11 categories.

This year, the categories for Slappies 8 are - Worst Film, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Song, Worst Debut, Worst Director, Worst Dialogue, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Jodi, and Lifetime Achievement for Worst Song.

Owing to the trend of remaking old songs, an 11^th category called the ‘Worst Song Remake’ has also been added to this season as a fresh category.

The grand finale of Slappies 8, will be held on February 8, on RadioCity.in.

 Commenting on the initiative, Rachna Kanwar, Chief Operating Officer - Digital Media, Jagran Prakashan Ltd, said: “Over the past seven years now, we’ve been able to build Slappies into a delightful, differentiated audience engagement property. And not just audiences, who have given us a tremendous response, we have also got a whole lot of awards for it.”

Entry submissions to India’s annual Excellence in Radio Award (ERA) to recognise and reward outstanding content and creativity in the industry in 2018 are now open.

The awards started in 2006 and celebrates the very best of Indian radio, honouring outstanding programming, on-air personalities, marketing & promotions and creativity within the industry.

​They will be held his year along with the annual one-day India Radio Forum (IRF).

The categories include Programming, Talent, Promotion & Marketing and Advertising.

Points from the winning and runner up entries of the Programming, Talent and Promotion & Marketing categories are tabulated to determine the winner of the Best FM Network.

Last year, 93.5 Red FM walked away with the Best FM Network Award.

For this year’s entries, all submitted material must have been originally broadcast between January 16, 2018 and January 15, 2019. 

Awards materials must be submitted by February 21, otherwise late fees apply. Last date for submission is February, 28. 

For details, visit www.indiaradioforum.com



On the occasion of India's 70th Republic Day, India’s Radio City network announced the launch of its latest campaign, 'Jal Thal Vayu' (Water Land Air) to honour the Indian armed forces.

Through this two-week long campaign, Radio City Delhi’s RJ Ginnie, RJ Divya, RJ Yuvi, RJ Aadi and RJ Manav will highlight emotional and inspiring stories across the navy, army and air-force.

On January 25 and 26, the station engaged with security troops posted at remote locations away from their families and loved ones, played patriotic songs and broadcast messages and wishes from listeners for the soldiers.

RJ Ginnie, on her morning show, 'Suno Na Dilli', was live from the Navy base, while RJ Divya and RJ Yuvi covered the Army base and the evening show was aired from the Air-force base by RJ Aadi and RJ Manav.

The campaign will be replicated across Radio City stations in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City said: "Radio City's #JalThalVayu is a tribute to all our soldiers, and our way of showcasing an undivided support for the armed forces"

RJ Ginnie said: "We are excited to hear and broadcast the stories of valor, sacrifice and patriotism of our soldiers as well as to know their other side - how do these three forces function, what is their routine life like, how do they balance their personal and professional lives, what kind of music do they listen to, etc."



Entertainment Network India Limited owned Radio Mirchi network started operations in the US on Saturday – which was also the 70^th Indian Republic Day.

Its first station began broadcasting in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut with a frequency of 1600 AM.

The programming will primarily target the South Asia community in the US with a combination of Bollywood music, infotainment and comedy along with some of its popular programmes from back home.

The station can also be heard in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina on 99.9 FM HD-4, 101.9 FM & 1490 AM, in Baltimore, Maryland on 92.3 FM HD-2 and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 103.9 FM HD-2 through a licensing arrangement with a US-based broadcaster.

Over the next few weeks, it will also be available in Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; and St. Louis, Missouri through HD channels.

The stations will also be available online on radiomirchiusa.com

MD and CEO of Radio Mirchi, Prashant Pandey said: “The South Asian community is one of the most educated and affluent communities there and it is truly tragic that there are very few radio stations with quality programming that cater to this audience. We aim to be able to change that with our product offering and hope that the audience loves what we have come up with as much as we loved putting it together for them.”



Music Broadcast Limited (MBL), which operates India’s Radio City network, has reported its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2018.

The key highlights include topline growth of 14% YoY at Rs. 870.2 million ($12.21 million), EBITDA grew by 23% YoY to Rs. 285.9 million ($4 million) at a margin of 32.9% - an improvement by 223 bps.

Its PBT grew by 45% YoY to Rs. 24.93 Cr at a margin of 28.7% showing an improvement by 607 bps.

In the first nine months of FY 19, the company has shown a topline growth of 9% YoY at Rs. 2.43 billion ($34 million), its EBITDA grew 16% YoY at Rs. 812 million ($11.4 million) Cr and the margin at 33.4% with an improvement of 208 bps. Its PBT grew 28% YoY at Rs. 673.7 million ($9.45 million),  margin at 27.7% showing improvement by 413 bps

Commenting on the results Apurva Purohit, Director said: “We have delivered not only a higher growth than expected with revenue at Rs. 870 million with a growth of 14% YoY, but this has been the best ever quarter of absolute revenue performance for MBL. This growth was a result of;

• A rate increase of 11% in legacy markets
• Inventory utilization in the Phase III markets improved to 53% 
• Festive advertising kicking in and, sectors like Government, Ecommerce & Auto growing
• On an average our inventory utilization for 39 stations moved up to 60-70% 

Our 28 legacy stations are running at 38% margin and some of our core markets are running at 45% margin levels.

As you can see the PBT has grown three times the revenues; reiterating the advantage of our fixed cost model, and thus operating leverage playing out which we believe is indicative of the future as costs getting normalized in new stations.

Keeping in line with the group philosophy of rewarding the shareholders, we  have successfully completed the buyback of Rs. 570 million, buying 17,45,079 shares at an average price of Rs. 326.61 per equity share thereby representing 99.99% of the maximum buyback size in this quarter. Also, we are seeking approval from shareholders for sub- division of shares from existing face value of Rs. 10 to Rs. 2 per share.

 It gives me great pleasure to tell you that we have delivered a double digit CAGR growth of 15% in revenue for last three years which is almost double than that of the industry, as reported by various studies. This growth has been as per our commitment to all our shareholders and as promised during the IPO. Again, Profit before tax has outpaced the growth of revenue, showing a CAGR growth of 34% in this period too.  

 The Economy was affected by certain Macro-Economic headwinds in the last few quarters but we are clearly seeing signs of revival as spending across categories and government increases in the coming months. Going ahead, we are confident that we will be able to sustain our current growth level and grow our operating margins. Further, we believe that the radio industry is a nascent and efficient medium for advertisers and is poised to benefit the most from the upsurge.”



FM 100.9 MHz, being broadcast from All India Radio Port Blair, is the 42nd FM Station of Vividh Bharati Network by Prasar Bharati, and the first in the Indian Union Territory of Andaman Nicobar Islands and surrounding South Andaman regions.

The station was inaugurated on the country’s Republic Day on January 26.

The islanders can enjoy local programmes every day from 6 am to 8 am and again from 6 pm to 8 pm, as said in a press release by Assistant Director (P), AIR Port Blair.

Earlier last year, Bishnu Pada Ray, the lone Member of Parliament of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands had requested the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for enhancement of the services of FM radio in Nicobar District as an essential means of information and entertainment.

The Ministry approved a scheme for setting up a 100W FM relay transmitter which would provide services to the entire Car Nicobar region which spans about 11 km East to West and about 14 km North to South.

“As far as private FM is concerned, three private FM radio channels have been proposed in Port Blair which are likely to be put to auction in the subsequent batches of phase-III auction,” the Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Rajyawardhan Rathore had said.

The second edition of The Radio Festival (TRF) is being held in Delhi, India, to mark World Radio Day on February 13

The event is being hosted by UNESCO in partnership with Seeking Modern Applications for Real Transformation (SMART), a not-for-profit.

It aims to celebrate sound by breaking demarcation between public, private and community radio and bring them under a single platform to celebrate sound and audio broadcasting.  

This year the festival’s theme is Leaving No One Behind, one of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

There will be sessions on challenges in reaching out to marginalised communities, explore the potential and value proposition of convergence, and include performances and plays on preservation of old languages.

Participants include representatives of a Kannada LGBT community radio, All India Radio’s George Abraham who has successfully used radio for the blind, Radiodays co-founder Anders Held and AsiaRadioToday’s Steve Ahern.

Alexa, Google, podcasters, narrowcasters and streaming services will also take part in the festival.

A toolkit designed especially for Community Radio on UN’s SDG will also be released by Secretary Information and Broadcasting, Amit Khare.

Supported by the UN agencies the toolkit aims to demystify and simplify the 17 SDGs into simple messages and activities so that community engagement for better implementation of UN SDGs can be achieved. It will be subsequently tested in a two-day workshop that will be attended by more than 40 CR Stations.

TRF will also feature exhibitions and stalls on history of broadcasting, a model radio station, live artists and a Hot Spot- with changing activity every half hour, where innovative ideas and products that improve knowledge and practice of broadcasting will be showcased.

A comedy skit will capture the plurality and myriad tongues of radio broadcasting and an interactive Just a Minute (JAM) session will challenge popular presenters from private FM channels to speak extempore for a minute without repetition.

India's Radio City network is all set to look out for the finest independent music talent with the launch of the 6th edition of 'Radio City Freedom Awards' (RCFA 6.0), with six gigs across seven cities and one grand finale.

The awards are a platform to recognize and honour the best indie music talents from across the country.

The month-long event started on February 13 in Pune with performances from Vice Versa and The Moonstruck Project, and will move on to five other cities, with concerts from Paranox, Oxygen, The Tapes, Daira, Prithibi, and Redemption, culminating with a grand finale in Mumbai.

 The musicians will be judged by an esteemed jury comprising of Luke Kenny, Ritnika Nayan, Atul Churamani, Amit Gurbaxani and Anurag Tagat.

 RCFA's list of past winners include now household names such as Divine - whose life and music has been an inspiration for the upcoming movie Gully Boy, Parvaaz, Swarathma, Papon, Midival Punditz, The Ska Vengers, Indus Creed, Dualist Inquiry, Benny Dayal, Donn Bhatt, and The F16s.

Budding indie enthusiasts can send in their entries till February 28 by registering at  https://www.radiocity.in/rcfa/ across various categories like Hip Hop, Folk Fusion, Metal and Electronica.

Public voting will take place from March 9 to 15 followed  by a grand awards night on March 28 in Mumbai.

Renowned Rap Artist Naezy said: "I believe there is a lot of untapped talent in our country that needs to be brought to the limelight. Having been one of the winners of Radio City Freedom Awards 3rd Season, I can vouch for the importance of artistes getting the right exposure. It is these larger than life platforms that play an instrumental role in not just giving artistes like me a stage to launch themselves, but also give the industry fresh and versatile music content."

India’s Radio City network has partnered with NMRC (Noida Metro Rail Corporation) to provide passengers with a unique in-transit entertainment experience.

Noida is one of the big suburbs around the Indian capital and Radio City will provide latest hyperlocal content consisting of music, entertainment and trivia focused around Noida, Greater Noida and NMRC across all 21 stations of the NMRC Aqua Line. 

The co-branded feed titled, “Radio City NMRC –Noida Metro Ka Apna Radio Station”, plays curated content in Hindi from Sector 51 in Noida to The Depot Station in Greater Noida, covering 29.7 KMs metro corridor.

Radio City i installed a radio studio at NMRC Sector 51, Noida last week and its presenters RJ Ginnie, Divya, Yuvi and Aadi–Manav broadcasted their shows live from the metro station from 7 am to 9 pm.

The station also has a partnership with LMRC (Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation) to offer specialized content across eight Lucknow Metro stations.

Commenting on the partnership with NMRC, Apurva Purohit, President, Jagran Group said: “Radio City has always been a pioneer in creating innovative ways to provide listeners with content that is suited best for their preferences. Partnering with NMRC is a testimony to our expertise on exploring new avenues of entertainment in emerging fields such as the next generation mobility of hyperlocal experiences. Being the first radio network to provide customized in-transit entertainment to metro commuters, we believe this synergy will help us not only reach a larger audience base but also make their transit experience a pleasant one and give them specialized relevant content.”

Indian network Big FM has announced a new show based on its new positioning - 'Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho’, with famous Bollywood actress Vidya Balan. 

The programme aims to give impetus to positive conversations on relevant social topics and will be launched in the third week of March.

It will air across the network’s Hindi speaking markets and in Hyderabad, every weekday evening from 7pm to 9pm, with repeats on Saturday and Sunday.

It will bring encourage listeners to open-up and participate in positive conversations about social challenges and issues. The show will begin with a thought-provoking monologue by Vidya, followed by views of experts, thought-leaders and celebrities.

Topics covered over various shows will include mental health, new age parenting, adoption, body shaming and child abuse.

Talking about the upcoming show, Abraham Thomas, CEO, BIG FM said: "In these demanding times, people are expecting more and more from media brands such as ours. There is an expectation to bring purpose in to brands. In keeping with this expectation, we are moving from 'mere entertainment to entertainment with a purpose.' Our purpose is to influence people's thinking."

Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, Thwink BIG, BIG FM said: "We want to urge people to look at life from various perspectives and not be rigid in their approach. The show will stimulate conversations."

Vidya Balan said: "After having played an RJ on screen twice before , I am really looking forward to being a radio jockey in real life and directly connecting with people through this medium. The show's concept is bound to create positive conversations around current social developments and changes."