In an age dominated by the Internet and mobile services, the radio boom is taking the nation by storm. Radio as a tool of communication is creating a revolution. The impact of radio can be understood from the fact that the usage of radio in Indian cinema, be it RDB or LRMB, in which Radio had played a vital role. While the climax of the Rang De Basanti had five protagonists confessing to their actions with the help of this medium, Radio Jockey (RJ) Munna Bhai, in the film Lage Raho Munnabhai spread the message of Gandhiji across the nation through his radio shows. These films succeeded in driving home the point that radio is indeed a vital tool of communication and has the ability to create a revolution to bring about a change.
In 2006, the announcement of further round of deregulations by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, incited a great rush of private players across the country to set up radio stations. Several companies started bidding for licenses and this resulted in a huge collection of license fee of approximately Rs. 1,100 cr. A recent report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated the size of the Indian radio industry at Rs. 3 bn.
The report also indicated that by 2010, India's radio industry would touch Rs. 1,200 cr. At present, radio is estimated to have a share of 2% of the total advertisement revenue in India. The above two findings have projected that this volume will increase considerably over the next 5 to 10 years. However, this picture was quite different in the initial years of the industry which was dominated by the State broadcaster All India Radio. Today, we have private FM Channels galore across all the cities of India. With the liberalization of the radio industry in 2005, private players now have access to 338 licenses across 91 cities. |
