Tag: Radio City

Radio City reports higher numbers

BENGALURU: India FM Radio company Music Broadcast Limited (MBL) or Radio City reported higher revenue and improved profits for the year ended 31 March 2017 (FY-17, current year and fiscal) as compared to the previous year. The company reported 14.8 percent higher total revenue for the current fiscal at Rs 2,758.6 million as compared to Rs 2,402.3 million in fiscal 2016. Total comprehensive income (TCI) for FY-17 increased 30.3 percent to Rs 355.5 million (13.1 percent of Total Income) from Rs 272.8 million ((11.4 percent of Total Income) in FY-16.

MBL’s operating profit (EBIDTA inclusive of other income) in the current year increased 3 percent to Rs 956.7 million (35.2 percent of Total Income) from Rs 928.9 million (38.7 percent of Total Income) in the previous year. Profit after Tax or PAT in FY-17 increased 32.7 percent to Rs 366.6 million (13.5 percent of Total Income) from Rs 276.2 million (11.5 percent of Total Income) in FY-16.

Total Expenditure in fiscal 2017 increased 18.5 percent to R 2,188.8 million (80.6 percent of Total Income) from Rs 1,847.2 million (76.9 percent of Total Income) in fiscal 2016. Other expense in FY-17 increased 21.3 percent to Rs 958.8 million (35.3 percent of Total Income) from Rs 790.6 million (32.9 (35.3 percent of Total Income) in FY-16.

MBL paid 12 percent more towards license fees for FY-17 at Rs192.2 million (7.1 percent of Total Income) from Rs 171.6 million (7.1 percent of Total Income) in FY-16. Finance Costs in FY-17 declined 8 percent to Rs 190.1 million (7 percent of Total Income) from Rs 206.6 million (8.6 percent of Total Income) in FY-16. Employee Costs in the current year increased 27.3 percent to Rs 650.7 million (24 percent of Total Income) from Rs 511.2 million (21.3 percent of Total Income) in the previous year.

The company has utilised Rs 1,475 million of its Rs 4,000 million that it received from its initial public offer (IPO) towards the objectives that it had listed in the IPO prospectus. Rs 177.3 million has been utilised for transaction costs of share issuance. The rest of the unutilised funds raised from the IPO to the extent of Rs 2,347.6 million have been placed in bank accounts as well as in bank fixed deposits.

June 6, 2017
Music Broadcast plans IPO; to make buys

MUMBAI: Music Broadcast Private Limited, which operates one of the leading FM radio stations — Radio City — is planning to list. It is preparing to bring out a public offer of over Rs 500 crore comprising a fresh issue of Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of 26.59 lakh equity shares by the promoters’ family.

The proceeds from the issue will be utilised to retire debt of around Rs 150 crore, and the remainder to create a “war chest” for future acquisitions.

Radio City 91.1 FM brand has been synonymous with the category since inception in 2001. Innovative programming and marketing initiatives have helped Radio City pioneer FM in India. In phase III auction, the network expanded its footprint by efficiently adding 11 new markets after carefully selecting towns with greater SEC AB population. With the addition of the new towns and addition of Radio Mantra towns, Radio City reaches to 39 most important towns of India dominating the most important advertiser markets. The first FM station will be launching internet radio streams in India with 30 stations and counting

Music Broadcast promoter Jagran Prakashan CFO R. K. Agarwal said that they already filed the DRHP and post-regulatory approvals, and intend to hit the capital market. Most of the funds would be used to strengthen the capital structure so that a war chest was created to acquire more radio stations as and when opportunity arose, he added.

Agrawal said it sees a lot of opportunities in radio as its business has been expanding at a CAGR of 15-16 per cent for several years, and has been operating at a margin of 33 per cent.

Music Broadcast director Apurva Purohit said that the radio sector was the youngest in M&E but was growing fast. Radio’s share in the media and entertainment industry pie was only four per cent of the total advertisement market size due to the tardy pace of regulation, which otherwise could have been as high as 12 per cent.

January 23, 2017
Music Broadcast plans IPO; to make buys

MUMBAI: Music Broadcast Private Limited, which operates one of the leading FM radio stations — Radio City — is planning to list. It is preparing to bring out a public offer of over Rs 500 crore comprising a fresh issue of Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of 26.59 lakh equity shares by the promoters’ family.

The proceeds from the issue will be utilised to retire debt of around Rs 150 crore, and the remainder to create a “war chest” for future acquisitions.

Radio City 91.1 FM brand has been synonymous with the category since inception in 2001. Innovative programming and marketing initiatives have helped Radio City pioneer FM in India. In phase III auction, the network expanded its footprint by efficiently adding 11 new markets after carefully selecting towns with greater SEC AB population. With the addition of the new towns and addition of Radio Mantra towns, Radio City reaches to 39 most important towns of India dominating the most important advertiser markets. The first FM station will be launching internet radio streams in India with 30 stations and counting

Music Broadcast promoter Jagran Prakashan CFO R. K. Agarwal said that they already filed the DRHP and post-regulatory approvals, and intend to hit the capital market. Most of the funds would be used to strengthen the capital structure so that a war chest was created to acquire more radio stations as and when opportunity arose, he added.

Agrawal said it sees a lot of opportunities in radio as its business has been expanding at a CAGR of 15-16 per cent for several years, and has been operating at a margin of 33 per cent.

Music Broadcast director Apurva Purohit said that the radio sector was the youngest in M&E but was growing fast. Radio’s share in the media and entertainment industry pie was only four per cent of the total advertisement market size due to the tardy pace of regulation, which otherwise could have been as high as 12 per cent.

January 23, 2017
FM Radio revenues witness seasonal slump in Q4-16, Q1-17

BENGALURU: Generally the Indian private FM industry witnesses a quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) advertisement (ad) revenue slump in the first quarter of every year (Q1, quarter ended 30 June), which may sometimes carry over to the second quarter (Q2, quarter ended 30 September) of the fiscal. Since fiscal 2014, the industry has also seen fourth quarter (Q4, quarter ended 31 March) revenue slumps. Continuing the trend, private FM in India has seen a drop in revenue for quarters ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-16) and 30 June 2016 (Q1-17). As mentioned above trend was noticed Q4-14 and Q1-15 onwards, when the country held general elections and political parties used this so very local medium to garner votes.

As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), for Q1-17, 244 radio stations had consolidated ad revenues of Rs 468.08 crore, down 9.81 percent q-o-q as compared to the Rs 514.75 crore reported by 242 stations in Q4-16. The last quarter of the previous fiscal also saw ad revenue decline of 4.35 percent from Rs 533.70 crore reported for its immediate quarter that ended on 31 December 2015 (Q3-15).

Please refer to Figure A below for FM Radio Ad Revenue over a five year plus period spanning a 21 quarter period starting with the quarter ended 30 June 2011 (Q1-12) until the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q1-17) as per TRAI data. The amounts are in Rs crore and rounded off to the nearest decimal place.

As is obvious from the red dots on the chartabove, Q1-12, Q1-13, Q1-14, Q1-15, Q1-16 and Q1-17 have all seen q-o-q revenue drops, as have Q4-14, Q4-15 and as mentioned above- Q4-16.

Figure B below shows the q-o-q and year-over-year FM Radio Ad revenue trends. Generally y-o-y, revenues have been higher across all quarters in the period under consideration in this report, except for Q3-12 that saw a y-o-y ad revenue decline. For Q3-11, TRAI Indicator Reports mentioned ad revenue of Rs 284.88 crore from 227 radio stations or an average revenue of Rs 1.25 crore per station, as compared to ad revenue per station of Rs 1.20 crore for Q3-12.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the year-end andnew fiscal drops, ad revenues as well as ad revenues per station show a linear increasing trend as more and more advertisers have begun to understand the value proposition this very local medium with a pan-India footprint can offer. Further, the third quarter of the fiscal (Q3, quarter ended 31 December) is also the festival quarter of the year in India – a sweet quarter as far as the radio industry is concerned. The industry should see revenues rising in Q3-17.

A few of the companies such as JagranPrakashan that has large networks like Radio City and Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) which has the Radio Mirchi network in the country have already started operations of the new stations that they obtained in the FM Phase 3 auctions. The revenue of the new stations acquired in phase 3 auctions by other players such as Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL, Big FM) and HT Media Limited (Hindustan Times fame, Fever FM) if/once they start operations this fiscal, the radio industry should report substantial revenue increases. Profitability may take a hit initially, but over time that too is bound to change for the better.

Results for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 of companies whose financials are within the public domain can at the most be termed a mixed bag. While ENIL has reported a growth in revenue, its profit after tax – both on a y-o-y and a q-o-q basis have been hit with a70.3 percent y-o-y decline and a51.7 percent q-o-q decline.

ENIL won 17 stations in Phase 3 auctions and has launched 4 new stations in Q2-17 – at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur. Earlier the company had launched Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kochi stations. Bengaluru wasRadio Mirchi’s first launch in the second frequencies network.

However, ENIL managing director and CEO Prashant Panday is upbeat. In ENIL’s Q2-17 results press release he said, “We have stepped up marketing spends and early research indicates that we have made a strong start and in fact have become leaders in key markets. I am confident this will translate into a stronger business in the years ahead!”

Note:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

December 5, 2016
FM Radio revenues witness seasonal slump in Q4-16, Q1-17

BENGALURU: Generally the Indian private FM industry witnesses a quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) advertisement (ad) revenue slump in the first quarter of every year (Q1, quarter ended 30 June), which may sometimes carry over to the second quarter (Q2, quarter ended 30 September) of the fiscal. Since fiscal 2014, the industry has also seen fourth quarter (Q4, quarter ended 31 March) revenue slumps. Continuing the trend, private FM in India has seen a drop in revenue for quarters ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-16) and 30 June 2016 (Q1-17). As mentioned above trend was noticed Q4-14 and Q1-15 onwards, when the country held general elections and political parties used this so very local medium to garner votes.

As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), for Q1-17, 244 radio stations had consolidated ad revenues of Rs 468.08 crore, down 9.81 percent q-o-q as compared to the Rs 514.75 crore reported by 242 stations in Q4-16. The last quarter of the previous fiscal also saw ad revenue decline of 4.35 percent from Rs 533.70 crore reported for its immediate quarter that ended on 31 December 2015 (Q3-15).

Please refer to Figure A below for FM Radio Ad Revenue over a five year plus period spanning a 21 quarter period starting with the quarter ended 30 June 2011 (Q1-12) until the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q1-17) as per TRAI data. The amounts are in Rs crore and rounded off to the nearest decimal place.

As is obvious from the red dots on the chartabove, Q1-12, Q1-13, Q1-14, Q1-15, Q1-16 and Q1-17 have all seen q-o-q revenue drops, as have Q4-14, Q4-15 and as mentioned above- Q4-16.

Figure B below shows the q-o-q and year-over-year FM Radio Ad revenue trends. Generally y-o-y, revenues have been higher across all quarters in the period under consideration in this report, except for Q3-12 that saw a y-o-y ad revenue decline. For Q3-11, TRAI Indicator Reports mentioned ad revenue of Rs 284.88 crore from 227 radio stations or an average revenue of Rs 1.25 crore per station, as compared to ad revenue per station of Rs 1.20 crore for Q3-12.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the year-end andnew fiscal drops, ad revenues as well as ad revenues per station show a linear increasing trend as more and more advertisers have begun to understand the value proposition this very local medium with a pan-India footprint can offer. Further, the third quarter of the fiscal (Q3, quarter ended 31 December) is also the festival quarter of the year in India – a sweet quarter as far as the radio industry is concerned. The industry should see revenues rising in Q3-17.

A few of the companies such as JagranPrakashan that has large networks like Radio City and Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) which has the Radio Mirchi network in the country have already started operations of the new stations that they obtained in the FM Phase 3 auctions. The revenue of the new stations acquired in phase 3 auctions by other players such as Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL, Big FM) and HT Media Limited (Hindustan Times fame, Fever FM) if/once they start operations this fiscal, the radio industry should report substantial revenue increases. Profitability may take a hit initially, but over time that too is bound to change for the better.

Results for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 of companies whose financials are within the public domain can at the most be termed a mixed bag. While ENIL has reported a growth in revenue, its profit after tax – both on a y-o-y and a q-o-q basis have been hit with a70.3 percent y-o-y decline and a51.7 percent q-o-q decline.

ENIL won 17 stations in Phase 3 auctions and has launched 4 new stations in Q2-17 – at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur. Earlier the company had launched Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kochi stations. Bengaluru wasRadio Mirchi’s first launch in the second frequencies network.

However, ENIL managing director and CEO Prashant Panday is upbeat. In ENIL’s Q2-17 results press release he said, “We have stepped up marketing spends and early research indicates that we have made a strong start and in fact have become leaders in key markets. I am confident this will translate into a stronger business in the years ahead!”

Note:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

December 5, 2016
Bindass launches FBB Dance Anthem

MUMBAI: As an essential fashion item in the wardrobes of everyone, it is not a big surprise that jeans have inspired plenty of talk and opinions over the years. From several Indian and international brands to Patanjali’s plan to launch Indianised jeans, denima has always managed to grab much of our attention. Staying true to deliver to its viewers a fun, upbeat and engaging anthem is Disney India’s Bindass channel.

The Bindass team has conceptualized a denim dance with clothing brand FBB to reach out to the Indian youth in a unique and engaging way. The idea behind the campaign is to promote denim fits in a fun, engaging, entertaining manner that would appeal to the youngsters of this country.

“At the heart of it all, we tell great stories in a manner that our consumers prefer. Over the last few years, we have come to understand the lives, motivations and preferences of our audiences through our constant conversations with them. Our partners have come to recognize this as they come to us with their objective and we conceptualize and create a story that can bring in the desired impact,” said Disney India vice president – Revenues, Media Networks, Nikhil Gandhi.

Terrence Lewis has choreographed this anthem, featuring Lewis and Shantanu Maheshwari. The latter was associated with the channel since its reality series, Bindass Naach. The catchy upbeat music catalyses the soul of the campaign to the next level and is composed by Saurabh Kalsi.

The campaign rolled out on both the channels (Bindass and Bindass Play) and digital platforms in the evening of 5 October.

Through its television and digital reach, the campaign is targeted at all of the Bindass audiences between 15-21 spread across HSM markets. “The composition is peppy, upbeat, foot-tapping and will definitely see an appeal among youngsters; irrespective of the markets. The idea of the campaign is to be engaging and interactive and the digital platforms give us the ability to interact with our viewers,” added Gandhi.

It will see a playout on Bindass’ Facebook page which reaches out to around eight million fans along with a YouTube play. At the time of writing, it had got in excess of 170,000 views. It will also be taken on ground with a big culmination activity on 16 October 2016.

Lewis will also be visiting Mall of India in Noida and encourage everyone to join in the dance anthem. This will also be livestreamed on Facebook; reaching out to youngsters across. The radio channel, Radio City will also replicate the event across 15 cities with their RJs

A media consultant is all praise for the FBB denim dance song. “It is a good example of content marketing and native advertising,” says she. “Jeans are worn by youth, and Bindass’ tying in FBB in a very peppy song is going to work well for the brand. Bindass, FBB and fans all stand to benefit.”

October 8, 2016
Bindass launches FBB Dance Anthem

MUMBAI: As an essential fashion item in the wardrobes of everyone, it is not a big surprise that jeans have inspired plenty of talk and opinions over the years. From several Indian and international brands to Patanjali’s plan to launch Indianised jeans, denima has always managed to grab much of our attention. Staying true to deliver to its viewers a fun, upbeat and engaging anthem is Disney India’s Bindass channel.

The Bindass team has conceptualized a denim dance with clothing brand FBB to reach out to the Indian youth in a unique and engaging way. The idea behind the campaign is to promote denim fits in a fun, engaging, entertaining manner that would appeal to the youngsters of this country.

“At the heart of it all, we tell great stories in a manner that our consumers prefer. Over the last few years, we have come to understand the lives, motivations and preferences of our audiences through our constant conversations with them. Our partners have come to recognize this as they come to us with their objective and we conceptualize and create a story that can bring in the desired impact,” said Disney India vice president – Revenues, Media Networks, Nikhil Gandhi.

Terrence Lewis has choreographed this anthem, featuring Lewis and Shantanu Maheshwari. The latter was associated with the channel since its reality series, Bindass Naach. The catchy upbeat music catalyses the soul of the campaign to the next level and is composed by Saurabh Kalsi.

The campaign rolled out on both the channels (Bindass and Bindass Play) and digital platforms in the evening of 5 October.

Through its television and digital reach, the campaign is targeted at all of the Bindass audiences between 15-21 spread across HSM markets. “The composition is peppy, upbeat, foot-tapping and will definitely see an appeal among youngsters; irrespective of the markets. The idea of the campaign is to be engaging and interactive and the digital platforms give us the ability to interact with our viewers,” added Gandhi.

It will see a playout on Bindass’ Facebook page which reaches out to around eight million fans along with a YouTube play. At the time of writing, it had got in excess of 170,000 views. It will also be taken on ground with a big culmination activity on 16 October 2016.

Lewis will also be visiting Mall of India in Noida and encourage everyone to join in the dance anthem. This will also be livestreamed on Facebook; reaching out to youngsters across. The radio channel, Radio City will also replicate the event across 15 cities with their RJs

A media consultant is all praise for the FBB denim dance song. “It is a good example of content marketing and native advertising,” says she. “Jeans are worn by youth, and Bindass’ tying in FBB in a very peppy song is going to work well for the brand. Bindass, FBB and fans all stand to benefit.”

October 8, 2016
Radio City revenue up 12.9 percent, adjusted profit up 19.2 percent in FY-16

BENGALURU: Music Broadcast Limited (MBL, Radio City) which runs Radio City reported 12.9 percent growth and 19.2 percent growth in revenue and adjusted profit after tax (PAT) respectively for the fiscal ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16, current year). Radio City reported revenue of Rs 226.76 crore for FY-16 as compared to revenue of Rs 200.84 crore in the previous fiscal.

Adjusted PAT in the current year was Rs 55.94 crore (24.7 percent PAT margin of revenue) as compared to Rs 46.92 crore (23.4 percent PAT marginof revenue ) in the previous year. After accounting for exceptional items that represent incentives to management team in respect of their past services in terms of agreement with erstwhile promotes, reported PAT for FY-16 works out to Rs 42.37 crore (18.7 percent PAT marginof revenue ), which means that final PAT in the current year has declined 9.7 percent as compared to FY-15.

Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

Radio City’s operating profit (EBIDTA) in FY-16 increased 24.7 percent to Rs 77.27 crore (34.1 percent EBIDTA margin) as compared to Rs 62.16 crore (31 percent EBIDTA margin) in FY-15.

Expenses in FY-16 were 7.8 per cent higher at Rs 149.49 crore (65.9 percent of revenue) as compared to Rs 138.67 (69 percent of revenue).

The company paid almost three times (2.95 times) the Interest in FY-16 at Rs 18.30 crore (8.1 percent of revenue) as compared to Rs 6.21 crore (3.1 percent of revenue) for FY-15.

Jagran Prakashan numbers in brief

MBL’s parent company, Indian publishing company Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL) reported 19 per cent increase consolidated operating revenue in FY-16 to Rs 2,106.5 crore as compared to Rs 1,769.8 crore in FY-15.

JPL’s advertising revenue increased 25.2 per cent to Rs 1,560.9 crore from Rs 1,247.1 crore. Circulation revenues in the current year increased 4.7 per cent to Rs 408.5 crore from Rs 390.1 crore s compared to the previous year. JPL’s PAT in FY-16 increased 44.3 per cent to Rs 444.7 crore from Rs 308.1 crore in FY-15. JPL’s PAT in FY-16 after adjusting extraordinary item of Rs 101.8 crore on account of profit on sale of treasury share in Q1-16 and Rs 14.5 crore in Q2-16 and gain arising out of sale of treasury shares in Q4-16 is Rs 328.4 crore in FY16 and Rs 227.8 crore in FY-15.

May 31, 2016
Radio City revenue up 12.9 percent, adjusted profit up 19.2 percent in FY-16

BENGALURU: Music Broadcast Limited (MBL, Radio City) which runs Radio City reported 12.9 percent growth and 19.2 percent growth in revenue and adjusted profit after tax (PAT) respectively for the fiscal ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16, current year). Radio City reported revenue of Rs 226.76 crore for FY-16 as compared to revenue of Rs 200.84 crore in the previous fiscal.

Adjusted PAT in the current year was Rs 55.94 crore (24.7 percent PAT margin of revenue) as compared to Rs 46.92 crore (23.4 percent PAT marginof revenue ) in the previous year. After accounting for exceptional items that represent incentives to management team in respect of their past services in terms of agreement with erstwhile promotes, reported PAT for FY-16 works out to Rs 42.37 crore (18.7 percent PAT marginof revenue ), which means that final PAT in the current year has declined 9.7 percent as compared to FY-15.

Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

Radio City’s operating profit (EBIDTA) in FY-16 increased 24.7 percent to Rs 77.27 crore (34.1 percent EBIDTA margin) as compared to Rs 62.16 crore (31 percent EBIDTA margin) in FY-15.

Expenses in FY-16 were 7.8 per cent higher at Rs 149.49 crore (65.9 percent of revenue) as compared to Rs 138.67 (69 percent of revenue).

The company paid almost three times (2.95 times) the Interest in FY-16 at Rs 18.30 crore (8.1 percent of revenue) as compared to Rs 6.21 crore (3.1 percent of revenue) for FY-15.

Jagran Prakashan numbers in brief

MBL’s parent company, Indian publishing company Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL) reported 19 per cent increase consolidated operating revenue in FY-16 to Rs 2,106.5 crore as compared to Rs 1,769.8 crore in FY-15.

JPL’s advertising revenue increased 25.2 per cent to Rs 1,560.9 crore from Rs 1,247.1 crore. Circulation revenues in the current year increased 4.7 per cent to Rs 408.5 crore from Rs 390.1 crore s compared to the previous year. JPL’s PAT in FY-16 increased 44.3 per cent to Rs 444.7 crore from Rs 308.1 crore in FY-15. JPL’s PAT in FY-16 after adjusting extraordinary item of Rs 101.8 crore on account of profit on sale of treasury share in Q1-16 and Rs 14.5 crore in Q2-16 and gain arising out of sale of treasury shares in Q4-16 is Rs 328.4 crore in FY16 and Rs 227.8 crore in FY-15.

May 31, 2016
Radio City aims to teach spoken English to 3 million street kids

MUMBAI: In a first of its kind innovation, Radio City 91.1FM has partnered with cycle candy vendors to create pop-up English schools across Dharavi and like slum areas. Radio reaches more than 99% of India where approximately 30 million children live in slums. Candy vendors on bicycles who visit slum dwellings daily have been provided FM receivers and megaphones and have been incentivised to park their cycles in specific localities every week at a certain time.

During these time bands, Radio City 91.1FM is airing specially designed lessons on spoken English. Candy being a natural draw for the kids, all the vendors have to do is tune in to Radio City on their FM receivers at the designated time slot, play the on-air English lesson and hand out free candy to every kid who sits through it.

Initiated in the slums of Mumbai, the network looks to scale the program up to 10 cities to begin with.In a country where the knowledge of English is an economic enabler, Radio City looks to use their reach to broadcast primary lessons in spoken English.

Speaking about the initiative, Radio City 91.1FM CEo Abraham Thomas said, “Candy Class is an ambitious project and we have rolled out the first phase. Dharavi, as one of Mumbai’s largest slums, seemed to be the right place to start our efforts to give back to Mumbai in a special way under the ambit of Rag Rag Mein Daude City. Using the power and reach of radio to make a difference to the lives of these children might help them gather a lifeskill that they might not otherwise have been fortunate enough to get”.

Radio City has launched a promotional campaign to stimulate this initiative and will follow up with on-ground promotions and special activities for children conducted in slum settlements by radio jockeys and other personnel. The idea for Candy Class was developed in partnership with GREY group India and looks to impact 3,000,000 children nationally. ACORN Foundation India, affiliated to ACORN International, is partnering on the activity in order to help build a sustainable model to popularise and scale up this project in Dharavi.

“What’s really interesting is the way this initiative brings together the power of radio with the cycle candy vendors for a common purpose. Candy Class is not elaborate, does not require huge infrastructure and investments, yet is incredible when you consider the economic and social implications of speaking the language in a country such as ours”, opined Sandipan Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, GREY group India.

Radio City 91.1 FM is a 100percent owned subsidiary of JagranPrakashan Ltd. Radio City 91.1 FM. India’s first & oldest FM brand has been synonymous with the category since its inception in 2001. The station has ruled the airwaves, by being No.1 in Mumbai & Bangalore for over 451+ weeks and a consistent top-2 across all other operating markets, reaching out to over 2.2 crore listeners across the country. A pioneer with first on dial, first on web and first to microlocalise themselves, Radio City was the first to introduce humor on radio with BabberSher, first to launch agony aunt solving love problems with Love Guru, first to launch the biggest singing reality show in India with Radio City Super Singer, first ever FM station to recognize the independent singers & musicians with Radio City Freedom Awards and the first FM station to launch internet radio streams in India with 21 stations & counting!

With a reach across 39 of the most important towns of India, dominating the most important advertiser markets, for the fifth year in a row the brand has been ranked among the Top-25 brands to work for in India by the ‘Great Place to Work’ survey. Led strongly by the philosophy of Rag Rag Mein Daude City, the brand is firmly driven by the passion and the pride that listeners feel for it and associate it to. For further details, log on to www.planetradiocity.com.

About GREY group India:

GREY group ranks among the largest global communications companies. Its parent company is WPP (NASDAQ:WPPGY). Under the banner of “GREY Famously Effective Since 1917,” the agency serves a blue-chip client roster of many of the world’s best known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Volvo, Britannia, ITC, Ferrero, Saint Gobain, Wipro, BIG, Dell, Adobe, Mondelez, to name a few. GREY was named ADWEEK’s “Global Agency of the Year” and AD AGE’s “Agency of the Year” in 2014. In Asia, Grey Group covers 28 cities in 16 countries, which includes Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Mumbai in India. www.grey.com/india

May 2, 2016