Panelists at the session: Reshaping Radio broadcasting environment in India

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“Radio remains a highly unutilised medium in India.” This was one of the concerns raised by the experts at the RadioAsia 2010 conference concluded in India this week. A session devoted to “Reshaping the radio broadcasting environment in India” discussed the possible means through which the radio industry could re-engage with its widespread audience.

The initial round of the session focused on the implementation of the digital radio in the region. M C Aggarwal (Chief Engineer, AIR) discussed how the All India Radio, the public broadcaster has begun with shift to digital broadcasting with adoption of the DRM standard and the installation of transmitters. One of the concerns raised by him included that of lack of knowledge among the general people about the digital radio.

P S Sundaram (MD, Technomedia Solutions) marked that AIR has a wide reach and is ready to go digital. But, FM broadcasting is still in the nascent stage in India where heavy investments are required for acceptance of digital broadcasting by the private broadcasters. The FM industry thus has this opportunity to go digital at this young age.

Turning the attention towards the content offered on this young platform for India, Mr. Indu Shekhar (BDM for India, BBC) mentioned that same content targeted to same listeners and funded by same advertisers is the scenario of FM industry. “Radio remains to be a highly under utilised medium in India” he remarked.

For this purpose he stressed on the need of variation and innovation in content required that holds the power for radio to re-engage with its audience. Brining on the example of TV in India he proved his point. “We need to dig deep, think fresh and within the provided space we need to unleash the power of radio,” he concluded.

R Narasimha Swamy (JGM, BECIL, India) reaffirmed the point that content has to drive the change and the technology for reshaping the radio broadcasting environment in India.

Simon Spanswick (Founder Director, Association for International Broadcasting), the moderator of the session concluded the session with his remarks that ‘Content is the King’ and holds the key to change.