MUMBAI: Radio One 94.3 launches operations in Chennai tomorrow after 9 days of test runs in the southern city.
The past few days have seen the station gearing up for the Chennai launch with promotional activities which included branding its name and logo on tea stalls across Chennai to garner more visibility.
A Mid Day Multimedia Limited and BBC Worldwide venture, Radio One is already present in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Chennai will be the FM station’s fourth foray.
Speaking on the issue of how it would take on some of the bigger more established radio stations like Surya and Radio Mirchi, Radio One station head LV Navaneet said, “These are major players and more established as they had the first mover advantage. Radio One will concentrate on
content and attitude to position itself. In fact content is at the centre of our universe.”
The channel is looking at a target group of 20 to 30-year-olds and the content and the feel of the radio station leans towards the youth.
“The focus will be on fast tempo Tamil music because this is what the youth in Chennai are more interested in. And this fast, racy music will be played throughout the day. Even if you switch on the channel at 6 o’clock in the morning, the music that will greet you will be up tempo not slow spiritual sounds,” according to Navaneet. In fact he goes on to mention that no melodies pre 1990 will be played on the station.
The sound of the station is also young in keeping with its youth centric theme. Most of the RJs on the station were selected through a RJ hunt and the criteria was to have the right attitude to be part of Radio One.
On D-day, the station plans to start the day with a celebrity RJ hosting a 2-hour show where the celebrity will talk about issues that affect him in the city and grouses faced by the city’s denizens. “Mumbai and Delhi are perceived as rocking cities by people who live there and even outside.
Chennai, on the other hand, is not considered cool enough. With this initiative we want to instill a sense of pride within Chennaiites, make 2007 a year to celebrate Chennai.”
The celebrity RJ concept sure seems to be catching on as the show will be flagged off with television actor Vijay Adhiraj taking on the airwaves and over the weeks 50 other celebrities will host the show. Other stars lined up on the station include film stars like Vikram and Surya.
Another unique initiative is a team of journalists who will scour the city in search of news, views and opinions focused on the Chennai youth. This will be used as part of regular programming by the various RJs on their shows.
Radio One will soon launch more stations in Pune, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
