Exclusive | Evangelizing internet radio: Planet RadioCity's Rachna Kanwar

Radio City recently launched Freedom Radio as a commemoration of its 11th anniversary. Freedom Radio is India’s first dedicated web radio exclusively for Indie music. Indie music remains a largely unexplored genre on radio and Radio City 91.1 FM’s initiative is sure to set the floor rolling. Freedom Radio will showcase independent artistes from across genres like folk, rock, Sufi, electronica and much more.

 

Adgully talks to Rachna Kanwar-SVP and Business Head, Digital Media and New Business as she talks about Radio City’s interesting venture Freedom Radio and 91.1 FM’s journey in the digital medium.

 

Providing insights into the innovative concept, Rachna said, “Radio City has experimented with a huge variety of genres right from Indie-pop, Sufi, ghazals and even international music. A lot of interesting genres have been explored. However, we decided it was high time we started dedicated streams of music for music lovers; specifically for people who love to listen to a particular kind of music. That is how the concept of Freedom Radio was born and consequently; Radio City introduced Indie pop a few months ago which received a tremendous response.”

 

Elaborating on the thought process that led to Freedom Radio, she said, “For the past one year, we were immersed in collecting a variety of music. Also, there were discussions held with independent artistes and all this led to a culmination of Freedom Radio when we achieved a certain mass of content. Freedom Radio’s intends to provide a platform for independent music which has a huge demand. Even when we launched the Radio City website in August 2008, it was launched as an all inclusive music portal and as a separate business entity. We observed that there was an increasing demand from online users and radio listeners for music which was different and beyond Bollywood.”

 

 “Web radio is all about interactivity. It involves multiple genres and that is what Planet Radio City. Com seeks to do,” says Rachna.

 

Talking about further innovations at Radio City, she said, “On Radio City, every Saturday; bands will be invited to conduct live jamming sessions in the studios and interact with the radio jockeys. Apart from this, we are looking forward to Listening Parties; a unique offering in which we introduce the common man to the music of these bands; thus providing exposure to budding talent.”

 

Speaking about the need for independent music to create its own space, Rachna said, “On the net, there are loads of forums searching for such kind of music. There is also a lot of media exposure and youngsters today are coming up with independent music. Radio City seeks to give these youngsters a lift and will therefore conduct more engagements to promote independent music. A robust marketing strategy is being chalked out which will involve both terrestrial and on ground initiatives.”

 

She also points out to the fact that independent music as a genre has grown from strength to strength. Rachna exclaims, “Independent music is not restricted to a genre.  It is grass root and agnostic to language and genre. It has a global appeal irrespective of the language the music is in.”

 

She also admits that though the responses for independent music may not be immediate, it is here to stay. 

 

Expressing her views on the internet radio format, Rachna said, “It is difficult to predict. Digital radio is very different from what it stands for today .Putting music together is not digital radio. In terms of music listenership, the shift has already happened. Uncertainty prevails in the domain currently. It is just a matter of time when this concept will be taken up. A lot of effort is required in digital radio.”

 

She believes that some of the advantages of digital radio are the interactivity that it offers, apart from the monetization scope that it provides. She also asserts that it takes terrestrial radio a step further.

 

Delving into some of the reasons why the pace of the development of internet radio is slow, Rachna said, “At the moment, for agencies and clients digital radio is a new creation but they realize that web radio can provide engagement opportunities which playlists cannot. The potential of digital radio needs to be realized and the medium needs to be evangelized. We have a separate team at Radio City which is involved in meeting up with agencies in order to exploit the digital radio format better.” | By Aditi Popat [aditi(at)adgully.com]