'Twas A 'Big' Win For Radio City!

One of my fondest childhood memories was watching my grandmother begin her mornings listening to the All India Radio, sipping her steaming cuppa with the daily newspaper in hand, eyeing the day's affairs while the radio oscillated between news and her favorite tracks.

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The little black and brown radio was her trusted companion and she would turn to it multiple times in the day to either know what was transpiring in the world or to hear her favorite tunes. Her days were incomplete without that device! It's been half a century since then and, as one would expect, the radio has undergone a major facelift, with a nip here and a tuck there. But one thing has remained constant even now – the omnipresence of the medium.

From the first broadcast by Radio Club of Bombay in 1923 to the year 1999 when private FM channels were announced by the Government of India, to the recent times when the sector is allowed to secure FDI of up to 49% through the approval route, the industry has continued to be a formidable force. You'd agree with me when I say, I have heard the humble radio being played out of a Mercedes and a cab, a high-rise and a shanty, a bustling metropolis, and a quaint sleepy hamlet, in equal measure... you get my train of thought.

Radio's steadfast reach can be attributed to its ability to evolve with the times, keep its content portfolio engaging, topical and hyper-local, and ensure its cost-efficiency remains intact. Contrary to what naysayers think, radio does continue to belie and defy many expectations. Thanks to its ubiquity, radio still remains a medium with gobsmacking reach; in a developed county like the US, 271 million Americans, or 93 percent of the country, tune in every week, according to Nielsen's Audio Today report. In India, in the last few years, thanks to data penetration and a steep drop in data prices, the medium has become the second most accessed across metros and non-metros, with audiences in both small cities and metros considering it to be a trusted source of information.