Apurva Purohit - CEO, Radio City, is a media brand specialist and has created and forged successful brands like Zoom, India’s first lifestyle channel and Lodestar, one of the leading media agencies in the country today. She also fashioned the relaunch strategy for Zee TV, the flagship channel of Zee Telefilms and launched evergreen shows like Astitva, Piya Ka Ghar, Thursday Premiere etc which continue to run even today.

Her expertise and vision as a media brand specialist today are the guiding force behind the brand Radio City that is currently poised to grow into a major national player with presence across the country in key metros and towns.

In an exclusive interview with agencyfaqs!, she talks about her vision for the radio industry in India, with the phenomenonal growth the sector is witnessing right now.

Q. As someone with extensive management experience in broadcasting and media planning, what attracted you to radio as a professional?
A Radio is a medium where you can really experiment in many ways. The kind of creativity which is possible in radio is on a different level altogether. The radio industry is witnessing many changes and there is also a lot of experimentation happening – these are the factors which attracted me to this industry.

Q. What sort of growth rates do you think the FM radio industry will manage over the coming years?
A. Geographically, the growth in radio has been enormous. Where earlier FM radio was available in eight to ten cities, it is now present in ninety cities. In that sense, we have seen large-scale geographical expansion in the past one year or so. From the point of view of advertising, the industry is expecting a double-digit growth of thirty to forty per cent in the next year and a half.

Q. Do you think there is enough scope for differentiation in the market, considering the fact that the operating rules are the same for everyone? Will niche segments and audiences get overlooked?
A. Most of the operators have to find their own segments and niches, and each of them has their own way of differentiating themselves. This can be done from the target audience perspective, in content or genre. Since current affairs cannot be part of our programming right we have, we do not have much of a choice with regard to the genres we can offer. Apart from that, there is enough scope for growth in the entertainment, chat show or movie formats. Niche audiences can only be catered to completely when multiple frequencies and greater number of genres are permitted.

Q.What are the plans for Radio City in the next twelve months?
A. At Radio City, there is a major expansion in infrastructure happening as we are moving from the four to seven stations. We will expand further as the government sanctions our remaining stations in thirteen cities. In fact, Radio City is one operator that is constantly innovating and coming up with new programming like ‘Babbar Sher’ earlier and recently, ‘Meri Kahani’

Q. With more players entering the industry, are we likely to see some sort of consolidation? What is your view on these new players like HT Media, and other regional media entrants?
A. As the bigger players already have a presence in a number of cities, I don’t see a large-scale consolidation happening, except for informal marketing efforts. The FM radio industry needs to grow outwards and reach out a greater variety of audiences in the coming years.

Q. How does the medium expect to face the growth of emerging technology like satellite radio?
A. Internationally, satellite radio has captured only a small percentage of the radio industry. The reason for this could be that it satellite radio cannot focus on interactivity or the tastes of the local audiences. Ultimately, it is for FM radio to perform these functions.

Q. What in your opinion could be the single biggest factor to give the next big fillip to radio in India?

A. In the past two years, the radio industry has expanded geographically. The factors which could give it a fillip are addition of genres like current affairs and the availability of multiple frequencies to operators.