Tapas Sen first CPO of Radio Mirchi

In another first for the radio industry, a new post, that of chief programming officer, has been created at Radio Mirchi. National programing director Tapas Sen has been promoted into the new post. As CPO, Sen will lead the different verticals that the station is currently figuring out, and each vertical will be headed by a separate national programming director (NPD).

“Currently, we have a single national programming director looking after the different verticals. But after this internal restructuring, each vertical, say, operations, creativity, specials, etc., all will have a separate NPD, and all the NPDs will report to the CPO,” explains Sen.

Sen will be responsible for providing editorial direction to the programming team across Radio Mirchi’s 32 stations in the country (18 existing stations and 14 upcoming ones).

When quizzed about the need for the new designation, Sen says, “This is a clear case of evolvement of the radio industry. Like many other benchmarks that Radio Mirchi has set, this is another milestone that the industry will follow.”

Sen joined Radio Mirchi in January 2001. A science graduate in zoology from Delhi University with a specialisation in entomology, he has been closely involved with the radio industry for many years. He was the programming head of Times FM’s Delhi station since its inception in 1993. He has also been a radio jockey.

Talking about Sen’s appointment, Prashant Panday, deputy CEO, EMIL, says, “Tapas (Sen) is a pillar of Radio Mirchi. He is a key member of a team that has made Radio Mirchi number one in every market that we operate in. He has managed to build a team of programming professionals, which is the envy of every media business in India. While Radio Mirchi has won several Indian and global awards in its six short years, its real success is seen in its revenue numbers. This would not have been possible without the leadership of Tapas’s programming strategies.”

ENIL launched its first radio station in the city of Indore in October 2001; by May 2003, it had launched six more stations. A leader in the private FM radio industry, at present, Radio Mirchi is operational in 18 cities, i.e., Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Patna, Jalandhar, Goa, Vadodara, Bhopal, Kanpur, Rajkot and Nashik. Soon, the radio station will be operational in 14 more cities, totalling 32 radio stations in all in the country.