Chhavi Tyagi
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Big FM makes Hyderabadis laugh at 'Recession'

The radio operator pokes fun at recession with Hyderabadis on World Laughter Day by bringing its theme of the year, Don't Worry Be Happy, on-ground

Taking into consideration the prevailing mood about the current economic scenario, Big 92.7 FM came out with a plan to counter it. The radio operator launched a theme, Don't Worry Be Happy, for a year to urge its listeners to be happy and smile in the face of the current economic adversities.

All stations of Big FM incorporated the theme in their respective programming lineup at the beginning of the year.

Apart from celebrating the common theme, the Hyderabad station decided to take the initiative one step ahead on World Laughter Day (March 3). The station reminded Hyderabadis the importance of laughter in their lives, especially when facing problems, through an entertaining on-ground activity.

Ramesh Bhaskar, station director, Big 92.7 FM Hyderabad, says, “Since we are an interactive medium, we have our fingers on the pulse of our listeners and we could gauge that people are worried. So we thought of pepping them up through the medium which they listen to while on their way to work. It's not like we have just soft programming features to put our listeners in a happy mood but we also gave serious stuff like stocks falling and economy going bad a fun twist.”

Big FM Hyderabad erected a 10 feet long cut out at Lumbini Park in the city on World Laughter Day, symbolising recession as a monster, inviting people to form a human chain around it and laugh at it. It's not just the common people who came forward for the activity but the human chain saw bankers as well as chief operating officers and managing directors of big companies joining hands along with the station RJs.

Big FM makes Hyderabadis laugh at 'Recession'
Big FM makes Hyderabadis laugh at 'Recession'
To name a few, the chain was led by N Krishna Mohan, regional director, Reserve Bank of India; Shakti Sagar, managing director, ADP; Renu Challu, MD, State Bank of Hyderabad; S Ramakrishnan, chief operating officer, Tata Indicom; renowned cardiologist Sunil Kapoor; Capt. ST Rao, advisor, Art of Living; and Shirin, president, ABC Laughing Club.

Bhaskar adds, “We thought the day was the best day to get people to forget about their troubles and enjoy a good laugh. After all, when all logic fails, it's humour which does the trick.”

The “recession monster” was given the look of the mythological character Ravana, with ten heads depicting the related elements of recession such as jobs lost, salary cuts and crashed Sensex. The human chain had a laughing session, where all those assembled had a good laugh at the cost of “recession”.

In another development, the event also saw the 10 winners of an on-air contest titled 'Big Comedy King' performing and sharing jokes with the crowd at Lumbini Park. The 10 winners contested against each other through several rounds to take home the title of 'Big Comedy King'. The event also had all the dignitaries sharing their own jokes on bankers and other work related humorous anecdotes with the audience.

Amongst other programming initiatives, the station will also host Guru Mantra, a section which will see visionaries, CEO’s and business leaders share tips on how to stay motivated at the workplace, how to secure jobs, manage expenses and other tips on survival during the tough times. Also, other offerings will see best deals on shopping, holidays, best deals on groceries, best airfare and other such good monetary deals for the listeners.

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