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GO 92.5 FM turns Hindi; sheds its niche image
GO 92.5 FM which has created a niche for itself among the cluttered FM radio channels, has suddenly turned into Hindi programming
In a scenario where one FM radio channel sounded just like another, Mumbai-based FM radio station GO 92.5 had created a niche by playing mostly English songs all these years. In fact, the radio station used to be among the favourites for the upwardly mobile listeners in the city.
The radio channel has also won the licences for Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai in the phase II of FM licensing. In all these station, GO 92.5 planned to adopt a similar strategy for programming.
But now the channel has gone all-Hindi. “English as a music genre was famous among the upmarket listeners. But now the relevance of English music is decreasing. Hindi is becoming more international in its approach and tunes. And that is why we made a conscious decision to go Hindi,” says, Shariq Patel, station director, GO 92.5.
“The idea behind this is to get a wider base of listeners even though we miss out on the quality listeners,” he adds.
But then Patel is optimistic some of these upmarket audiences might migrate to the newer form of programming. He says, “Now the challenge for us is to attract them with our Hindi programming.” As to how the station will do that, he reveals, “We will present ourselves in a new, improved avatar with our non-music programming.”
Sandeep Tarkas, head of Media, ADAG group, says “Business is a popularity contest. And GO 92.5 FM has decided to participate in that. It is a bold gambit for them. And with their plan to go out to bigger cities, they have to focus on a larger base.”
According to Manish Porwal, executive director, Starcom, India West, if the radio channel does not dilute the taste of the music, while they change the language, they can still manage to retain the audience. He says, “For the listeners of GO FM, language is not a barrier but it is the certain taste for music, which is necessarily upmarket and urban and the channel needs to adhere to that.”
Tarkas also put in a word of caution: “This strategy is also risky as if it does not work. Then GO 92.5 will have nothing to fall back on. On top of that, it will lose a position that it has managed to create all these years.”
© 2006 agencyfaqs!