HT’s Fever FM will hit Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata airwaves this month

Fever 104 FM, Hindustan Times’s radio venture in technical collaboration with the Richard Branson-backed Virgin Radio International, will hit Mumbai airwaves in two weeks followed by Bangalore and Kolkata

‘Its all about the music’ is how Hindustan Times Group’s radio venture, which is in technical collaboration with Virgin Radio International, Fever 104 FM has been positioned. Ranking ‘more music and less talk’ as their utmost priority, Fever 104 FM is all set to launch in the three metros- Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata this month after launching in Delhi in October last year.

Though the fundamentals of programming will be retained in each of these cities, the mix of the different genres of music and the kind of shows will differ in each city, according to Karen Sandhu, group promotions director, Virgin Radio International.

Currently, the Mumbai and Bangalore stations are on a test-run and are expected to start functioning in two weeks. Kolkata, too, will be launched towards the end of the month. The group has appointed Sajjad Chunawala as station head for Mumbai, while Kamal Ani Mohandas has been appointed as the station head for Bangalore. Chunawala moves in from Sony BMG, where he was the general manager, while Mohandas has been the general manager of Radio 1 and 2, two government-owned radio stations in Dubai.

Targeted at the SEC A and B, Fever 104 FM, Sandhu asserts is not just a youth centric station. “Rather than merely tagging it as a youth-centric radio station as per demographics alone, we would like to call it a station for the young at heart as well”, says Sandhu. She says that a lot of research has been conducted in order to fathom the likes and dislikes of the target group. “That’s why we are laying emphasis on the music and have minimised the incessant RJ talk”, she explains.

In Delhi, Fever FM has just embarked upon a promotional campaign called ‘Fever Bolo’, which will kick start next week. As part of this initiative, Fever 104 FM’s RJs will call registered participants and will reward a cash prize of Rs 1,04,000 each, if they answer the call with 'I Love Fever 104' instead of a ‘hi’ or ‘hello’. This is aimed at promoting the station as well as its brand name.

Fever’s launch campaigns in Mumbai and Bangalore will roll out shortly.

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