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Almost two years after India's first private FM station hit the airwaves, Radio City presents a new, desi avatar with increased Hindi music content.
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Radio City has perhaps woken up to the fact that even upmarket Bangaloreans listen to a lot of Hindi music. — Photo: K. Gopinathan
HARD ON the heels of changes in the parent company's Star News channel, which went all-Hindi three weeks ago, the nation's first private FM radio channel, Bangalore's own Radio City, has also decided to go desi. The musical fare throughout the day, except for the late night and wee hours, is now all Hindi, with a smattering of Kannada film fare.
Chaitanya Hegde is one popular figure. His voice on the Hotair programme booms from radio sets across the City during the peak 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. slot, when people are either driving back from work or relaxing at home after work. Hotair has been re-christened Route 91 with effect from April 28. And this is only one of the many changes in the programming of the station that Bangalore's youth like to proudly call their own.
There are other examples of a re-namakarana: The Breakfast Show, with Sunaina Lal and Darius, is now called Josh 91, The Request Show, with Jonzie, has a new face as Radio City Mangta Hai and plays only Hindi requests from the listeners. Radio City Café, which used to be a very popular show among school and college goers, has been replaced by a new show featuring Priya Ganapathy called SimpliCity, which talks about anything from "generation gap to leaky tap".
Well, if you are wondering where all the English music has gone, a new show called Gurkha Shift has been introduced between 10 p.m. and midnight featuring Rohit Barkar (who earlier used to host Radio City Café).
The weekend fare has experienced a jadoo sweep as well: a new chart countdown, featuring the top 40 Indipop and Hindi film songs, kicks off at 5 p.m.. Dum Pichuk Dum is what it is called, and popular Channel V VJ, Gaurav, will be presenting it. The Vibe, between 8 a.m. and noon, is now called Masti 91. On Sunday, Chaitanya will play more Kannada music in Chow Chow Bath (with matrimonial announcements thrown in) and the wacky and popular Sister Stella, who gives "melodies for maladies", will have a two-hour slot between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m..
The most obvious change is the fact that no English music would be played till 10 p.m.. Earlier, English requests were played between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays by Jonzie, and Café featured at least an hour of popular English tunes. In fact, the time slot between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. was wholly devoted to English music.
With the new stress on desi music, quite a lot of Bangaloreans are disappointed. However, when this correspondent tried to get an official input from Radio City about the logic behind these changes, the airwaves went diplomatically silent. We have no way of knowing what you think, guys, but this is what your faithful listeners think:
The moment Vandana, who works for a call centre, heard that her favourite RJ Rohit Barkar's show has been removed from the 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot, she was heartbroken as she used to be a diehard fan of the show, and used to listen to it on her way back from college. Fellow fan Maya feels: "Though I am a huge fan of Hindi film music, it used to be a refreshing change to listen to a few English songs, especially between 7 a.m. and 7.30 a.m." Rathi, a B.A. student, says: "I'm disgusted to know that Jonzie's show will feature only Hindi music. It was the only show I used to listen to regularly and get my English requests played. I have to study at night, and will not have the time to listen to the radio." Punith is an MBA student, who, after a hard day of college and professional training, chills out by listening to some soft alternative rock songs on Priya Ganapathy's Late Show. "I find the music on Gurkha Shift too hard and loud, and now, I have dusted my old collection of cassettes and spend my late evenings listening to them."
Being the first private FM station in India, Radio City had created a considerable fan following, especially among teenagers and college-goers. It is to be seen whether the new "Mera Hindi Mahaan" programming strategies of the station will rope in new listeners or merely put off its old, faithful fans.
A.V.
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