Settling Waves

Bangaloreans have had the taste of 6 free to air private FM stations for more than 2-3 months now. Though each started off by trying to woo away listeners from the other, they have all now settled into their own comfort zones.

Radio City - 91.1:
90% English presenation and 10% Kanglish (Kannada+English) presentation with 90% Hindi music and 10% English music. They thrown in a Kannada song once in a while just to please the localites, but the intent is just to stay away from trouble. Their RJs are the best in the business with Sunaina and Vasanthi being the best and the perky Malavika not far behind. They also usually have the best promos. They are trying to cater mainly to the non-localites and they are probably the only station with a loyal listener base.

Radio Mirchi - 98.3:
90% Kannada presentation and 10% Kanglish presentation with 50% Hindi Music an 50% Kannada music. The RJs are usually very predictable and don't seem to have a fan following to note. They play Hindi music during the typical radio primetime i.e. 7-10 AM and 6-9PM. Trying to win the non-localites and localites is not an easy game. Nice slogan, "Sakath Hot Maga". :-)

Radio One - 94.3:
90% Kannada presentation and 10% Kanglish presentation with 50% Hindi Music an 50% Kannada music. Modus operandi very similar to Radio Mirchi and not very inspiring RJs here either. Second best to Mirchi in this playing field. Have many slogans, "Hittappa Hittu" and "Hit mele Hit mele Hit"

BIG FM - 92.7:
Almost 100% Kannada presentation and mostly Kannada songs with the rare Hindi song here and there. Again the RJ's don't seem to innovative and a lousy slogan to boot, "Keli, Kelisi, Life Nimmadagisi". Duh! But one thing these guys know is their target audience, the sorta well to do young localite.

Surya FM - 93.5:
These guys are again almost 100% Kannada presentation and play mostly Kannada songs. They are very similar to BIG FM, but have RJs with more energy. They seem to play more old Kannada songs and that is good coz most of the new ones suck. They cater to the localite at home and also the young localite. Nice slogan too, "Mast Maja Maadi".

Radio Indigo - 91.9:
Moved out of the WorldSpace group and has been known as the cradle for most of the good RJs of Bangalore. They have attracted back experienced Radio City RJs like Cindu (Yes, with a C) and Rohit Barker. They also have some nice young talent pool, but the night patrol guy, Geoffrey seems to be missing in action most of the time. One time, I drove for close to 20 minutes tuned in to only this station and didn't hear the guy presenting the show even once! The most professional sounding channel after Radio City and Radio Mirchi, they sure have a very hardcore target audience and will always remain No:1 in this niche market.

All in all, though the channels have increased, I still stick to Radio City and Radio Indigo with the occasional Radio Mirchi during my radio time. I don't hear of any new channels coming in any time soon and this is gonna be the fare on display(?) for some time to come.

I wonder how good/bad Worldspace is. Anyone knows?