News Broadcasting
Radio City ropes in Roop Kumar Rathod as RJ for new show ‘Shaam-E-Ghazal’
MUMBAI: The private FM player Radio City 91 FM Mumbai unveils a fresh season of ghazals with the launch of a show solely devoted to ghazals. Starting 6 October, with the Shaam-E-Ghazal, Roop Kumar Rathod makes his radio debut as the host.
The show holds an interesting blend of unplugged ghazals, mushairas and live on-air performance by the Roop Kumar Rathod.
The one hour show will aired every Friday at 9 PM, with a repeat telecast on Sunday at 9 PM Apart from broadcasting popular ghazals, the show would also look at reviving ghazal listening and giving a new dimension to it, informs an official release.
Roop Kumar Rathode will cite examples of shayaris and ghazals and explain the nuances, meanings of relevant words and difficult phrases through the show.
‘Shaam-E-Ghazal’ also presents a unique opportunity for the listeners to participate in a contest whereby getting a chance to send an interesting ghazal / shayari and win a music CD specially signed by Rathode.
According to Radio City CEO Apurva Purohit, “Radio City has always believed in bringing to our listeners the best, through the best. We constantly push the envelope in terms of giving differentiated programming to our listeners through our music experts. With Life Ki Dhun With Sonu Niigaam, we pioneered the trend of celebrity RJs, which received tremendous response. With Shaam-E-Ghazal and more such programs in the next few months we will continue to treat our listeners to great music.”
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
