News Broadcasting
For radio broadcasters, a day to fool listeners
MUMBAI: Who says it’s all about cut throat competition and politics among rivals!
In a first of sorts, on April Fool’s Day, radio broadcasters Win 94.6 FM and Go 92.5 FM jointly delighted Mumbai with a spontaneous gag.
‘Kabhi Win Kabhi Go… Its all about loving your listeners,’ happened within minutes and without any pre planning. Go 92.5 FM and Win 94.6, both known for their fun-loving nature and being buddies with their listeners, took good matured pot-shots at each other during the morning show, thus changing the way FM programming is treated, and set set a refreshingly new precedent for the days to come.
Jaggu and Tarana – Go’s awesome twosome
Go’s breakfast show hosts, Tarana and Jaggu kicked it off by telling their listeners that Jaggu was doing the rounds of all the radio stations, Radio Mirchi, City, Red and Win with a cake of solidarity to promote peace and brotherhood among all radio station. They also claimed that upon reaching Win, Jaggu was shooed away by Malishka. On hearing this, Win quickly put a fake Jaggu on-air to talk about how the hospitality at Win was excellent, and to say that Win itself was a fantastic radio station.
Now Win, as part of its April Fools Day plan, had changed their RJs, but retained their names – so it was Divya who was doing Malishka’s show. Go heard all of this as well as “Jaggu” eating his cake at the Win studio and pulled his leg on-air about how the Malishka that he thought was really “Hot,” was not Malishka at all.
Go’s Vishnu Athreya said, “We originally thought of sending Jaggu dressed as a ‘dove’ to all the radio stations promoting peace and brotherhood. But then because of his bad back we restricted it to a joke. We did approach other radio stations to indulge in this joke, but apart from Win no one else found it funny. Malishka reacted immediately and that is the beauty of Radio! We have noticed in the past that Win has had the same kind of sensibilities as us when it comes to such ideas. At some point we should stop taking ourselves seriously and have fun with the listeners, because it’s all about entertaining them.”
Win programming manager Sarina D’mello said, “This morning was Radio at its best yet. Both stations have that ‘guy next door’ feel for their listeners, but also have that wicked streak. So when Go began their pot-shots at us, we started salivating with the various options of getting back. It turned out great, and the public loved it. That’s really the way it should be, the stations have always been friends and I see no reason why it shouldn’t reflect in programming. Great radio stations are foot loose and fancy free, just like us.”
Athreya added, “Who knows next April Fool’s day, Malishka might be doing Tarana’s Show and Jaggu, Divya’s.” On the other hand, Red FM got Delhi junta literally jumping early in the morning as it pulled a prank on Delhiites on April Fools Day.
In Good Morning Dilli, RJs Vijay and Safia informed the city at large that at 9:35 am on 1 April, Mars, the Moon and the Earth will be in a never-before planetary alignment because of which the gravitational pull on Earth will drop by 40 per cent for around 25 seconds. People who attempt to jump in the specific time-window will be able to jump much higher than they could previously. People were warned that this can only be experienced on the road / ground.
This prank saw the city jumping and callers calling in to Red FM studios to confirm correct timing of planetary alignment when they ought to jump, whether they could set records highest jump, so on and so forth.
The station also packed the day with innovative programming, contests – none of which were ‘Asli’ (real). Yet another prank, which caught many Delhiites by surprise, was an ‘Un-reality’ show – Sweety Bansal ki Shaadi kisse.
An extremely rich industrialists’ daughter – Sweety Bansal decided to take Red FM’s help to find the man of her dreams who would value her for herself and not for her father’s money. Red helped her by taking potential suitors as callers as well Red’s outdoor reporters asking prospects what they would do to marry “Sweety”?
Commenting on the April Fools Day initiative Red FM COO Nishchint Chawla said, “Red FM had ‘Asli’ masti with its loving fans by doing things which were everything but asli.”
Innovation sure seems to be the buzz word here!
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
