News Broadcasting
Mirchi shuffles key people, adds zest to shows
MUMBAI: Music may still be the soul of FM in India, but that isn’t stopping FM stations from toying with different genres for that edge over rivals.
Radio Mirchi, which recently tried its hand at innovative programming with Ms Gonsalves and Bollywood Locha, plans to introduce a few more shows in the coming days. One will be dedicated to recounting the various legacies of Bollywood, while another will consist of interviews with Mumbai’s important people as well as Hindi film personalities.
A large scale contest is also being planned for a launch a month away, says Radio Mirchi COO Prashant Panday. Mirchi’s revamped programming, that’s being phased in gradually (notably the morning show that’s gone topical with RJ Harsh commenting on newsy topics every day) also reflects the change in management structure at the organisation.
Mirchi’s Kolkata station director Romen Sood has been elevated as senior vice president and regional director, south, while the Chennai station director of Radio Mirchi Sharat Chandra has been brought to Mumbai as senior vice president, marketing and business development. The Chennai marketing head Anand Parmeshwaran has been made station director of the Kolkata Radio Mirchi.
After the December 2003 exit of Sunil Sahjwani, who was national creative head of Entertainment Network India Limited, the Mirchi team has been working as a cohesive unit of creative heads and executive producers who report to national programming controller, Tapan Sen, who has been with Bennett, Coleman’s radio wing since the early days of Times FM.
Radio Mirchi, operational in seven cities in India, has unlike nearest competitor Radio City, which has been angling for appointment viewing with the masses, also gone aggro on the format event front. Panday says that while the station approaches the medium of radio as a topical one that should act as the platform for news on conveniences and best bargains going in their city, it also indulges heavily in brand acitivity.
The property fairs in Pune and the ongoing one in Mumbai, the food melas in Delhi and the consumer exhibition in Chennai have been ways of increasing brand awareness and developing the category. The encouraging response from the SEC A and B demographic who have thronged the ‘mela’ venues as well as the continuing leadership in the car listenership category continue to drive its programming strategy, he says.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
