AgTalk | Aiming to grow double than the industry: Radio City's Ashit Kukian

The radio was dying a silent death until it was capitulated back into fame with the introduction of FM channels. The entire nation was once again hooked to the radio with the medium gaining back its popularity among the masses. The channels were limited but the scope of growth large. However FM channels were restricted in terms of its programming content. They were catering to the youth with popular Bollywood music and peppy shows without exploring the full potential of the medium. However some did rise against the popular trend to utilize the medium. One such example is Radio City 91.1 FM.

Radio City 91.1FM India’s first and leading FM radio brand, offers a differentiated listening experience through melodious music to ALL SEC 12+ audiences across the nation. It is aggressively looking at spreading the Radio City experience across the country and has already captured the hearts of millions of listeners across 20 FM stations. It is committed to the growing market and creating superlative content for discerning audiences.

It also launched PlanetRadiocity.com India’s most extensive and all-inclusive mega music portal. Launched in March 2010, PlanetRadioCity offers 24 hours of uninterrupted streaming internet radio. Targeted at younger audience the programming is distinctly different from terrestrial radio stations.  In 2012, PlanetRadioCity.com launched four more radio streams- Radio City IndiPop, Radio City Freedom, Radio City Smaran and Radio City Hindi. All the stations fulfill the need gap of showcasing cutting edge independent and quality non-Bollywood music.

Radio City Freedom, the web radio stream on PlanetRadiocity.com is a dedicated channel that offers original Indie music to Indians across the globe. Radio City Freedom has only witnessed an upward trend in the listenership & has proved to be a devoted platform for all the indie artists. Taking a step further this year, ‘Radio City Freedom Awards (RCFA)’ will support and encourage fresh talent across diverse music genres. RCFA promotes Indie music which is the new sound of the new generation.

Adgully caught up with Ashit Kukian, President  & COO at Radio City 91.1 FM. A veteran sales specialist, Ashit’s  expertise in sales spans over 20 years. He has 15 years of experience in the business of Media Management and an in-depth exposure in the marketing of Print and Television media. Before venturing into the radio industry, Ashit had a 13 year stint with Bennett Coleman & Company.

Ashit’s leadership, industry insight and operational expertise have strengthened Radio City 91.1 FM’s culture of innovation and expanded the company’s operations. An excellent people manager with a keen eye for talent, Ashit leads a robust team responsib;e for driving revenues for the brand through traditional and non-traditional revenue streams.Under his leadership recebtly Radio City 31.1 FM emerged as the favourite radio network of media planners/buyers according to the second edition of the Pitch Media BrandOmeter.

Adgully caught up with Ashit during the unveiling of the trophy of Radio City freedom Awards and here is what all he had to say about the medium and Radio City.

Adgully (AG): How did you come up with the concept of Radio City Freedom Awards? What kind of a research did you do before launching this concept?

Ashit Kukian (AK): We have an internal team that looks into innovation on the topic of music. The concept came about much earlier, around at the time of inception of Radio City Freedom. We came up with the idea of giving recognition to the work of independent artists.

When it comes to music we do a lot of research and it was during one of these researches that we found out that there are takers for non-Bollywood music and in the internet scene of today, youtube provides a platform to a lot of songs to gain popularity among the listeners. Infact we were the first ones to break Kolaveri Di and that song started off as non-Bollywood music.

We first did a research at our terrestrial station and then came up with the idea of launching Freedom Radio.

AG: How are you planning to promote the Radio City Freedom Awards?

AK: The awards will receive a complete 360 degree promotion and will be covered on all mediums whether it is television, outdoor, on our own radio station or through the internet streams. We will also go to places where this kind of music is recognized, so a complete 360 degree promotion is planned out for these awards.

AG: Are advertisers interested in a property like Freedom Awards which is not about popular music but about independent music where the artists are not recognized?

AK: Absolutely! Even before we have started we have got two popular brands Liberty and Jack & Jones with us. With the event coming close we will probably see more and more brands taking part with us. They need to understand the kind of platform we are providing to the young talent and the successful property that we have created.

AG: What other new properties are being planned out for this year?

AK: There are already existing new properties which we are planning to take it to a bigger level later on. There is Radio City Super Singers (RCSS), The Gully Premier League (GPL) and we might add up another later on but right now at the moment we are concentrating to make our existing properties into a big thing so that people can take advantage of the platform available to them.

AG: How are you planning to ensure a continuous response to your property making sure that it does not lose interest in the later years?

AK: GPL is in its fourth edition this year while RCSS is in its sixth year. Moreover initially these were taking place in the pockets of the countries and now it enjoys a pan India presence. Fortunately, you won’t be able to find examples from Radio City where we have created properties and let them go loose in the later years. Ofcourse we will make sure to create properties of only those ideas which we can take it to a bigger level.

AG: How receptive was your team of the idea about launching an awards programme for independent musicians?

AK: One thing about the Radio City culture that everyone should know about it is that we are a very democratically done organization, right from the demeanor of the CEO. It is a very open organization, so whatever decision that we take at the senior level is a result of the ideas that percolate from members of the grass root level. Whether it was RCSS or GPL, the ideas came from the team and when I say team, I am not only referring to the marketing team but each and every member in different teams. If we come across an idea and there is merit in it, we try to take it to as much a bigger level as possible. We therefore have never been in a situation of resistance from top to down.

AG: How can Radio be utilized to its maximum potential through the innovation of new ideas in order to attract more advertisers?

AK: It’s a very relevant question. It’s just not plain advertising for us. We were the first ones among all the radio stations to have a complete advertising team. So, we got people from the creative background that understood brands and created an entire back end structure of the creative team which worked closely to make radio a utilizing property for the advertisers. We understand that it is not plain vanilla advertising but creative solutions that work for advertisers. Also we are one of the organizations that believes in a 360 degree campaign for a brand and that is the reason why Radio City connects. We have a team that works on 360 degree plan of advertising for brands where the radio acts as a major actor. We are trying to make radio as a proposition that advertisers will readily accept.

AG: But there are never any innovative campaigns for radio, the TVC campaigns are used to air on radio.

AK: It is a wrong statement to say for if you have been listening to radio closely you will find a whole lot of innovations happening. For example Maruti Alto wanted to be advertised as a car which allows people to go on a weekend getaway. We created an entire innovative ad which stated that in the middle of the week in a city like Mumbai when you are dead tired, the perfect destination to go on a weekend trip is Lonavala and Khandala and with this we integrated the brand Alto as a proposition of Go Weekend. So we do have intelligent proposition and packaging for advertisers on radio.

AG: There is an increasing association of sporting events with radio. What is your view on it?

AK: It should have happened far earlier than today. Radio inherently is a mass medium and sporting event in a sense caters to the masses. Sports like cycling, hockey, cricket and kabaddi are played in galis and nukkads of India. Radio will play a large role in getting people to adapt to these games and I am not surprised that hockey, football or cycling is covered by radio today in a large way. People would want to use radio to get these sports a mass appeal.

AG: Does that mean cricket will be sidelined and radio will make an effort to bring these sports into limelight?

AK: One needs to understand that radio is all about what people want, and ultimately it is the catering to the demands of the people. So if people want cricket then we will give them cricket. But if there is a game along with cricket which needs to be covered we will do it. A listener is a multi-dimensional personality with various needs and whenever radio will see an opportunity in that need, it will tap the opportunity available and play around with that.

AG: What are your plans ahead for 2013?

AK: Our plans are very clear. We want to consolidate ourselves and make ourselves as much dominant in the industry as much we can and make our growth almost double than what the industry growth is and insha-allah if all goes well we will be able to achieve this target. I By Rabab Rupawala [rabab(at)adgully.com]