Exclusive | Creating differentiated content: PlanetRadiocity's Rachna Kanwar

Ending the year on a spiritual note, India’s first Web Radio portal PlanetRadiocity.com introduces ‘Radio City Smaran’. The online radio station will offer a bouquet of genres in the devotional space. ‘Radio City Smaran’ is the fourth online radio station to be launched this year on PlanetRadiocity.com after ‘Radio City Indipop’, ‘Radio City Freedom’ and ‘Radio City Hindi’. Planet Radio City has always endeavored to create differentiated content and entertain the global Indians keeping in mind their varied tastes in music.

Adgully caught up with Rachna Kanwar, SVP & Business Head, Digital Media & New Business, Radio City 91.1 FM to understand the objective behind the launch of a spiritual show on radio and also to get some useful insights with regard to the same.

Speaking about this new venture, Kanwar said, “The uniqueness of ‘Radio City Smaran’ lies in its programming approach that goes beyond a single genre like Bhajans or Mantras. The music mix has been carefully selected keeping in mind a broader set of audiences across religions and sects. In fact, it goes beyond religious music. The programming lineup also includes hand-picked healing and wellness music. The idea is to provide relief to stressed out minds and encourage a sense of well being.”

‘Radio City Smaran’ is launched with a clear objective to create differentiated content which entertains the global Indians.  She says, “Our research indicated that there is a huge demand for devotional and wellness music, which is not catered to. So, with ‘Radio City Smaran’, we decided to bridge that gap.”

The question arises: what need gap would this online-station fill? Kanwar explained saying that there is a void in the web radio sphere as far as devotional and wellness music is concerned. Almost 36% of music consumed online is devotional, yet there is no one destination one can go to for this music in an organized fashion. With ‘Radio City Smaran’, the team wanted to create an ambience of wellbeing and spirituality for their listeners and not just stream regular playlists.

So, what they are offering is an online radio station that plays a wide range of handpicked devotional and wellness music 24x7. “We aim at creating a perfect ambience, fostering relaxation and mental well-being of its listeners,” she adds. 

The stream has been live for a week and so in terms of response, Kanwar felt it is a little too early to comment on listenership data but the response has been very encouraging. “We have a steady and loyal listener’s base already and have also seen a steady growth in our numbers,” she added.

Kanwar said that ‘Radio City Smaran’ has been one of their most offbeat efforts till date. As such, the marketing initiatives have been aimed at leveraging the uniqueness of the stream. Veteran Bhajan connoisseur, Mr. Anup Jalota, launched ‘Radio City Smaran’ on the 12th of December. Their on air campaign on Radio City is asking people to send devotional songs sung by them and the chosen ones will be aired on ‘Radiocity Smaran.’

Various other contests are in the pipeline including their special on-ground initiatives like ‘Listening Party’ integrated with ‘Radio City Smaran’.
The format resembles the recently launched Indi-Pop & Freedom Radio i.e. back to back music with no ads.  ‘Radio City Smaran’ is also 24/7 non-stop music, similar to ‘Radio City Indipop’ &

‘Radio City Freedom’. Not an RJ integrated show at the moment but according to Kanwar going forward they do have plans for special shows.

‘Radio City Smaran’ promises a treasure trove of devotional and spiritual music that is hard to come by in the radio space. It goes beyond the devotional to delve into various genres like Bhajans, Classical, Sufi, Chants, Wellness music and much more. The playlists have been well-researched in accordance to the time of the day. The music mix has been carefully selected keeping in mind a broader set of audiences across religions and sects. The main idea behind this initiative is to provide relief to stressed out minds and encourage a sense of well being.