2008 was a year marked by several developments in the radio and music industries, but it was also a year when some noted personalities in these fields, who had left their mark in their respective fields, passed away. Radioandmusic.com pays tribute.
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After featuring the south, north and east FM scenario in 2008, radioandmusic.com completes the FM roundup with the west scene.
2008 was a tough year in general for media in India, but radio managed reasonably well during the year.
Believes Radio Mirchi CEO Prashant Panday, Fuelled by growth in network, the growth rate of radio in the first half of 2008 was as high as 55-60 per cent on a year on year basis....
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Looking back, 2008 was the year of commencing operations for many commercial FM stations in eastern India. To make their presence felt, these stations carried out a lot of marketing initiatives.
Many of these stations, located in small towns and marked by hefty retail advertising, have managed to escape the current heat wave of the global slowdown and have managed to sustain themselves with satisfactory profits, especially in the last quarter.
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From an astounding 75 'A' grader bollywood releases in 2008, barely a clutchful made the mark, music wise. Not surprisingly, films composed by Rahman, SEL and Pritam - those with catchy tunes made brisk business. The messiah of the masses, Himesh Reshammiya, hit a chord with Karzzz too, relying mostly on the popularity of the original tracks and some ingenuity on his own part. Those who experimented (Sneha Khanwalkar with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye) were not blessed with quick album sales and ...
RJ turned voice trainer and author Noel Keymer picks three of his favourite radio jockeys from the year gone by.
Jeeturaaj: Radio Mirchi
If there's one reason that listeners tune into Radio Mirchi every morning at 7 am to 11 am, it's definitely because of Jeeturaaj.
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North India witnessed a spurt in radio stations in 2008 - not only in the NCR, but throughout the northern states.
The radio market showed signs of maturity with many advertisers willing to pump in their money in radio as a medium.
Says Radio Chaska (Gwalior) executive director Tarun Goyal, The year 2008 was good in terms of programming and advertising but the setback of the year were royalty issues and government not agreeing to the independent news....
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For the radio industry in India, if the year 2008 belonged to anyone, it was to the buyer (of radio). Having got a considerable size of audience, the radio groups and individual stations did everything possible to persuade the buyer to buy airtime and other activities on their respective stations. Buyers, on their part, did everything within their reach and understanding to seek more and more about the medium.
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It's a big thing today if an artiste manages to get 5000 listeners
As a kid, I had heard from my father about the late 50's - 70's era when people thronged theatres in large numbers. There were no auditoriums then, concerts would be conducted in theatres because those were the only venues.
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Brand integration is the imbedding or weaving of a client's brand with the radio station's brand into content that shares common brand values, personality, or message.
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Bollywood saw over 100 big budget releases this year, there were songs which got us instantly hooked and there were those overhyped musicals or music scores which fell flat. Out of the huge number of releases, few had songs that were timeless. We wonder, did Bollywood give us music that we can recall and relive again and again?
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