MUMBAI: With the digital and internet space in India booming and constantly evolving at a rapid pace, online radio has now emerged as a powerful medium to keep the youth engaged, in spite of the limitations.

Commenting on the increasing online radio stations today, Radio City 91.1 FM SVP & business head digital media & new business Rachna Kanwar says, "We are credited for being the first mainstream web radio to be launched in India way back in 2010 and also share a very strong brand recall with the target audience. Increasingly websites with playlists are being branded as web radio but our offering goes way beyond that. We aren't rehashing content from terrestrial radio but creating customized content for the internet audience. Our content is well researched and has a pulse on the audience's needs. We are consciously looking at differentiators in our content, so that we keep the listeners engaged with us."

Currently the number of online radio stations in the country amount to a very limited number of three stations but as the digital platform opens up for other players with newer avenues to invest in, the competition is also building up on the web radio scene.

Though the digital medium fits perfectly for radio broadcasting, the challenges faced by a radio brand to turn digital are many which they are continually struggling with. To begin with is the recurring problem of digital music piracy churned out by illegal websites also attracting a majority of advertising. Secondly, the exorbitant music license fees and the ever changing music industry dynamics that have been a cause of concern for online radio stations over the years.

"There are a lot of roadblocks and challenges for an online music entity, the biggest one remains the exorbitant music license fees and the ever changing music industry dynamics. As far as Radio is concerned, it finds a great fit with the digital medium and over the years PlanetRadiocity.com has found numerous ways and opportunities to create fruitful synergies with Radiocity. Today all brands , especially media brands are utilizing the digital medium to reach out to their TG and Radiocity has enjoyed the first mover advantage with all the goodwill that Planetradiocity has created in the past 4 years," states Kanwar.

Inspite of the hurdles and obstacles faced by the medium, radio is governed largely by two major factors which are content and listener engagement. Web radio offers players the luxury of creating differentiated content and expand the reach. Kanwar states, "Being the first 24 x 7 multi-genre web radio station in India, PlanetRadiocity has managed to strike a chord with the audience by offering its listeners a much wider choice in terms of content and reach as well. We are India's first mainstream platform for independent artistes. We are providing the genre an ecosystem to flourish by making the music easily available to listen to."

PlanetRadiocity launched ‘Indipop Radio' earlier this year and encouraged by the response further unveiled ‘Freedom Radio' a month ago. ‘Freedom Radio', a dedicated web radio for indie music, has over 400 artistes in the independent music space with genres like dub-step, Electronica, folk, rock, Sufi, expressing themselves in diverse languages like Assamese, Malayalam, Bengali, Punjabi apart from Hindi & English.

"In dealing with this talent pool we came across this fresh new sound of indie music that came out of all parts of the country and knew no boundaries of genre or language. It became our passion to showcase this sound and provide a steady mainstream platform that it deserved. Freedom Radio was born out of this passion. Our listeners' response has been heart warming, as if they were waiting to discover fresh music and this new sound was what they needed," she asserts.

Holding the distinction of being the first privately held FM radio station in India, Radio City has managed to rank amongst the top two stations across the country. The channel spotted the trend of increasing music consumption online at an early stage and took the initiative of reaching out to its listeners through the medium.

Radio City COO & president Ashit Kukian came on-board as special 'Guest Editor' at Radioandmusic.com's (RnM) office and engaged in a special interaction with Rachna Kanwar contributing to the fifth anniversary celebrations.