Ashit Kukian came on board as special guest editor at RNM office and contributed to the fifth anniversary celebrations.

One of the big learnings that I take from my stint in radio is the fact that this industry is not for people who want to see success instantly. This business needs a lot of patience and willingness to hang in there when the chips are down.

The challenge with most leaders in the industry is that they have seen success in much larger media businesses and they find it difficult to digest the fact that radio takes far longer time and effort to succeed.

So whether it is an investment in programming with a particular format of content or making the changes and expecting to get results instantly,it is expecting too much. I guess in today’s instant world, as individuals, we have lost the art of being patient and seeing our hard work pay dividends over a period of time.

On the revenue front too, the results in the medium, come slow and steady. So for the people who have managed larger businesses with faster turnaround time, there could be disappointment staring at them if they don’t learn to be patient. Radio business would call for willingness to take the initial setbacks and for those who weather the storm, the road ahead is definitely rosy with potential of huge returns in the future.

We have heard about certain verticals being closed down by certain players in the industry because currently those verticals may not be contributing to the bottomline of the companies as desired. But to exit a vertical after creating it is surely not a sign that is not encouraging for the ones who are associated in these verticals. To me, it is one of the two things – wrong strategy or sign of impatience.

Radio will see success when there is a clear understanding of how to exploit the potential of the medium in conjunction with other mediums and the sooner one realizes that the collaborative approach of bundling media and delivering a complete media package is how advertisers will invest differently and disproportionately than currently.

I know it’s a lot easier to say than face the music from investors,owners and people who are driven purely by the returns they get but it is the people who are willing to put their money where the mouth is are those who will ultimately reap the benefits of their investments.