MUMBAI: Nirupam Sonu, National Creative Director at Big FM has been elevated to the position of Vice President - Programming.

The decision to promote Sonu comes in the wake of programming VP's Manav Dhanda's shift to Big Broadcasting as senior vice president and business head of its to be launched kids movie channel, and will be handling movie projects for Big Broadcasting.

Sonu will be overseeing the entire programming strategies of Big FM stations across India, with Viplove Gupte, who joined Big from My FM in May this year, reporting to him. Sonu has been with Big since April 2006, and has over 13 years of experience in various industries.

Sonu joined Big FM as head of stationality, was subsequently made national creative director. In his new role, Nirupam will be reporting to Big FM COO Tarun Katial.

Says Katial, "Nirupam is part of the Big 92.7 FM family since its inception and has made a mammoth contribution in the areas of content planning and programming. As Manav moves on to a new role at Big Broadcasting, Nirupam will take over the position of VP - programming. I am delighted to have someone with Nirupam's caliber and accomplishments take-on this responsibility. Nirupam is a core strategist as well a champion of innovations. He is one of those very few people in the industry exposed to all facets of content - planning, packaging, creative and programming.

Nirupam's sharp aptitude backed with extensive experience will definitely help the radio category & Big FM grow more swiftly. I am fully confident that Nirupam's effort in working towards differentiated programming will scale new heights taking Big FM's programming to the next level".

Comments Sonu, "It gives me immense pleasure to take up this new role and I look forward to the journey ahead and working with the team. As a first step towards my new role I'll be focusing on the consolidate growth of all the stations. Radio's programming strategy has always been a challenging job but we have to continuously strive towards building new talent and search for innovative content. I look forward to entertaining our listeners with some great on-air content."