MUMBAI: The Muthoot Group-owned radio station, Chennai Live 104.8 FM is raking in moolah with sponsored editorial shows and they plan to add more such shows in future. With an aim to play safe, many leading private FM players avoid experimental programming but Chennai Live has proved that innovation is the key driver to success.

The philosophy of Chennai Live COO Prem Kumar, who has been with the station since its inception in 2008, of not following the herd has resulted in station’s growth time and again. Kumar believes that if  Chennai Live position itself with music then they are dead.

The talk radio station has set-up strategy for the year in place and they are all set to make revenue through editorial driven shows. Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Kumar says, “Our business strategy is to convert from FCT driven revenue to editorial driven revenue but we plan to do it with the right content by launching different shows which is something similar to the television format that is based on serials and shows.”

Currently, 'Vodafone voice of Chennai'  which is into its second season,where RJs discuss different topics of every-day life and happenings is doing well. A quiz show aired every Sunday has encouraged the station to launch new shows for audience that encourages different content. The station has also collaborated with a global organization TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) to air popular talk series titled ‘TED Radio Hour’.

TED Radio Hour is a special series curated for NPR (National Public Radio) in USA, and is now being brought to Indian listeners for the first time. The show airs an episode every Monday from 8-9am with a repeat on Wednesday between 11am-12pm.

"We are planning to launch 'Home Sweet Home' and 'Golden Wedlock soon'. The first show is based on real estate and latter is based on local jewellers and engaged couples. This is the development over last six months and there are many such shows in the pipeline. We currently have 3-4 shows in this format and we plan to add 12 such shows by end of this year that can run parallel at any given point of time. Each of these shows will be once a week show running for 12 weeks. These shows can be extended to season 2 as well depending on the response an example being  'Vodafone Voice of Chennai', Kumar informs.

The paid editorial-based shows will be charged at a high price to the advertisers. "The costing of sponsored editorial shows goes up as we hire new producers, technicians and many new people who work along with our internal staff on the particular show. Involvement of external resources drives up the cost of the show. The client also do not question the hike as the value they get in return is also huge," Kumar adds.

The station that sees its target group (TG) in the age group of 20- 40 years focuses on enlightened and informed people of Chennai. It also features discussions and debates with studio guests and listeners calling in and plays out the best of international music. The philosophy of the station is to bring together the wide range of opinions and viewpoints existing in the city.

In April this year, the station had announced 30 per cent hike in its ad rates. " We have grown 40 percent in 2012 compared to 2011. There was a lot of inventory pressure and we wanted to provide more value to our clients. Demand and supply has put us in different trajectory altogether so obviously this growth was seen as a right time to hike the price. There was a lot of demand so we had to do this price correction ," he says.

There will be a difference in pricing for local and national clients. As a major chunk of its business to the extent of 80 per cent is from the local clients, the price increase differential will be more for the local clients than the national clients.

When all the private radio stations are waiting  for FM Phase III, Chennai Live seems to show least interest. Kumar avers, " We have no plans to expand at the moment so we are not waiting for Phase III unlike the rest of the private players. Chennai Live is Muthoot Group's first foray into the media space. Our station is not owned by a media organization like most of the other radio stations. We are looking at investments in other media space though. As far as  radio is concerned we will look at an expansion at the right time. For that we don't have to go through the tedious licensing procedure."