MUMBAI: Tamil Nadu based Hello FM 106.4 FM has appointed Balasubramaniam as Assistant VP and head, weekend programming and brand integration across all networks.V Balaji has been named cluster head for RoT (Rest of Tamil Nadu). The two executives have already taken up their assignments at Hello FM from 10 November.

Confirming the new appointments, President and Chief Operating Officer Rajeev Nambiar states, Balasubramanium comes with great experience in the regional FM space; it is a pleasure to have him when there is an increasing demand from the advertisers and there is a need to cachet the needs to lure more audiences....

Balasubramaniam, who moves in from Club FM, would be looking at the overall weekend programming across all networks of Hello FM and will report to the Head of Content S K Ramesh. This is the station's first move towards producing more radio perks per frequency in absence of multiple frequencies. Nambiar adds, We felt the need to have some experienced senior person to develop our weekend programming bands as a separate vertical altogether. Talking about his past experience in Club FM, Balasubramaniam says, "At Club FM, it was an experiment to launch a private FM station in Kerala and working with a station belonging to Mathrubhumi group was a good learning."

Among his responsibilities, Balasubramaniam will be required to oversee brand integration in a two way strategic approach, one for the advertisers within the shows and secondly, as a marketing support for brand building by foreseeing how Hello FM as a brand can fit into the client's on air and on ground activities.

The Tamil Nadu market is very different from Kerala market with much more stations and the competition is a bit tougher, says Balasubramaniam. "At some point in the radio station, there needs to be a quality check in terms of brand awareness, quality, client delivery etc. So, I am looking forward towards consolidating efforts in terms of programming, client delivery, branding and gearing up for the third phase Here the support from the Tamil film industry is good and I would be working towards better understanding of local issues and integrating it with the the film industry and music."

Hello FM has also roped in V Balaji from Big FM as cluster head for RoT (Rest of Tamil Nadu) for the venture's six stations except Chennai. His work would include overall monitoring of talent and content across the stations. Station heads from all the networks will be required to report to Balaji. His earlier stint includes being a RJ on Chennai Big FM 92.7 FM where he used to host the evening drive time show, �Overtake' with RJ Bossky.

Commenting on his appointment Balaji says, It is a great leap for me and an opportunity that really fascinated me and I am really thankful to Hello FM for providing me this opportunity. I am looking forward to working with a highly motivated team and bringing Hello FM to the No.1 position within six months....

Hello FM has its presence all over Tamil Nadu with stations in Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Coimbatore, Puduchery and Trichy.