MUMBAI: Unlike last year, India Radio Forum 2010 was a half day event with only three sessions. The speakers included Vikram Sakhuja (CEO South Asia, Group M) Dave Cobban (Nike International) and Abdul Khan (Senior VP Tata Teleservices).

The event took place at a suburban hotel in Mumbai on  19 May 2010.

The crux of the day's talks revolved around how radio can evangelise itself by reviewing the way it has been working, and monetise on potential models.

South Asia Group M CEO Vikram Sakhuja, who has over a decade experience in brand management pointed out that 'reach factor' is not used by radio, and also spoke about the urgent need for radio to reposition itself.

He said, "Stations should stop positioning themselves as a frequency medium. Clients pay premium for reach, not frequency. It will be difficult to sustain the 30 per cent growth if we don't do anything about it."

So far, the innovation on the selling inventory has been minimal on radio. Sakhuja said, "You need to move from day part selling to program selling. There is an urgent need to start reviewing the programs and put different value to programs." He also pointed that most brands operate below 35 weeks, and radio can be a stand alone medium for continuous brand plans.

On the other hand, Tata Teleservices Senior VP Abdul Khan said that streaming radio on web and developing on user generated content has huge potential, but also asked radio stations to encourage "genuine interactivity, and spread out to touch points like web, SIMS, native phones and function more like a media company than a radio station."

Nike's consumer Mobilization director Dave Cobban gave an interesting presentation on creating conversations instead of campaigns, and building brands that are 'experienced rather than consumed. He explained how Nike encouraged youth athletes to change their world by using digital technologies which created more loyal following for the brand. His core focus was on developing 'sustainability' of a brand, something which radio can adopt for its own benefit in the long run since its more of a people's medium.

Compared to previous years, the IRF 2010 was a relatively low key affair.