MUMBAI: Four radio jockeys from Radio City will leave on Tuesday for London for a week`s training at two Brit FM stations - Kiss 100 and Magic 105.4.
The four RJs have been chosen from among the several working across Radio City estations through the CEO awards, an in house rewards system instituted by the organisation since May 2007.
The awards started with the idea that they would allow Radio City employees to learn best practices in the radio industry overseas and implement the same later back home. Says CEO Apurva Purohit, "We instituted the Radio City CEO Awards for creative on-air-talent to recognise consistent high performance and groom them further on the best practices in radio on a global scale. This is something I look into personally; hence, they are called the CEO Awards."
The first batch of RJs to win this award are RJ Manish Paul (Mumbai), RJ Vasanthi Hariprakash (Bangalore), RJ Vera Singh (Lucknow) and RJ `Ved` - Sorabh Sehdev (Delhi). The stations they will train at are as diverse as they come. Kiss100 is a radio station broadcasting to London, specialises in hip hop, R&B, urban and dance music, while Magic 105.4 FM is an adult contemporary Independent Local Radio station based in London that competes with BBC Radio 2 but has a rather different sound - its emphasis on `more music, less talk` is reflected in the lengthy music sweeps that comprise the majority of its schedule.
RJ Ved
RJ Ved says, "I am looking forward to enhancing my skills through this programme. This visit will allow me to spend quality time with some of the best radio talents in London, providing me an extremely interesting learning experience!"
Adds Purohit, "Radio programming is one of the most exciting, challenging and rewarding creative functions, largely because it is immediate, deals with one of the most powerful senses - audio; and is all about the theatre of the mind. Creativity in radio is all about flexibility and fun. In radio, they are being given an opportunity to play with people`s imaginations and direct their emotions with the best tools - music, sound and words!" These awards will be held bi-annually and in Purohit`s words, "We are a meritocracy led organisation. This award recognises excellence in the creative and technical aspects of the role as well as the individual`s contribution towards enhancing the core brand values and leveraging the overall brand philosophy. Being the oldest players in the Indian private FM space, we learnt early on the imperatives of building a professional, people oriented environment - especially one that allows creativity to flourish and where performance is recognised."
With India and the UK having an altogether different set of music tunes, reaching people with diverse mindsets; the question of how can an experience at a radio station in London benefit the RJs back in India arises. To this Purohit answers, "At Radio City, we invest in our people. Our belief in our people is not restricted to a vision but we actually walk the talk by investing in very rigorous training and developmental programmes for them. With our training man hours possibly the highest in the industry today, we strongly believe that topnotch talent needs to be nurtured by any organisation which is serious about attracting and retaining talent. Thus as you can gather, learnings in this space will be largely conceptual and in no way, bound by any geography!"
Adds Ved, "I am looking forward to gaining some listener insights; knowing more about the kind of call-ins the Radio Jockeys there receive and their reactions, the challenges the jockeys face there on a day to day basis. This would of course be a two-way learning process and I could also share my learnings as a jockey with one of the premier private FM stations in India. I have always been quite curious about the technology being used, the music that is played, how do they manage and schedule the music and playlists, music formats etc. Now I will actually get the chance to work along with them - for a first hand experience of these practices!" In an industry strapped by paucity of talent, and a high attrition rate, such awards are probably the smartest counter move.
MUMBAI: Four radio jockeys from Radio City will leave on Tuesday for London for a week`s training at two Brit FM stations - Kiss 100 and Magic 105.4.
The four RJs have been chosen from among the several working across Radio City estations through the CEO awards, an in house rewards system instituted by the organisation since May 2007.
The awards started with the idea that they would allow Radio City employees to learn best practices in the radio industry overseas and implement the same later back home. Says CEO Apurva Purohit, "We instituted the Radio City CEO Awards for creative on-air-talent to recognise consistent high performance and groom them further on the best practices in radio on a global scale. This is something I look into personally; hence, they are called the CEO Awards."
The first batch of RJs to win this award are RJ Manish Paul (Mumbai), RJ Vasanthi Hariprakash (Bangalore), RJ Vera Singh (Lucknow) and RJ `Ved` - Sorabh Sehdev (Delhi). The stations they will train at are as diverse as they come. Kiss100 is a radio station broadcasting to London, specialises in hip hop, R&B, urban and dance music, while Magic 105.4 FM is an adult contemporary Independent Local Radio station based in London that competes with BBC Radio 2 but has a rather different sound - its emphasis on `more music, less talk` is reflected in the lengthy music sweeps that comprise the majority of its schedule.
RJ Ved
RJ Ved says, "I am looking forward to enhancing my skills through this programme. This visit will allow me to spend quality time with some of the best radio talents in London, providing me an extremely interesting learning experience!"
Adds Purohit, "Radio programming is one of the most exciting, challenging and rewarding creative functions, largely because it is immediate, deals with one of the most powerful senses - audio; and is all about the theatre of the mind. Creativity in radio is all about flexibility and fun. In radio, they are being given an opportunity to play with people`s imaginations and direct their emotions with the best tools - music, sound and words!" These awards will be held bi-annually and in Purohit`s words, "We are a meritocracy led organisation. This award recognises excellence in the creative and technical aspects of the role as well as the individual`s contribution towards enhancing
the core brand values and leveraging the overall brand philosophy. Being the oldest players in the Indian private FM space, we learnt early on the imperatives of building a professional, people oriented environment - especially one that allows creativity to flourish and where performance is recognised."
With India and the UK having an altogether different set of music tunes, reaching people with diverse mindsets; the question of how can an experience at a radio station in London benefit the RJs back in India arises. To this Purohit answers, "At Radio City, we invest in our people. Our belief in our people is not restricted to a vision but we actually walk the talk by investing in very rigorous training and developmental programmes for them. With our training man hours possibly the highest in the industry today, we strongly believe that topnotch talent needs to be nurtured by any organisation which is serious about attracting and retaining talent. Thus as you can gather, learnings in this space will be largely conceptual and in no way, bound by any geography!"
Adds Ved, "I am looking forward to gaining some listener insights; knowing more about the kind of call-ins the Radio Jockeys there receive and their reactions, the challenges the jockeys face there on a day to day basis. This would of course be a two-way learning process and I could also share my learnings as a jockey with one of the premier private FM stations in India. I have always been quite curious about the technology being used, the music that is played, how do they manage and schedule the music and playlists, music formats etc. Now I will actually get the chance to work along with them - for a first hand experience of these practices!" In an industry strapped by paucity of talent, and a high attrition rate, such awards are probably the smartest counter move.
