MUMBAI: Sun Network will launch its FM radio station in Shillong this week through its subsidiary South Asia FM. Currently Shillong has only one private FM radio station Radio Ooo La La by NE Television Networks apart from AIR.

Talking about this new development, SFM project head Nisha Narayanan avers, "It is challenging for any national player to break through and compete with a local player. The broadcasters based regionally understand the local ethos and pose as a threat to any national player."

Further speaking about the content, she states that most of their content would be the local Khasi to give it an archetypal flavour. "Also, there are takers for English songs in this part of the region so that would occupy a fair share apart from the marginal Bollywood content," she explains. After the launch of its Shillong station, Sun Network is looking forward to launch their stations in Gangtok and Siliguri soon. Earlier this week, S FM launched their Asansol station under South Asia FM and the other at Gulbarga by its subsidiary Kal Radio.

SFM is already operational in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Tirupati, Madurai, Tuticorin, Lucknow, Bhopal, Pondicherry, Kozhikode (Calicut), Indore, Vijayawada, Varanasi, Tiruchy, Rajahmundry, Kanpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Mangalore, Kannur, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Mysore, Guwahati, Jamshedpur, Nasik, Vadodara, Rajkot, Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Warangal, Nagpur and Kochi.