* I saw only an upswing for radio in 2010

The year 2010 proved promising for the entire FM industry, and we hope that the coming year can propel this infotainment vertical into another league altogether. As a growing industry I saw only an upswing for the medium in the past year as it drew the attention of all advertisers as they sought to maximize efficiency of their marketing spends, by looking at micro marketing and a focused market presence in their high-potential markets. Radio served as a key medium to fulfill this need with its ability to create customized communication for pocketed audiences and to impact millions of Indians due to its wide coverage and personal connect.

On the one hand there are some large advertisers who increasingly understand its power in conjunction with TV, which gives them a great multiplier, and on the other hand, a large number of local advertisers see its benefit as a cost-efficient local medium  The year saw radio being one of the best promotional vehicles for the film and music business as well. With integrations like our entry into Limca Book of Record with the movie Jhootha Hi Sahi, radio explored the ample scope for both industries to work on a synergistic basis. Radio was explored effectively to promote every aspect of the film -- starting from the story to star cast to music.

The year was great and rewarding for us. In programming, we set many benchmarks in innovation that got replicated. In the 20 cities we operate in, we are amongst the top 2 in almost 15 of them. Our growth in the IRS numbers has been the highest across any FM player in the country. In December we expanded a marquee property, Musical-E-Azam, in its 4th season, to a pan-Indian property with 29 artists performing live and unplugged for the first time, making it the biggest property in the country. Also, according to the IRS Q3 report, we became the Number One station in Bengaluru, which is one amongst the many highlights of the year.

A few of the good initiatives that I saw across other networks were Radio One's Music Day, Red FM's Full Tension Release, Fever coming out with Ramayana. In all, the industry saw a fair amount of differentiated content.

At the start of the year, we were just coming out of recession, so everybody was a little skeptical in terms of investment or about expansion and doing things differently. Everybody was just trying to stabilize and de-risk themselves. But eventually the improved economic scenario also gave the medium an impetus to grow.

Radio also saw a lot of convergence with other media -- digital and mobile leading the same. For us, the biggest highlight of the year was our venture into the digital space with PlanetRadioCity's web radio station which reaches close to 1.4 million listeners across the globe and plays music across genres including International, Bollywood, Indipop and Sufi among others.

We conducted various activities with PlanetRadiocity.com. One of our most successful activities was our B2B activity �Office Jockey Hunt'. Another activity that was loved by our audience was the Facebook RJ Hunt wherein within the first week itself we got 1000 entries. �Green Diwali' was another activity that helped in garnering a great response from our listeners on PlanetRadiocity.com.

As not only as an industry stakeholder, but also as a long term listener and fan of the medium, I look forward to an era of expansion and growth for the medium. This vision, I believe can be collaboratively achieved, together with the government, the regulatory authorities, industry stakeholders, marketers and the media fraternity at large.