MUMBAI: The ninth edition of International Radio Festival (IRF) 2018 to be held at Malta  promise to bring the global radio broadcasting community together to share knowledge and network. India too has been associated with IRF for a while now, with some of our best RJs having participated in this global affair. 

To understand the importance of IRF for Indian radio we reached out to RED FM COO Nisha Narayanan who gave her inputs.

She said, “IRF space is looking at only the programming part and internationally the radio business. There are a lot of learning’s that can be taken from an international point of view. I think it’s good to have global exchange platforms, the primary reason being it is not just programming or it is not just created rendition it is also about how we run and look at business itself. There are newer stations and brands and more players entering the market, but I think we really need to re-built the way we look at our business.”

She further briefed on our country’s scenario, “There would be a lot to gain from IRF but we shouldn’t forget our local ethos. The ideas which can be adopted from International practices within the Indian radio is currently not possible because of the limits that we have for e.g copyrights. Our local concerns and policies are very different from international market. But ideas are welcomed, these kind of global platforms are very good to go but I think the basic kind of primary issue that hampers the growth of radio today is that there is a no proper measurement system within the industry.”

Lastly, she ends pointing out at the one positive thing, “Inspite of all of this radio is still the fastest growing media after digital.”