The Indian Premier League has given radio stations another event to piggyback on. Most have tied up with teams specific to their cities, but there are hardly any exclusive tie ups.

There are exceptions, though. In Mumbai, Red Fm has sealed a deal with team Mumbai Indians. Says Red FM COO Abraham Thomas, All radio stations can support the team, but only we can use the logo, Mumbai Indians anthem and other specifics. They have even created a catchy tagline for the same, which reads, ?‹?“jaao Mumbai Indians, sabki bajaao. The brand has been creatively positioned within the station's tagline. Over the next few days, Red FM will help Mumbaikars know their team - Yeh Kis Khet Ki Mooli hai, wherein each Mumbai Indian will be introduced in the context of where hes from, what are his special skills, how he feels about being a Mumbai Indian and so on. The station will also help the team recruit the ultimate support group ?“ the Mumbai Indians Paltan. Red's other stations don't intend to promote any team though.

Big Fm too have officially tied up with the Kolkata and Chandigarh teams. Apart from that, they are plunking for the local teams in Delhi and Mumbai. They are also in talks with Hyderabad and Chennai for the same. Says Big FMs Marketing and Business Head Anand Chakravarthy, We have an entire package on air where we would introduce the cricketers, celebrities and also have ground activities. We have also planned cricket analysis and updates during the match.

Fever FM too had planned initiatives like ?‹?“Dare Devil Ki Lalkaar, ?‹?“Captains Knock, Dare to Win, and ?‹?“Junior Dare Devils.

The ?‹?“Dare Devil Ki Lalkaar initiative was carried out from April 7-14, wherein listeners were invited to send in a ?‹?“war cry (Lalkaar) that Dare Devil fans would chant during the matches to boost the teams spirit. The winner got two tickets to all the home matches. Incidently, the winning war cry was: ?‹?“Dilli ne lalkaara hai, IPL hamara hai.

'Captains Knock, which culminates on April 18, began on April 14. On these four days, different players of the Dare Devil team visited households in Delhi, chosen randomly from those who had called up the Fever FM station to register.

Radio Mirchi and Fever FM are both promoting Delhi Daredevils. Mirchi and Red FM have started giving out tickets and merchandise as contest prizes in an effort to promote the event.

Same as GMR, which has tied up with all the radio stations in Delhi to promote its Daredevils team. Hence, no radio station has any exclusive radio rights for promoting the Daredevils. All they can do is, get innovative with their activities. For instance, Fevers plan includes contests, winners of which will get the opportunity of receiving the match tickets by the players at their doorsteps. They will also be giving out merchandise and goodies to the listeners.

Radio One national programming head Kobad Mobedjin believes that the IPL is one of the best platforms for radio stations. One can get really innovative with the programming. We plan to have RJ debates between Mumbai and Delhi.

While most of the radio stations seem excited about the upcoming phenomenon, Radio Mirchi, on the other hand doesnt see IPL as a very beneficial event for their station. We do foresee the hype of IPL for that one month period, but we are particularly not interested in it as such. Everybody will be talking about the IPL; we wont be doing anything new as such. Each of Mirchis stations will be supporting teams of their respective cities.

Investments on part of radio stations are zilch, since it is the companies that are investing and using various media to promote the local teams.

Says Sony Entertainment Television COO N P Singh, The franchise owners will be spending on print, radio and other mediums. Our major investments dont include this. About an exclusive Sony-radio tie up, he says, We want people to come and watch the show live, or tune into Set Max. However, people can always catch up on the match updates.