MUMBAI: Honouring the special bond of motherhood, leading radio players have initiated activities in its programming to celebrate the occasion of Mother’s Day this year. Each broadcaster has a special tagline with an interactive campaign to ring in the day.
Various forms of celebrations are witnessed across the globe honouring motherhood by giving carnations and other presents to one's mother and other maternal figures.
In some countries, it is potentially offensive to one's mother not to mark Mother's Day. In others, it is a little-known festival celebrated mainly by immigrants, or covered by the media as a taste of foreign culture.
In India, radio is greatly emerging as the media platform celebrating such occasions with special tweaks in its programming for such days. Even for the occasion of Mother’s Day, most radio players have organized special activations with a focus on interactivity to honour the special bond of a mother and child.
Big FM has initiated a special campaign for the day titled ‘Meri Maa, Meri Sabse Acchi Dost’ with support by popular TV actress Shweta Tiwari and her on-screen daughter Aashika Bhatia. The month long campaign will be held in the markets of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Kanpur, Indore, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Amritsar and Surat, and will culminate on 12 May.
Adding upto the initiative, a four episode series with 30 minute segments exploring the mother-daughter relationship and bond of friendship will be aired from 8-12 May. It will also give listeners, especially daughters, to record a message for their mother.
Also paying a tribute to mothers across India, Radio City will fill its playlist with songs dedicated to mothers as the RJs talk about their Mother’s Day special memories throughout the day. The station will celebrate the special occasion with the tagline ‘Maa kabhi nai bhoolti, aaj maa ko mat bhoolna’ by roping in bollywood celebrities to come on-air and talk about the immense contribution their mothers have had to their careers.
Moreover, listeners will also get a chance to come on-air and talk about the special memories of the day and give out a message to their mothers.
Building up on the same theme, Fever FM with its tagline ‘For any mother, her child is the best in the world’ has organized several activities in its Delhi and Bangalore stations. The Delhi station has initiated a differentiated and unique segment wherein the mothers of famous personalities like Sunny Leone, Honey Singh, Nirmal Baba, Arnab Goswami, Chris Gayle and more will come on-air and talk about their child, their childhood memories and some funny incidents.
The Bangalore station will host the flavour of ‘Mummy Returns’ for the entire week, where the shows will capture the Mother’s Day spirit in their programming and reflect the essence of the day. They will also enable listeners to win special gifts including spa vouchers for their mothers by talking about the craziest thing they have done for their mothers and highlighting mothers from Bollywood world.
Undertaking a very different approach with the concept, Radio Mirchi has associated with Johnson & Johnson for an exclusive partnership to host ‘Share the Language of Love’ campaign. It aims to encourage listeners especially mothers to donate old, unused or extra baby items like clothes, toys, books and more to the ones in need.
Encouraging listeners to celebrate the day with a difference, jocks across cities will urge listeners to send in their donations to the Mirchi studio in their city which in turn will be handed over to Johnson & Johnson to add a smile on the faces of underprivileged kids.
As the mainstream commercial radio stations gear up to celebrate the occasion with their various activities, the only niche channel in the space, Radio One is also not far behind. Fast gaining popularity for its unique format, the network has also encompassed various initiatives in its programming schedule across stations.
Their Mumbai and Delhi stations will feature song dedications on its Sunday morning show. It will encourage listeners to take their mother out and spend some quality time with them. Moreover, their music playlist will also comprise of special love songs which relate to the occasion.
Going with their format, Radio One’s Bangalore and Pune stations will celebrate the bollywood mother. The initiative will be an interactive one where listeners can come on-air and talk about how their mothers have stood out in the way mothers in bollywood have been picturised.
While the Chennai station will feature only song dedications as per its format, the Kolkata and Ahmedabad stations will focus on the retro mother like Nutan, Nargis and more by highlighting their connection with bollywood and also playing their popular numbers.
With radio’s reach gaining fast and far, the medium is becoming popular amongst the other media vehicles in terms of diversity in content and programming. The radio players attain a personal touch with the listeners by celebrating such days with interactive activities, which is now emerging as the new success mantra for them.