MUMBAI: Radio Mirchi is the Rajah of the Indian FM radiowaves. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Round 2 (R2) conducted by Media Research Users’ Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research, Radio Mirchi attracted a listenership (yesterday listenership) of 16.34 million during the period July 2007 – June 2008, taking it to the top of the heap of the FM radio sweepstakes.

AIR’s FM service and Rainbow FM drew in 12.82 and 10.32 million listeners to be placed at the second and third spots respectively.

Sun TV Network’s Suryan FM stands at the fourth position with 6.83 million listeners, while Reliance ADAG’s Big FM is in fifth place with a total listenership of 6.8 million. On the sixth and seventh slots are Radio City and Red FM with 5.7 million and 3.14 million listeners respectively.

The other radio stations which have made a dent include: Radio One with 1.65 million listenership, SFM 1.45 million, Radio Manta 1.35 million. Aamar FM 756,000, Power FM 0.614 million and My FM 0.579 million listeners.

But the big daddy of the radio space – as if we did not know – is pubcaster All India Radio’s primary channel and commercial service Vividh Bharati which attracted 20.9 million and 20.16 million listeners. A point to note is that AIR’s medium wave service has almost cent per cent penetration nationally, while the private FM stations have minuscule spreads as compared to the pubcaster. So should AIR officials celebrate or try and pep up their listernship position? Over to you…