24th January’ 2012, Tuesday, New Delhi: After conducting a research on why there’s a low turn out on the polling day, despite India being the largest democracy of the world, Radio Mantra identified 5 major reasons for the same. On ‘National Voter’s Day’, Radio Mantra launched another interesting social awareness campaign “Poll India Poll” which will focus on and address 5 main reasons responsible for a low turn out. Bollywood celebrities John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan joined Mantra’s crusade to encourage everybody to exercise their fundamental right to vote.

“We’ll soon have the legislative assembly elections in five of our stations namely Jalandhar, Ranchi, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Agra. And all we want to emphasize upon and communicate is that each vote counts and one must come forward to exercise his or her right to vote for the largest democracy of the world. The campaign will try and motivate all those who do not vote and have their own arbid excuses for doing so. I’m delightful that John and Abshishek agreed to play the protagonists for this campaign as they’re surely the star youth icons”, explains Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra.

Abhishek Bachchan who won the National Film Award for ‘Paa’ and Filmfare award for his critically acclaimed ‘Yuva’, has raised his voice for several social causes in the past including Citizens Education Campaign. Expressing his thoughts on associating with ‘Poll India Poll’ Abhishek Bachchan said, “As a responsible citizen we need to come forward and take the onus, this is our country so are the issues related to it. I believe that if we feel for our country, it should evoke this much interest that we can take the pledge to vote!”

Apart from painting the station with ‘Poll India Poll’ by changing the stationalities, interstitials and jingle, Radio Mantra will invite its listeners to utilize their right to bring a change by pledging that they will definitely caste their vote. To reach a larger audience, listeners can pledge via IVR, SMS, Radio Mantra website and Facebook page. Mantra will also go On-Ground and talk to people having issues with the system. In order to resolve such cases, Mantra will escalate those to the right authorities or concerned departments.

John Abraham associates himself deeply with the social causes and has been urging youngsters to join hands to bring about a change in the society. For ‘Poll India Poll’, he says: “Right to vote is our fundamental right and one of the ways to show our patriotism and commitment towards our country. I feel privileged to be a part of Radio Mantra’s campaign and I genuinely believe that if we don’t care to vote, we have no right to complain about things.”

“We all know that to beat the system you have to be in the the system and as a mass medium we take it as our responsibility to take our nation to greater heights. With ‘Poll India Poll’, we hope to involve people in huge numbers and urge them to fully utilize their “vote da haq”, concluded Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra.

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

New Delhi 3rd January’2012: RJ Giri, the hunt that was kicked off to find the ‘City of Taj’ a fresh new voice has reached its final phase. The hunt that begun on 15th of December found its final four contestants in Ritika, Ratan, Nisha and Jyoti. Famous pop star and singer Ashok Mastie will be the celebrity judge for the grand finale to be held on 4th of January at The Radisson, Agra.

“Agra is a city of enthusiastic people, they love their city and everything about it. So after successfully launching the hunt in Jalandhar and creating quite a stir in Varanasi, we thought it was time that Agra chose its own voice too.”, said Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra

The final task involves co-hosting the evening show Route919 with Mantra RJ’s for an hour every day followed by voting till 4th January. The winner will be selected on the basis of maximum votes from the listeners and the scores by the judges on the night of the final showdown. Grand Finale will be the ultimate battlefield as the skills like being witty, spontaneous along with good sense of humor will be put to test in front of a LIVE audience. The winner will get an opportunity to be trained by the experienced RJ’s and work with Radio Mantra. “I was aware of Radio Mantra’s RJ Giri since a long time, I was just waiting for it to reach Agra. It’s a dream come true for all of us. I wish the most deserving person wins!”, shared one of the finalists, Ratan.

From enthusiastic college students to young executives, the station received more than seven thousand entries. To maximize the reach of the hunt, various channels were used to invite entries: phone, text, post and mobile studio. Mantra RJ’s Abhishek, Jatin and Ashmita went hunting for the best talent in all the major parts in the city; TDI Mall, Kamla Nagar Market, HIST college, Khandari, Aryan college to name a few.

Kanwar Sameer concludes, “These kids are really good… young, enthusiastic, full of energy and most importantly they have great passion for Radio. They’ve surpassed our expectations, wish them luck for the grand finale and I’m sure that they will win audience’s heart as well!”.

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

Radio Mantra celebrated the “Great Indian Wedding” season by undertaking “Band Baaja Baraat”, a three week long activity.

From tips on fashion, beauty, styling, decoration and trousseau, station provided listeners with every thing got to do with the big fat Indian wedding. While wedding planners “Bittoo and Shruti” acted as perfect aids, “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi featured handpicked exclusive shaadi songs.

“Saat Phere” contest helped couples to test their compatibility and win prizes such as jewelery and food vouchers, holiday packages and electronics worth lacs. The station covered the best weddings in the town as “Band Baaja stories”. Mantra made the D-day special for almost 100 couples who got married across its eight stations.

Ankita, one of the lucky brides whose marriage was featured on Mantra shared, “The most important day of my life couldn’t get any special than this. I always dreamt of a marriage that I would celebrate with the whole city and with Band Baaja Baraat it did come true. I am thankful to Radio Mantra and its entire team for making it really big, I will cherish it for the rest of my life”.

During BBB, Radio Mantra also featured the best moments captured during the entire activity as “Shaadi Ke Ladoo” till 14th of December. Talking about the activity Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said,“I think we witnessed tremendous response not only from listeners but also from our advertisers I hope they will live happily ever after .”

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Tarun Katial, chief executive officer of Reliance Broadcast says, the radio business is now profit after tax (PAT) positive.

He further says, this is the first few initial quarters for TV business. “Even though it’s seasonal and these are first few quarters, the numbers were fairly small in terms of losses and we intent to keep them that way.”

Below is the edited transcript of his interview with Mitali Mukherjee and Sonia Shenoy.

Q: Can you explain the net loss that Reliance Broadcast has incurred this time around? How much TV operations have led to that or lent to that?

A: If you look at our overall numbers, they are very positive. Our radio business, which is the core of our business, is now profit after tax (PAT) positive. We delivered a PAT positive result of Rs 12 crore.

The revenues were up. Even though it is a significantly slower advertising quarter for most media companies, but we were up up to Rs 57 crore. So, it was really a very robust radio quarter for us.

If you look at the other businesses, this is the first few initial quarters for TV business. Even though it’s seasonal and these are first few quarters, the numbers were fairly small in terms of losses and we intent to keep them that way.

One of the key contributors to the TV business has been the distribution carriage cost. If you look at what is happening with the digitisation scenario going forward, that should narrow down even further.

Q: Could you tell us what is your earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) loss on a consolidated basis, if you compare it on a quarter-on-quarter basis?

A: We have narrowed our losses from last quarter to this quarter. If you look at our overall loss, it has actually come down from about 30% to 25%. So, we have actually being narrowing losses down. As the television business has to progress going forward, these losses will actually narrow down even further.

If you look at just seasonal advertising trends, Q2 tends to be the weakest advertising quarter for any media company, even then we have actually grown year on year. So that’s been a good trend. Q3 and Q4 are not looking extremely buoyant from an advertising point of view, but these two quarters tend to look up on advertising far better.

Q: You said that your TV business will do better post digitisation. In two of these parameters, subscription and carriage cost, how are the trends looking like in the next couple of quarters? What could the run rate be?

A: It’s an exciting time for Indian television industry. We actually play among the premium segment; we are top three CBS channels. They actually primarily focus around the six-seven metros. Four of which are now getting digitised anywhere between April 1, which is the government deadline, to an expected deadline of June 1.

The DTH part of the business is growing significantly. We will intent to keep these premium channels either on DTH or on digital. Our play is going to be limited to platforms for HNI audiences. So, for us today the scenario which is prevalent with analog cable in four metros is going to drastically reduce our carriage numbers and start going to see subscription numbers turn our way.

Q: What trend do you expect to see on advertising revenues going into the second half of the year? How much of a jump do you expect to see on subscription?

A: If you look at advertising, a rule of thumb is that most media companies work on a 40-60. At the worst case, you work on a 45-55. So, the second half of the year tends to be anywhere between 55-60% of the first half of the year.

Even though there has been a significant slowdown, but November it’s far better than what we have seen over the last few years. So, really the advertising dip hasn’t been that much, it’s pretty much consistent from year-on-year numbers.

We have seen a very good October. We are hoping that this quarter as well as the next quarter should turn the corner for us.

Source: Moneycontrol.com

1st November’2011, Tuesday: Season 2 of RJ Giri Kept it’s promise to gift a new voice to the holy city of Varanasi, on 31th October in a grand evening at the Hotel Meradel Grand, Varanasi.

The contest that was kicked off on October 5th, saw over 2000 participants pouring their entries, out of which 8 smartest and the wittiest candidates were shortlisted. With her enthusiasm and lively voice, from the 3 finalists, Neha Saleem impressed everyone who had to cross many hurdles and a series of elimination rounds to make it to the finals.

Speaking on the RJ Hunt Kanwar Sameer, the National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said “RJ-Giri delivered, once again, what it promised: A platform for the right candidate and good content for the audience. I’m glad to see better & bigger response for the season 2.”

The evening that was hosted by Mantra RJs , saw aspiring candidates compete against each other in some interesting and challenging rounds that tested their spontaneity, sense of humor, general knowledge and the ability to handle pressure situations. Neha not only took home the winner’s title but also an amount of rupees twenty five thousand.

An exuberant Neha said ‘RJ Giri’ has given me an opportunity of a lifetime and I am looking forward to learn a lot and grow in Mantra.” She also won a cash prize of Rs. 25000.

Neha will now have the opportunity to hone her skills under a team of experts from Mantra, and will be mentored under senior RJ’s to co host shows with them.

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

Amidst the sound of crackers and aroma of sweets filling up the air, Radio Mantra will be lighting up faces this Diwali. This festive season, Mantra is giving a chance to its listeners to bring the goddess of wealth: ‘Laxmi’ home.

Mantra pulled out its repertoire of Diwali specials across it’s network of 8 stations with ‘Diwali Dhan Dhamaka’, where the listeners will take home jewelery vouchers worth Lakhs.

Talking about the initiative Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said, “Its our prerogative to give the audience an innovative and out of the box content and at the same time, make it as lucrative and rewarding too. From fervor to monies, Diwali Dhan Dhamaka has everything one would want for the occasion.

Celebrations have already started with “Lakh Pate Ki Baat”, tips regarding buying & maintaining the jewelery. “Market Meter” will keep the audience up to date with bullion prices. ‘Bollywood Gems’ wil punctuate the late evening show ‘Love Aaj Kal’, featuring endless facts and trivia of our very own bollywood. Apart from that, for the on ground connect, LIVE requests, Obs and testimonials will be AIRED through out the activity.

Listeners can participate in the contest by texting ‘Diwali/ Dhan’ on 57272 the moment they hear the chinking sound of the coins. The lucky ones will get a chance to answer 4 simple questions and win jewelery vouchers. With each question, the stakes will become higher but at the same time, nobody will be returned empty handed.

The activity has been powered by an array of sponsors that are established names in the market. (Names of the sponsors locally).

The flavor of the festive season will reflect in all the shows & interstitials and loads of other surprises and celebrations are already lined up. For details and updates, stay tuned to your ‘Life Ka Mantra’.

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

S Keerthivasan, Head of Radio Business, HT Media Limited, has quit. He is being replaced by Harshad Jain who is joining as Business Head at Fever 104.

Keerthivasan joined HT Media as Head – Business Excellence in December 2004, and subsequently became head of HT Media’s radio business, Fever FM. Before joining HT Media, he had worked in companies like Whirlpool, Xerox and Fergusons. He is a Chartered and Cost Accountant. Keerthi is currently pursuing higher professional education from Kelloggs Business School.

An internal mail circulated by Rajiv Verma , CEO, HT Media, said, “Under Keerthi’s leadership and sharp focus, the radio business has done very well. In five years, Fever has become one of HT Media’s most successful businesses with annual revenues poised to cross the Rs 100-crore mark, exiting on a growth of almost 70 per cent last year. While he will certainly be missed, I am sure he will be very successful and be of great value to any team he joins.”

Jain moves in from Bharti Airtel where he was Senior VP- Sales & Marketing, Airtel DTH Services, since July 2009. Prior to that, he was Chief Marketing Officer of WorldSpace Radio, which went bankrupt. He has also been Executive VP for Pepsi Lipton JV from January 1994 to August 2006.

Source: BestMediaInfo.com

All Lata Mangeshkar fans have a reason to cheer as Radio Mantra is paying a tribute to the legendary singer on her 82nd birthday.

Mantra will AIR an exclusive treat that includes trivia about their favorite singer along with her all time super hits throughout the day. ‘Action Replay’ will include all her hit numbers from 80′s and 90′s while ‘Ticket To Bollywood’ will feature peppy no.s she has sung after 90′s. RJ Rehan will talk about the “Cuckoo of Indian Cinema” in the late evening show “Love Aaj Kal” spiced with her handpicked evergreen songs. Listeners can also call in and request for their favorite songs that she has lent her voice to.

A career spanning over six and a half decades, Lata Mangeshkar has been featured in Guinness Book of World Records between 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Bollywood movies and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages. She has won many awards and honors including: Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Bharat Ratna, Dada Saheb Phalke and National film awards to name a few.

Speaking about the same Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said, “We have planed an all day special for the occasion, where apart form her classics, listeners will enjoy the best of trivia about Lata ji; A living encyclopedia of singing in herself”.

Lataji’s eternal voice has touched millions of hearts and Radio Mantra wishes the “Queen of Indian Melody” a very happy birthday and a great life ahead.

About Radio Mantra:
Radio Mantra 91.9 FM is a Radio Initiative by the Dainik Jagran group with a pan India presence spanning across 8 cities namely Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Hisar, Karnal, Jalandhar and Ranchi.With a listenership base of 5.37 million, Radio Mantra is one of the top 5 radio stations in India. Radio Mantra aims to offer a differentiated listening experience to its listeners across age groups and all SEC.

MUMBAI: Fever FM, the radio subsidiary of HT Media which operates FM stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, has posted an Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of Rs 34 million for the fiscal first-quarter ended June 2011.

The company had posted a negative Ebitda of Rs 0.1 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The turnaround has come on the back of a 75 per cent increase in revenue from the radio and entertainment business. The company posted a revenue of Rs 215 million during the quarter, as against Rs 123 million in the year-ago period.

HT Media has employed a capital of Rs 850 million in its radio business, according to data provided till 30 June 2011.

Meanwhile, parent company HT Media, the publishers of Hindustan Times, has posted a net profit of Rs 515 million for the quarter under review, a 24 per cent increase over the year-ago period (Rs 414 million).

HT Media chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia said, “We are happy to commence the year with a strong performance reflected in an expanding readership base, strong product innovation and robust financial performance in spite sluggishness in the overall macro environment. We continue to invest in building brands and strengthening our presence across the country. Testimony to the success of our strategy is the recent results of the IRS Q1 2011 survey which shows impressive growth in readership across our portfolio. Our radio business continuous to outperform on the back of programming innovations.”

The company’s outlook remains strong. “We have also taken baby steps in education segment which we believe would be a significant avenue of growth in the long term. The strength of our balance sheet and our established brand position makes me optimistic of the future,” Bhartia added.

Consolidated revenue jumped 23 per cent to Rs 4.97 billion, from Rs 4.05 billion a year ago. The company said that it has witnessed a 17 per cent increase in print advertising to Rs 3.84 billion (from Rs 3.29 billion in Q! FY’11), while circulation revenue saw a marginal hike of 3 per cent (Rs 485 million).

Meanwhile, the total expenditure of the company also went up by 25 per cent to Rs 4.07 billion, as against Rs 3.24 billion in the prior year period. This was mainly due to a 29 per cent increase in the consumption of raw material, the company said.

The consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 1.05 billion, up 22 per cent.

On a standalone basis, HT Media’s revenue jumped 66.75 per cent to Rs 528.1 million, as against Rs 316.7 million. Revenue went up by 19.44 per cent to Rs 3.31 billion, from Rs 2.77 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Source: Indiantelevision.com

Financial performance RADIO ONE LIMITED.
(JOINT VENTURE OF NEXT MEDIA WORKS LIMITED AND BBC WORLDWIDE)

ANNUAL NUMBERS

1. Top line growth 46% at 44.13 Cr versus 30.31cr last year.
2. EBIDTA profit of 4.05Cr against a loss of 1.74Cr last year
3. PBT LOSS down to 5Cr from 21 Cr last year (Improvement in operating numbers, also impacted by extraordinary income)
4. Critical reasons for performance. Ability to extract value from the market and best cost management in the radio industry.
5. Looking forward: PBT breakeven in the coming financial year riding on an industry poised for rate increase and more new clients using radio as a cost effective metro medium.

Quote : CMD Next Media works : Tariq Ansari: “I am extremely pleased with the performance of Radio One in this year. We continue our spectacular growth in revenue numbers and hope to meet cash breakeven in the next fiscal. The Promoters have decided to make an infusion of funds to strengthen the balance sheet on the basis of this performance and we will now build the radio business of the future with a stronger financial base.”

Quote: Managing Director, Radio One Limited, Vineet Singh Hukmani: ‘We have met our target of being EBIDTA positive this year. Our investors are showing a renewed confidence. Our critical destination is PBT positive for next year and we are geared up for the challenges that lie ahead. Phase 3 is only an opportunity if the government does its homework and makes it lucrative as regards return on capital. Extension of license to 15 years is the only solution for this. The royalty situation needs to be brought to fair global norms so that costs can further be brought under control’.