Big FM completes phase II expansion with Shimla launch

Deepasree Venugopal - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Big FM has entered Shimla, which marks the completion of its phase II plans and also makes it the first private FM station in Himachal Pradesh. The station went on on-air on July 10 though the frequency of 91.9 FM. Though in the rest of the country, Big FM is available on 92.7 FM.

The new station will be on-air from 6 am to 11 pm, a total of 17 hours everyday. Later, it will become a 24-hour station, which will feature content resonating with the popular culture of the region.

Himanshu Shekhar, business head, Big FM - North and West, says, "Our constant endeavor has been to serve listeners with popular music and creating humor in lives. We are committed to create a radio station, which will positively impact people's lives and become a preferred entertainment option."

To create buzz around the new station, Big FM has planned marketing initiatives that will see RJs going to the hot spots of the city to conduct their shows. Big FM will also partner with local events in the city.

The Shimla radio station is Big FM's 45th station in the country. A radio initiative from Adlabs Films, Big FM, over a period of three years, has established its footprint in 1,000 towns and 50,000 villages across India.

Its radio stations are present in Jammu, Srinagar, Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Udaipur, Asansol, Jamshedpur, Guwahati, Jhansi, Bikaner, Chandigarh, Hisar, Bareily, Bhopal, Goa, Mangalore, Mysore, Rajkot, Rourkela, Solapur, Surat, Tirupathi, Trivandrum, Vadodara, Vishakhapatnam, Guwahati, Gwalior, Indore, Jalandhar, Patiala, Amritsar and Bhubaneswar, among other cities. Big FM also has presence in the international market and is available in Singapore.

Recently, Adlabs Films has demerged its radio business and plans to list on the bourses. The demerger decision makes sense for the parent company, considering the losses this division has been making since inception.

Anil Arjun, chief executive officer, Adlabs Films, says, "In financial year 2009, the radio business reported losses to the extent of Rs 25 crore. This had a negative impact on the Adlabs basis and thus depressed our stock price."

"Under the new arrangement, our radio brand - Big FM - which has 45 radio stations, would be housed under Reliance Unicom, one of our subsidiaries. This way its will no longer weigh down our balance sheet. We plan to list the radio business separately." Anil says.