Fever FM sheds Kannada tag in Bengaluru

Fever 104 FM will now play only Hindi and English music in the city.

Fever FM took off in Bengaluru with only Hindi and English music. A year later, it turned to only Kannada as other players in the city played Kannada.

Now, the radio station has decided to move back to only Hindi and English music. However, the radio jockeys will continue to speak in Hindi, English and also Kannada to maintain the local flavour.

The idea is to differentiate the content and also reach out to the multi-lingual young, urban and cosmopolitan listeners in the city. S Keerthivasan, business head, Fever 104 FM, says, "Bengaluru is a city where 10 per cent of the population are non-Kannadas. However, Kannadigas also prefer Hindi and English music, which means people who understand and follow the two languages (Hindi and English) comprise 40 per cent of the population."

The music content played by the Bengaluru station will be similar to the music played in other metros such as Delhi and Mumbai.

The station claims that the decision to change the format was triggered by several requests it received from the listeners in Bengaluru on the Fever FM Fan Page on Facebook.

The station now hopes to get in more lifestyle brands, which may want to reach out to the cosmopolitan crowd and communicate in English.

Fever FM is currently the No. 6 player in the city, after Big FM, Radio City, Radio Mirchi, Red FM and Radio One, as per the latest TAM report released on July 15.