Radio Mirchi tries to go beyond local

In order to cater to newer set of audiences, the radio channel has recently launched three stations, Purani Jeans, Meethi Mirchi and Club Mirchi on its online portal, radiomirchi.com.

Marking its 11th anniversary, Radio City recently launched its web radio, called Freedom Radio, with a single feed. Apparently taking a cue from this, ENIL's (Entertainment Network India) Radio Mirchi, too, has ventured into internet radio, in partnership with Gaana.com, the online music portal of TIL (Times Internet, parent company of ENIL).

The channel has three online stations, namely Purani Jeans, dedicated to retro music; Meethi Mirchi, dedicated to contemporary Bollywood numbers; and Club Mirchi, that mainly hosts Bollywood and international dance numbers. The content on these stations is in episodic format with RJs (radio jockeys) connecting the chords to the songs.

Purani Jeans is an extension of the show on the mainstream radio, while the other two are fresh properties.

The continuous streams are exclusively produced for internet radio and have no content sharing with the mainstream radio channel, Radio Mirchi. However, the library is shared by the two platforms.

Rahul Balyan, head -digital initiatives, Radio Mirchi, says, "The main aim of launching the internet radio feeds in partnership with gaana was to reach out to newer set of audiences and extend the brand's offering. With this, we are trying to go beyond the local reach of our 32 stations.The online stations will cater to audiences with niche tastes in music as well as to the diaspora who crave for these specific genres of music."

Radio Mirchi did a soft launch of Meethi Mirchi and Purani Jeans a few months ago, and claims to have been bettering the product since then. The three stations were formally announced in the last week.

Balyan further adds that the website has seen a 60 per cent increase in the traffic since the launch of these stations.

Citing the example of Purani Jeans, he further explains that on the mainstream channel, the show is on air for a specific time-slot, while the audiences might want to consume it as per their convenience.

The web radio is being extensively promoted on the mainstream radio channel and on social networking sites. The channel has recently released an extensive marketing campaign using all the platforms. While the channel does not plan to commercialise the new venture, Balyan adds that it may consider the option once a strong listener base is built for the new platform.

For the records, Radio City and Radio Mirchi are the only two channels that have presence in both online and mainstream platforms.