DXERS GUIDE Edition 08 [Published on 24-09-2005]+++++++ WEEKLY DX ONLINE NET FROM INDIA+++++++++++++++++++++++ PUBLISHED BY ARDIC DX CLUB+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FOR MORE DETAILS READ DXERS GUIDE PRINTED VERSION++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Bidding for 2nd phase of FM radio to start soon Bidding for the second phase of FM radio expansion in the private sector would start in the next few days to cover 340 radio stations in as many as 91 cities. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on uplinking and downlinking has also submitted its report to the government which would be considered by the Union Cabinet soon, Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy told a press conference here. Refusing to divulge details, he merely said that the recommendations of the GoM were unanimous. The bidding is taking place a few months after the government announced a new policy framework for the second phase of the FM radio expansion in the private sector. Government has already fixed a networth of Rs three crore per channel in metros like Delhi and Mumbai. Government has divided the country into four broad categories starting from the top metros and flowing down to the smaller towns having a population of more than three lakhs. The Minister also announced launching of the Urdu channel of Doordarshan from January one, 2006. [ PTI 21/09] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FM-II radio may rake in Rs 1,200 cr The second phase of private FM radio expansion could lead to an initial investment of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore. The investment will come from both existing media companies and non-media players . The interest generated in the FM business is because of the shift from the licence fee regime to the revenue-sharing model, several industry players said. The industry, however does not expect more than 120-150 frequencies to be operational initially. While equipment cost will form 40-45% of the total investment, the rest will be on account of capital expenditure. The capital expenditure for setting up a station remains the same across India. The one-time entry fee is the variable cost, sources said. The fight for frequencies is expected to happen in the top 30 cities because of business viability. Some of the big corporate and media groups like Reliance, BPL, Anand Bazar Patrika, Jagran, Bhaskar, Hindustan Times and NDTV, among others, have been sending out feelers in the market. They are most likely to get into the FM radio business, a senior industry source told FE. In Delhi, there are six frequencies on which bidding will take place. The likely interested players include NDTV, Hindustan Times, Mid Day group and Win Radio. Industry also expects expansion of a couple of English radio stations in Delhi. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Lucknow are expected to see escalating one-time entry fee once the financial bidding starts, sources indicated. Government cleared the bidding for 336 frequencies in 90 cities in early July. The industry is expecting the final tender document from the ministry of information and broadcasting to come out soon. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ New AIR Broadcasting House address AIR Chennai has changed to 7270 (ex 7275) at 0025-0430 due to interference from SLBC Sri Lanka which suddenly appeared on 7275. However 7270 is also used by BBC at 0100 in Hindi, 0130 Urdu...... and so it has also to be sorted out. The address of the New Broadcasting House in Delhi is 27, Mahadev Road, New Delhi. AIR Imphal is noted sign on now at 0000 (ex 0030) on 4775. 73 Thanks to Jose Jacob, VU2JOS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Fire in Chennai AIR library Chennai, Sept: 19: The tape and records library of All India Radio here, was damaged in a fire, suspected to have been caused by electrical short-circuit, today. Five fire tenders and about 50 fire service personnel fought the flames for nearly two hours and extinguished the fire, fire service sources said. Two firemen sustained minor injuries in the operations and they were discharged after treatment. AIR station director Srinivasa Raghavan told reporters that the damage caused to tapes and records was being estimated (Via http://www.chennaionline.com) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I&B Ministry invites tenders for second phase of FM The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has issued the Notice inviting tenders for the second phase of FM radio privatisation. A total of 338 channels in 91 cities across the country would be made available for bidding by Indian private companies at this stage. The list of cities along with categories and number of channels in each city for bidding is available on this Ministrys website www.mib.nic.in. The document reads "shall be allowed to bid for only one Channel per city provided that the total number of Channels allocated to an applicant and its related entities shall not exceed the overall limit of 15% of the total Channels allocated in India." "The applicant company would be required to furnish annual reports and audited final accounts for the last three years, or in the case of a newly incorporated company, balance sheets from the date of incorporation till March 31, 2005, along with its net worth as on September 30, 2005 or any date subsequent thereto up to the date of submission of the bid, certified by the statutory auditors, to support its claim of financial competence," the notification said. In respect of existing license holders under Phase-I, the license(s) held by them under Phase-I shall be taken into consideration for calculating the 15% limit. The final selection for grant of permission to establish and operate an FM radio channel in any city shall be made in stage II (financial bids) out of the applicants in the pre-qualification bids (stage I) found eligible after following the criteria and the procedure as detailed in the tender document. The applicants will be eligible to participate in bidding for Channels in all the four regions, their financial eligibility shall be assessed on the basis of this criteria - For D category cities, bidders net worth will have to be RS 50 Lakh. For C category Citieenters is RS 1 Crore. For B category Citieenters is RS 2 Crore. For A or A+ category Citiesenters is RS 3 Crore. For All Citieenters in all regions it is RS 10 Crore. [Televisionpoint.com 22/09] ++++++++++++++++++++++++ The good old radio draws advertisers Advertising revenues on radio are expected to grow by 20 per cent this year to Rs 260 crore from last year's Rs 220 crore. New Delhi , Sept 18 PRIVATE FM radio companies may be bleeding due to the high licence fee, but advertisers seem to have taken to the medium. The country's biggest advertiser, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has been the largest spender on radio during the first six months of the current year. According to data by Radio AdEx, launched by media research agency TAM India in technical collaboration with AirCheck - a wholly owned subsidiary of RCS Inc - for the January-June period, HLL has a 5.7 per cent of the advertising spend on radio followed by the Star TV network. The study, which covered 13 stations in the four main metros, indicated that broadcasting companies such as Sony and Zee as well as print media companies were in the top 10 list. Besides these, Dr Batra's Positive Health Clinic, the Bharti Group and Kimberly Clark Company have been using the radio extensively. However, FMCG companies such as Procter & Gamble, Dabur, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are dominating the advertising on mass entertainment channels. A look at the various categories indicated that TV channel promotions had the largest share of the total spends, followed by publications, properties and real estate, music albums, shampoos, mutual funds and independent retailers. Mr Atul Phadnis, Vice-President, TAM India, said, "Brands normally rely on conventional media such as press and TV. However, it is interesting to note that how print and television companies are using radio to reach out their audiences." Advertising revenues on radio is expected to grow by 20 per cent this year to Rs 260 crore, up from last year's Rs 220 crore. With the Government set to commence the second phase of FM radio privatisation by inviting bids for frequencies in 90 cities shortly, the interest in the medium is only set to grow further. "The audience for radio is very focused compared to other mass-media. With youngsters increasingly tuning to FM channels, advertisers find this medium very effective. Internationally, this is the most cost-effective advertising medium," said a Mumbai-based media planner. Interestingly, the advertising rates on radio channels operating in the metros of Mumbai and Delhi are higher than those charged by some television channels. A 10-second spot in such a radio channel could be as much as Rs 3,000. However, for radio stations targeting the non-metros and smaller towns, the ad rates are as low as Rs 500 for a 10-second spot. [Nithya Subramanian, The Hindu] ++++++++++++++++++++++++ K S Sarma re-elected as President of IBF K S Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati has been re-elected as President of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) for the fourth consecutive year. MR Sarma was chosen for the top post at the Annual General Body meeting of the IBF held in Mumbai on September 15. Jawahar Goel, Additional Vice-Chairman, Zee Telefilms Ltd, was elected Vice-President and I Venkat, Director of Eenadu TV, was elected Treasurer of the IBF. A career IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Sarma is also the Vice-President of both the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, London, and the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, Kaula Lumpur. He has been associated with the television and radio fraternity for over a decade. Sarma was also formerly the Director General of Doordarshan. Established six years ago, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation is an industry body promoting the interests of radio and television broadcasting organisations operating in India. IBF is the only broadcast industry body in the country to pursue matters pertaining to broadcasting, including foreign direct investment, foreign institutional investment, taxation and other policy issues. Another issue is collection of Rs 500 crore outstanding amount from ad agencies and clients with the active support of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (Friday, Sep 16, 2005 - 04:00 pm) Televisionpoint.com Team +++++++++++++++++++++++ Radio City makes senior level Radio City has made 2 key appointments in its National team. Saurabh Kanwar is joining as its National Marketing Head and MR Ashish Gharde as HR-Head. Both will be based out of Mumbai. MR Kanwar moves from Walt Disney Television India where he was heading Sponsorship Marketing. Prior to Disney, he was with MTV India for over 5 years. Elaborating on his move, MR Kanwar says that he is delighted to be back to a medium associated with Music. A person deeply passionate about Music and Bollywood, MR Kanwar says "Radio has the electric buzz of music and creativity, and more so in this new wave. I am thrilled to be a part of the passionate & innovative gang at Radio City. There are going to be a million new reasons to City Bajao." He is extremely excited about the assignment, especially on the wake of the 2nd wave of FM regulations where stations like Radio City are all gearing up for the Big Leap. MR Kanwar has worked on various initiatives in Disney and MTV which includes VJ Hunts, Roadies, MTV accessories, Music Summit, and launch of Toon Disney. Saurabh is an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Management Institute. Readers will note that this site had also broken the news about MS Apurva Purohit's movement as CEO of the station a couple of months back. It seems that she is steadily moving ahead with her expansion plans. Immediately after coming on board, she had appointed Everest as the creative agency. The other key appointment made by Radio City is MR Ashish Gharde as HR-Head. An alumnus of SIBM (Symbiosis), MR Gharde has previously worked with Intelenet and The TATA group. As Head of HR at Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit, he was involved with recruitment, compensation and benefits for the group and setting up systems for identifying training needs and evaluating performance management systeMS He has worked on the Tata Business Excellence Model as well as on a HRIS package, which went on to become a central HRIS to be used across 22 work locations of the company. Commenting on the dual appointments, MS Purohit said "I am delighted to have Saurabh and Ashish on board with us. It is exciting times for Radio City and we are at the threshold of launching an array of new initiatives, which as always will be 'firsts' in the history of FM industry in India. Radio City has always led the FM category through Innovations and Quality programming and with key people in place we are all set for the acceleration."[Televisionpoint.com 23/09] ++++++++++++++++++++++ Glad to inform you Mr. Setub Uddin Ahmed appointed new Director of Bangladesh Betar External Service. [Ashik Eqbal Tokon Bangladesh] ++++++++++++++++++++ Radio Veritas Asia AUDIENCE RELATIONS SECTIONListeners' Club Profile Sheet ___________________ Service A. CLUB PROFILE Club Name: ______________________________________________________________ Complete Address: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Name of Officers: President: __________________________________ Vice-President: ______________________________ Secretary: __________________________________ Number of Members: _________________________ B. CLUB INFORMATION When was the club organized? Month ______________ Year___________________ What are the objectives of your club? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ . What are your rules and regulations? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ How often do the club members meet togethers [ ] once a week[ ] twice a week[ ] 3 times a week [ ] once in 2 weeks[ ] once in 3 weeks[ ] once a months Does your club members meet in groups to listen to RVA? [ ] Yes [ ] No When does your club members meet to listen to RVA programs? [ ] Morning [ ] Evening What day of the week you listen to RVA programs? [ ] Monday [ ] Tuesday[ ] Wednesday [ ] Thursday[ ] Friday [ ] Saturday [ ] Sunday If the club members litsten individually to RVA programs, do you require them to listen to a particular program? [ ] Yes [ ] No During your regular club meetings, do you evaluate RVA programs? [ ] Yes [ ] No Apart from the regular club meetings, are there activities that your club will hold once or twice a year? If yes, what are these activities and when do you hold it? Club Activities Day ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any suggestions for a better collaboration between your club and Radio Veritas Asia, please write them down. _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Thank you very much. Please address your correspondence to: AUDIENCE RELATIONS SECTION Radio Veritas Asia P.O. Box 2642,Quezon City 1166 Philippines [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Govt tunes in to FM for teaching in remote areas Tenders for 87 educational channels to be floated For the first time, India will use FM radio for teaching. Along with 336 entertainment channels for 90 cities - tenders for which are to be floated shortly - the government plans 87 FM channels which will be used exclusively to teach students in remote areas of the country. Sources said the Centre would soon issue notifications for these channels. Of these, 36 would be used by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to reply to queries and organise on-air classrooms. IGNOU, which has been using All India Radio (AIR) for some courses, will now use radio on a much larger scale. It proposes to broadcast lessons as part of an organised schedule for a large number of students simultaneously, sources said. The other channels would be open to private players. A senior official said various developed countries had used this medium in to air educational programmes for both children and adults. The government, which estimates to generate revenue to the tune of Rs 175 crore by selling licences for the FM channels, will now concentrate on broadening the scope of radio in the country. "This is a medium which has been underutilised. While it is a powerful medium, it is also capable of generating a lot of revenue ," asserts a senior official. The tender draft for the new FM channels is at present pending with the Law Ministry. [Indian Express 20/09] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FM radio-II is on, 338 frequencies up for bids The phase-II expansion of private FM radio kicked off on Wednesday with the information and broadcasting ministry notifying the two-stage process. In stage-I, 'pre-qualification bids' will have to be submitted by interested parties for 338 frequencies in 91 cities. The eligibility conditions of interested companies on financial terms and other related matters will be verified in stage-I. In stage-II, financial bids will be evaluated for specific frequencies. The last date for submission of applications is November 7. The entire process of bidding and awarding the frequencies is expected to be over by mid-December, ministry officials said. The FM phase-II expansion was announced by the ministry in early July in which the government had accepted the recommendations of both Trai and Dr Amit Mitra's radio broadcast committee on shifting from licence fee regime to 4% revenue-sharing model. To discourage non-serious participants, financial eligibility of applicants will be evaluated in the stage-I, pre- qualification notification. The applicants bidding for frequencies in all regions will be required to furnish proof of company's net worth to be over Rs 10 crore. "The applicant company would be required to furnish annual reports and audited final accounts for the last three years, or in the case of a newly incorporated company, balance sheets from the date of incorporation till March 31, 2005, along with its net worth as on September 30, 2005 or any date subsequent thereto up to the date of submission of the bid, certified by the statutory auditors, to support its claim of financial competence," the notification said. The final selection for grant of permission to establish and operate an FM radio channel in any city shall be made in stage II (financial bids) out of the applicants in the pre-qualification bids (stage I) found eligible after following the criteria and the procedure as detailed in the tender document, the notification said. [Finanacial Express 22/09] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AIR is now accepting on line Reception Reports. For more details please visit: http://www.allindiaradio.org/recepfdk.html [Jose Jacob, VU2JOS] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Just came across this interesting site on FM Radio 7 the 50 watt Radio station operating from Indian International School, Jaipur on 90.4 MHz which is: http://www.iisjaipur.org/fm7.htm [Jose Jacob, VU2JOS] ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Compiled by: Jaisakthivel, President, Ardic Dx Club, No:3, First Floor, 21 Nathens Arcade, Malaviya Avenue, L.B Road, Chennai-600041, Tamil Nadu, India E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2005 is out. Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823077942/hardcoredxcom ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt