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Radio Mirchi (Hindi: रेडियो मिर्ची) is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group.

"Mirchi" is Hindi for chili. The tagline of Radio Mirchi is "It's hot!".

Radio Mirchi Logo

History

The original avatar of Radio Mirchi was Times FM. Radio Mirchi began operations in 1993 in Indore. Until 1993, All India Radio or AIR, a government undertaking, was the only radio broadcaster in India. The government then took the initiative to privatize the radio broadcasting sector. It sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in Indore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Vizag and Goa to private operators, who developed their own program content. The Times Group operated its brand, Times FM, till June 1998. After that, the government decided not to renew contracts given to private operators.

First round of licenses

In 2000, the government announced the auction of 108 FM frequencies across India. ENIL won the largest number of frequencies, and thus started its operations under the brand name Radio Mirchi.

Second round of licenses

In January 2006, Radio Mirchi bagged 25 frequencies in the second wave of licences that were issued by the Government of India. This pushes the Radio Mirchi presence in 32 centers. In the first wave of launches, Indore was the first city in India having grade of first private radio channel.Times decided to start radio channel to address the mass audience as advertisers can be attracted by showing a low cost per thousand.

Areas of operation

Currently, Radio Mirchi has a presence in more than 33 cities, including the 6 metros of India and Radio Mirchi is the costliest station in India as they charge more than double of the competition.Radio Mirchi believes premiumness can be achieved by charging more from the clients. :

• 98.3 FM - Ahmedabad Tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's hot"..
• 98.3 FM - Aurangabad, Maharashtra Tagline "Mirchi Sunne Wale Always Khush" Started On 23 July 2007.
• 98.3 FM - Bangalore It uses the tagline "Sakkath hot maga!" in Bangalore.
• 98.3 FM - Bhopal Tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Chennai It uses the tagline "Idhu semmma hot machchi!" in Chennai.
• 98.3 FM - Coimbatore Service started on November 2007 "Idhu semmma hot machchi!"
• 98.3 FM - Delhi "Its Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Gwalior It user the tagline "Gwalior Jhoome"
• 98.3 FM - Hyderabad It uses the tagline "Idi chaala hot guru!" in Hyderabad.
• 98.3 FM - Indore, Tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's hot..".
• 98.3 FM - Jabalpur, It uses the tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Kanpur - Tagline - "Mirchis sunnewale always khush" and "Radio Mirchi,it's hot"
• 98.3 FM - Kolhapur Tagline -" Radio Mirchi - It's Hot "
• 98.3 FM - Kolkata It uses the tagline "Michi shone j always khushi thake se."
• 98.3 FM - Mumbai It uses the tagline "Its HOT!" in Mumbai.
• 98.3 FM - Nasik - It uses the tagline "Mirchi Sunne wale Always Khush" &"Garam Ahe!" On AIR since 6 July 2007
• 98.3 FM - Pune Tagline - "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot" / Radio Mirchi - Tikhat Aahe!
• 98.3 FM - Patna Tagline - "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot" /It is first station of second phase.
• 98.3 FM - Jalandhar Tagline - "Mirchi Sunne Wale Always Khush" & "It's Hot".
• 98.3 FM - Goa Tagline - "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Ujjain Tagline "Its Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Vadodara Tagline - "Mirchi Sunne Wale Always Khush" & "It's Hot".
• 98.3 FM - Rajkot Tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's Hot"
• 98.3 FM - Raipur
• 98.3 FM - Varanasi - Services Started on 14 July 2007
• 98.3 FM - Lucknow - Services started on 14 August 2007
• 98.3 FM - Surat - Service started on 20 August 2007
• 98.3 FM - Nagpur - Service started on 18 October 2007. Tagline- same as above
• 98.3 FM - Madurai - Service started on September 2007.It's tagline is "Idhu semmma hot machchi !" (meaning 'It's too hot')
• 98.3 FM - Mangalore - Service started on November 2007
• 98.3 FM - Vijayawada - Service started on December 2007 Tagline "idi chaala hot guru!"
• 98.3 FM - Vizag - Service started on October 2007 Tagline "idi chaala hot guru!"
• 98.3 FM - Thiruvananthapuram- Service started on 28 January 2008 ^[1] Tagline: "Sangathi HOT aanu!"

It reaches out to almost 52% of FM radio listeners in Delhi 44% in Mumbai,40% in Indore,35% in Jaipur,30% in Bhopal, 20% Chennai, 17% in Kolkata, 15% in Nagpur,10% in Bangalore and 02% in Raipur. Radio Mirchi has started providing Visual Radio to its subscribers in Delhi from 25 July, 2006 onwards and in Mumbai from September 2006. It also has started its Visual Radio service from Kolkata recently.

As per the Radio Audience Measurement Reports (RAM), Radio Mirchi has been dominating in Delhi & is the leader in Mumbai and Kolkata. However in Kolkata they are not clear leaders in SEC ABC segments. The SEC ABC segments were earlier dominated by Big FM & now by Friends FM. However in the SEC D & E segments Radio Mirchi has total domination.

External links

• http://www.radiomirchi.com
• http://www.enil.co.in - Radio Mirchi Corporate Site

References