More than music: FM to sing newsy tunes soon

New Delhi: If all goes well you will have more than song and sing-song on FM radio.

Telecom regulator TRAI has recommended to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that private FM radio channels be allowed to broadcast news.

TRAI wants a few riders here and there to ensure that sensationalism is not mixed with news. They include a condition that news has to be taken from authorised sources like AIR, Doordarshan, UNI, PTI and authorised TV news channels.

Private radio channels are excited at the prospect.

“Radio is the cheapest medium, the easiest to disseminate information from and this will actually significantly impact listener-ship on radio. There will be new audience segments that will get added on to radio and I think it will make the content far more richer,” says COO, Big FM, Tarun Katyal.

It is not just news that’s new. One radio operator can have more than one station in a city. This means there can be two Radio Mirchi stations in Delhi or three Radio City stations in Mumbai.

Also, TRAI says licenses will be given for districts and not cities, which means the area of coverage will be wider. Operators say this and extension of licenses will help private radio tune in to better opportunities.