In fact, Adlabs would hire 2,000 people within next year and will start channels in 4 South Indian and 7 North Indian languages.

Further, increase in ad spend by the companies on the air will also fuel the boom. Of the total amount spent on ads in India, Rs 12,000 crore, radio is expected to garner a share of about two per cent—Rs 250 crore.

A study by Ficci and PricewaterhouseCoopers projects that the share would grow substantially over the next 10 years due to the explosive growth in the ad inventory.

Amidst all the hoopla, combating the poaching of talent by rival channels has become a major concern for the industry. ‘‘As far as senior professionals are concerned, the established FM radio players would feel the brunt, at least in the short term. Mid and entry-level talent migration is happening from other segments of media and entertainment industry. Also, FMCG sector is considered as good bet to attract talent,” says Pandyarajan.

Another FM radio chief executive says that the HR policies have to be designed in such a manner that it should be “learn, earn and grown rather than learn, earn and go.”

Analysts feel that the mushrooming of new channels even in vernacular languages is a positive sign. “None of the firms are making their channel an all-vernacular one. For example, Punjabi is the largest spoken language in the North but no one provides content in that language. There are talks about multi frequency also going on,” says Shiv Agarwal, CEO, ABC Consultants.

... contd.