All India Radio in the Age of Infotainment Challenges of Content

Abstract

The research study describes the present position of A.I.R FM channels in the wake of stiff competition with policies of Government of liberalisation and privatisation. Apart from this the new age audience is exposed to much more online content in the form of infotainment that radio has been affected world over however this may be a temporary phase as radio has survived for over a 100 years and is still making its presence felt in spite of various other sources of information and entertainment. The research focuses on the content aired on the two A.I.R FM channels in Delhi/NCR that are FM Gold and FM Rainbow, their relevance and their make up in context of infotainment. The study adopted a twin research methodology of qualitative content analysis of the A.I.R FM channels FM Gold and FM Rainbow and two private radio channels Big FM and Radio City operating in Delhi-NCR with analysis of their programmes during the prime time that is morning and evening with certain variables .A matrix was prepared to log the content of the programmes. Secondly an audience survey was conducted over different age groups of audience ranging from 15- 45 and above years of age in order to understand their needs, preferences and choices of radio programmes to gauge if the programmes produced on A.I.R are meeting the needs of the audience at the same time to explore the traditional medium radio still holds on to its popularity with listeners or the digital age has effected it. newline