“Sounds of the Soil” come alive with Radio City Freedom Awards Season 4

by Suman Gupta

A stage for Indie music to kick start its 1st Radio City Freedom Concert on 25th January 2017 in Bangalore; 6 Gigs across various parts of the country

To culminate with a Grand Awards Night on 22nd March 2017

Mumbai, 24th January 2017:  Music Broadcast Limited today proudly announces the fourth season of the biggest award that recognizes independent music and artists – Radio City freedom Awards – Season 4.  Radio City Freedom Awards, Season 4 will become bigger and better than ever before whilst unravelling ‘Sounds of the Soil’ theme straddling across gigs 6 cities covering various parts of the country culminating with a grand award night. The first Radio City Freedom Concert, kick starts on 25th January 2017, at The Humming Tree, Bengaluru and features popular Indie bands - Aathma, Kurangan & Saby Singh.   

In its 4th year, Radio City Freedom Awards takes a leap from an annual award function to a movement captures and recognizes local music, art and talent.  The theme this year – Sounds of the Soil is an ode to local sounds, heroes, stories and music. 

Abraham Thomas, CEO, Music Broadcast Limited (MBL), says, “As we move towards developing unique properties beyond our regular radio broadcast, we are proud to present the fourth edition of ‘Radio City Freedom Awards’ – which is a platform to recognize and reward independent music across genres and languages. Indie Music is the New Wave in Music that is increasing in popularity and has carved a niche for itself in the mainstream as well, with dedicated channels and events attended by thousands of people. Based on on-ground, on-line and on-air content, RCFA 4.0 is not ONE event but a season long ‘MOVEMENT’. This musical sojourn will cut across the musical heartbeats of the country.”

Rachna Kanwar – COO – Digital – Jagran, “Each year, we bring something new and interesting to RCFA. And this year, our goal was to celebrate local talent spread across all of India. And so, to celebrate the fourth year of RCFA, we are taking it beyond the awards & covering the lesser known but equally talented parts of our country with the Radio City Freedom concerts. Through this extension, we will be able to provide a much needed platform to local talent spread across our vast nation.

Radio City Freedom Awards Season 4 is all set to acknowledge contribution across various categories that include Best Hip Hop / Rap Artist; Best Folk Fusion Artist; Best Pop Artist; Best Rock Artist; Best Metal Artist; Best Electronica Artist. Non-Music Categories: Best Video; Best Album Art. New Categories: Best Young Indie Artist/Band; Best Indie Collaboration of the Year; Indie Genius – Person of the Year.

This year as well, Radio City Freedom awards – Season 4 starts with musicians sending across their entries starting from 4th Feb 2017 that will be shortlisted by the eminent jury comprising of industry veterans and experts from the Indie music community. The shortlisted entries will later be open for public voting finally culminating into a grand awards night. The RCFA Grand Finale will be headlined by a unique fusion act, featuring poets, spoken word artists and the grand awards. 

About Music Broadcast Ltd. and Radio City: 

Radio City is the first private FM radio broadcaster in India. Music Broadcast Limited operates radio stations under the brand “Radio City”. It has grown its presence from four cities in 2001 to 29 cities as on November 25, 2016. It is present in 12 out of the top 15 cities in India by population (Source: Census 2011). As on March 31, 2016, its radio stations reached out to over 49.60 million listeners in 23 cities covered by AZ Research (Source: AZ Research Report). Amongst the private radio stations, it has consistently been the number one radio station in terms of average listenership share (in percentage) in Bengaluru and Mumbai with 24.1% and 17.2% respectively. (Source: RAM Data, Mumbai / Bengaluru: All SEC 12+, Daypart: Mon-Sun 12:00 AM-12:00 AM, % Share, Place: All, Period: Week 01 2013 to Week 37 2016, City: Bengaluru and Mumbai; Period: December 30, 2012 to September 10, 2016). All Phase II Radio City Stations which were under Phase II Policy have been migrated to the Phase III Policy. These include Radio City stations which are present at Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Nagpur, Jaipur, Vadodara, Coimbatore, Vizag, Ahmednagar, Sholapur, Sangli, Nanded, Jalgaon and Akola and the Radio Mantra Stations, which are located at Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Jalandhar, Ranchi, Hissar, and Karnal. Company acquired 11 additional radio stations i.e. the New Radio City Stations. The New Radio Stations will be located at Patna, Madurai, Nasik, Kolhapur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Jamshedpur and Patiala and, includes the radio station in Kanpur, which was recently launched. Music Broadcast Limited has also created popular radio shows such as ‘Love Guru’ and ‘Kal Bhi Aaj Bhi’ and pre-programming features such as ‘Babber Sher’ and ‘Joke Studio’. ‘Radio City Super Singer’, a popular singer talent hunt on radio was launched by us in 2011 and continues till date. It has also launched ‘Gig City' a unique initiative, which broadcasts music concerts simultaneously across multiple radio stations. In the endeavour to recognise independent singers and musicians, it has initiated ‘Radio City Freedom Awards’ which has completed three years and facilitates independent music across genres and languages. Music Broadcast Limited also operates online web radio “Fun Ka Antenna” on web portal www.planetradiocity.com (“Planet Radio City”), which was launched in 2010. It operates 31 web radio stations through Planet Radio City in six languages, which has a listenership of 12.20 million as on September 30, 2016 (Source: Lasopi Data). Its web radio stations offer 24 hours of internet radio along with few live RJ hosted shows. It also has a ‘Planet Radio City’ mobile app that plays various stations such as ‘Radio City Freedom’, ‘Radio City Electronica’, ‘Radio City Metal’ and ‘Radio City Smaran’, in various languages, on mobile and other smart devices. Radio City has won various accolades in the industry. The Company has been awarded under the category ‘Best Talk/Interview Special’ and ‘Community Service’ by the New York Festival Radio Awards in 2016. It has also been awarded under the category ‘Best Breakfast Program (Telugu)’, ‘Best Radio Promo – In-House’, ‘Best Radio Programme Packaging’, ‘Best Interactive Idea’, ‘Best Media Campaign’, Excellence in Radio Awards 2016 by IRF. It has also been ranked one in the ‘Media Industry’ and rank two in ‘Best Companies for Hiring and Welcoming’ categories by Great Place to Work in 2015.

Disclaimer: Music Broadcast Limited is proposing, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, an initial public offering of its equity shares (the “Equity Shares”) and has filed a draft red herring prospectus dated November 28, 2016 (the “DRHP”) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The DRHP is available on the website of the SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in and the websites of the Book Running Lead Manager at www.icicisecurities.com. Any potential investor should note that investment in Equity Shares involves a high degree of risk. For details, potential investors should refer to the section titled “Risk Factors” in the red herring prospectus to be filed with the Registrar of Companies. Investors should not refer to the DRHP for making any investment decision.