Radio Mirchi ("Mirchi" in Hindi meaning red chilli), also known as 98.3 Mirchi, is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL),[1] which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group. The tagline of Radio Mirchi is "Mirchi Sunnewaale Always Khush!" ("Mirchi Listeners are Always Happy!").[2] It is the first privately owned radio station in India.
Radio Mirchi maintains weekly music charts, or record charts, for India. The most followed charts are Mirchi Top 20 (Bollywood Songs, now celebrities select their favourites) and Indie Pop 10 (Independent Music). Both of these charts rank recorded music according to popularity. These charts are published on a weekly basis in the Indian English-language daily newspaper, The Times of India, and on Radio Mirchi's official website.
Mirchi has its stations in India and also in GCC countries: UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain.[3]
As per the latest IRS data[4] released in 2017, Radio Mirchi has emerged as the number one FM broadcaster in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as in the top 8 metros taken together.
History
The original avatar of Radio Mirchi was Times FM. Radio Mirchi began operations in 1993 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. 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, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam 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 licences
In January 2006, Radio Mirchi purchased 25 frequencies in the second wave of licences that were issued by the Government of India. This pushes the Radio Mirchi presence in 32 centres. 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.
Third round of licenses
Radio Mirchi invested above Rs.339 crore during phase III auctions and purchased 17 new channels in new cities such as Chandigarh, Kochi, Kozhikode, Jammu, Srinagar, Guwahati and Shillong, as well as in existing cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur and Surat. This pushes Radio Mirchi presence in 49 centres.[5]
GCC countries expansion
Radio Mirchi started operations across UAE, streaming across three frequencies : 97.3FM in Abu Dhabi, 88.8FM in Dubai and the Northern Emirates and 95.6FM in Al Ain & Bahrain 104.2 and Qatar 89.6 Mirchi One In partnership with ONE FMQatar ki dhadkan All the RJs have been recruited from various Radio Mirchi stations in India including Anup Chugh, with a total seven who will take to the air.
[6]
Radio Mirchi UAE is now KADAK FM but later, Radio Mirchi made a comeback to the UAE in 2021 with 102.4 FMMirchi.
Areas of operation
India
Currently, Radio Mirchi has a presence 76-station network operating in 63 cities, including three Ishq FM stations Along with online and international stations, the company boasts of a 112-station network.[7]
Unless specified otherwise, all stations broadcast on 98.3 MHz
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, 27% in Kolkata, 15% in Nagpur 60% in Mangaluru and 12% in Bengaluru. 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.
According to the Radio Audience Measurement Reports, Radio Mirchi has been dominating in Delhi and 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.[citation needed]
United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi Media owned and operated 4 radio stations under the Radio Mirchi brand, under conditional license from ENIL. ADM rebranded to Kadak FM in July 2020. Radio Mirchi made a comeback in 2021 as MIRCHI 102.4 FM.[8]
Stations are operated under a brand licensing agreement between ENIL and Arohi Media, with the latter managing and operating the stations. Radio Mirchi went live in the USA on 26 January 2019, as MIRCHI
1 and 2 December Hyderabad, 8th and 9th December Mumbai, 10th and 11th Kolkata, 15th and 16th New Delhi, 19th and 20th Jaipur Radio Mirchi supports RDS information with the station name and current and next song.
