Indian Summer

One of the most interesting things about being a radio consultant is the opportunity to find out about how a particualr country’s radio industry is set up and operates. So, I’m looking forward to getting on a flight to India later today to work with a new client on a network relaunch, and find out a little more about their thriving radio industry.

Some of my colleagues in the world of radio consulting and research have had, and still have great clients out there, so it’s been fun hearing their stories, good and bad, not only about the radio industry but also just going about ‘doing business’ in India. Sure, there’s a little bit more paperwork than normal... but so far so good!

Everything I’ve seen and read makes it out to be the most fascinating of places and, although I’m only spending a week there, I’m going to try and soak up of much of it as I can and also learn as much about the Indian radio industry as possible in a short space of time. If there's one thing for sure, a country of 1.2 Billion people needs lots of radio stations!

I’ll be working in both Delhi and Mumbai, so I get to squeeze in 2 big cities while I’m there. (I’ll try and take a few interesting pictures and update the blog whilst in India, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to top the artistic heights set by another ‘radio traveller’ friend of mine)

One radio-related statistic that I was told which, if correct, I find staggering... is that up to 40% of listening to radio occurs on mobile phones! It’s differences like this that make the role of advising stations in different countries so interesting and challenging.

And I’m very much looking forward to the challenge. And the curry!

>Photo: James Cridland