Manish Kumar
Bhubaneswar, Sept 14: Santosh Mishra is a non-resident Oriya well settled in Moscow but his love for Oriya songs and eagerness to keep track of happenings in his home state keeps him glued to the internet all the time.
Santosh loves Oriya songs and is also eager to know what is happening in Orissa which is why he tunes into internet radio stations from Orissa. Similar is the tale of Dubai-based Sree Mahapatra who often uses internet radio to keep himself updated about Orissa.
In the last five years the indigenous mode of radio broadcasting is finding takers outside India, in places where Oriyas have settled down in substantial numbers. The new online platforms have been toiling hard to tap into the interests of NRI Oriyas and others who love internet radio.
Most of them, however, claim to have a larger audience base in foreign countries compared to that in their own state. Mass communication graduate Sitanshu Mohapatra who founded odiaradio.com in 2009 is overwhelmed by the response of listeners. He claims a majority of the listeners live outside India.
“We have very few listeners in Orissa. Most listeners are NRI Oriyas living in foreign countries who crave for news of the state. Through our intervention they get a taste of Orissa through songs and programmes especially crafted for the target Oriya community living in different parts of the globe,” said Sitanshu whose radio platform recently bagged the best innovative programme award at the recently held Orissa media awards.
Sitanshu who plays Oriya songs and Oriya programmes is also working to record various folk songs not easily available in the form of recorded songs. He says the initiative will help make a repository of a number of folk songs.
However, there are many who are trying their hand at programmes in English and Hindi. Amaradio.com which came into effect June 16, 2010 claims the station is getting good response.
“Our listeners are mostly from the US, Turkey, Indonesia and Philippines. Oriyas living in these places tune into our portals. We are now also working to launch mobile apps for our radio to diversify prospects, says RJ Beeraj, an engineer and alumnus of KIIT who founded the platform.
Experts say the emerging alternative to conventional radio still has a long way to go to become an attraction in the local market. Subrat Kumar Pati who has worked in the radio industry and also helps many such platforms in content creation said, “Although it has been emerging but to get into the veins of the people and become popular it needs more marketing which is not possible due to limited resources. Such stations could be opened at a cost of around Rs 2 lakh.”
When asked how these platforms sustain he said, “The input cost includes website and manpower and the copyright royalties to be paid for songs played online. The revenue could be generated through online ads and also through collaboration with government agencies keen to extend support.”
Experts say the main benefit of starting such platforms is that the person keen to start such platforms does not need the permission of the ministry of information and broadcasting unlike conventional radio stations, as they do not ask for spectrum bandwidth; rather they use internet which is more like an open source.
Many, meanwhile, say the popularity and success rates of these platforms largely depend upon the content of internet radio as they cannot harp on songs alone.
