Radio Mirchi

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Radio Mirchi is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group.

"Mirchi" is Hindi for chilli. The tagline of Radio Mirchi is "It's hot!".

Radio Mirchi Logo

1 Inception
2 Areas of operation
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Inception

The original avatar of Radio Mirchi was Times FM, which began operation in 1993. 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 Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata 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.

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.

In January 2006, Radio Mirchi bagged 25 frequencies in the second wave of licences that were issued by the Government of India. This pushes the Radio Mirchi presence in 32 centers. In the first wave of launches, It launched recently in April in Bangalore ,which has been a spectacular hit among the folks.It is giving a healthy competition to Radio City in the city.

[edit] Areas of operation

Currently, Radio Mirchi has a presence in 10 cities, including the 4 metros of India:

98.3 FM - Ahmedabad
98.3 FM - Bengalooru It uses the tagline "Sakat hot maga!" in Bangalore.
98.3 FM - Chennai It uses the tagline "Idhu sema hot machi!" in Chennai.
98.3 FM - Delhi Ranajoy and Mirchi is Hot
98.3 FM - Hyderabad It uses the tagline "idi chaala hot guru!" in Hyderabad.
98.3 FM - Indore "sexy sexy Mirchi Sunanevale ALWAYS Khush. Its HOT !!! "
98.3 FM - Jaipur
98.3 FM - Kolkata It uses the tagline "Radio Michi Shune mon always khush khush. Radio Mirchi is hot" in kolkata.
98.3 FM - Mumbai It uses the tagline "Its HOT!" in Mumbai.
98.3 FM - Pune

It claims to reach almost 70% of FM radio listeners in Mumbai and Delhi. In Ahmedabad, Pune and Indore, it is the only private radio broadcaster. Radio Mirchi has started providing Visual Radio to its subscribers in Delhi from 25 july, 2006 onwards and would be started soon in Mumbai.