With several private FM radio stations operational now in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow and Indore one finds that ‘news’ is an integral part of their programming schedule. Reason: The government has not given any specific definition of ‘news’ to private players, and the FM stations are going by their own interpretation of the word.

Although these radio stations refrain from calling any of the content ‘news’, they do have ‘Biz Updates’, ‘Bizness Update’ and even stock prices.

One of the companies says that its station offers ‘‘news you can use’’. Besides traffic and weather info, this station gives ‘‘stock prices and other crucial information to empower and entertain’’. In a morning slot on films, there are film reviews, trade news and ‘‘hot news and gossip straight from Bollywood and Hollywood."

Move on to another station which launched in Delhi a couple of days ago, and you have live interviews of movie stars and music personalities. Then, yet another station has programmes on young achievers and latest updates on the power situation in Delhi.

While announcing the launch of ‘Radio City’ (a Star-Ispat group joint venture) in the capital, COO of Radio Division, Star India, Sumantra Dutta, said: ‘‘News is mainly political....’’ He added that ‘Radio City’ would carry news that impacts local people. At the launch of another private station in the city, Radio Mirchi, officials said that they would want the government to allow news in their channels, even as the channel already has business and trade news.

To a query on what was meant by ‘news’, a senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official said it was ‘‘primarily political and economic.’’

The official, however, admitted that he was not aware of any ‘‘business update’’ slots on these channels.

He also said that the private FM licensees were not given any definition of news and current affairs by the government. Meanwhile, if we turn to the dictionary meaning of ‘news’, it does not have any ‘political’ hue.

While the Oxford Dictionary defines news as ‘‘newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events’’ and ‘‘information not previously known’’, its Thesaurus meanings are account, advice, bulletin, communication, headlines, information, intelligence, the latest, message, newsletter, notice, press release, proclamation, report, rumour and statement, among others.

On - the launch of its new website it said: "It will contain the fine mix of views, opinions, analysis, news and investigations that had distinguished Tehelka in its original avatar." The launch date has not been fixed, Tejpal said: "We are looking forward to launching it in August or September this year."

Going back, Tehelka.com went online in 2000, with a team of 20 journalists. It started by exposing the issue of betting in cricket. In March 2001, it broke the story on corruption in arms deals and came again in the limelight, not just in India but globally. With this expose, Tehelka clocked over 25,000,000 page views; while at other times its page views averaged 15,000,000 a month.

The website’s expose of the dirty world of betting in cricket and the images of India’s defence minister taking packets of dollars on camera are still haunting people. The website was written and applauded by international publications like Business Week, New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post and Asia Week. But the question remains, will the past repeat itself?

Radio Mirchi, the popular FM radio channel, made a confident start in Delhi last week claiming 55 advertisers on board right from day one.

National advertisers like Maruti, Hutch, Gilby’s, Motorola, Seagram, Ranbaxy and, at the local level, retailers including Sirs & Hers, restaurants like Fortune Cookie, builders like Ansals, etc. have signed up to air their promos on Radio Mirchi. The station asserts that exclusive properties like ‘Morning Drive Time,’ ‘Temperature Check’ and ‘Traffic Beat’ have been sold out months in advance.

On the ad sales figure, Radio Mirchi refuses to admit any number. But Nandan Srinath, Station Head of Radio Mirchi in Delhi, says: "Internally, we have set ourselves an ambitious target for ad sales generation. Our success in the other markets besides the high potential size of radio listeners in Delhi makes us fully confident of achieving them."

On the programming front, Radio Mirchi plans to carry on broadly with its current programming as used in other cities like Mumbai and Ahmedabad. But as Srinath informs: "The key differentiation for us on the programming part is our mix of Delhi flavour. Everyone has access to the same music but how you package it in a manner which will turn on the Delhi-ites is going to be the key factor." Based on their gut feeling which proved right with the findings of a series of research studies undertaken by Radio Mirchi, the station plans to be high on the humour content with a heavy tilt towards hit Bollywood music.

The previous recipients of this prestigious award include Vijay Mallya, R. Krishna Bajaj, H. S. Singhania, Dr. B. K. Modi, B. R. Chopra, Renuka Ramnath and H. P. Nanda. Eminent politicians, bureaucrats and business personalities attended the function. Chopra, an IIT-Chennai alumnus, formed EFY Enterprises in 1969 and has led its growth to one of the leading publishing houses in the country.

EFY Enterprises, an ISO 9002 company, was also presented an "Excellence Award" for outstanding performance in Productivity, Quality, Management and Innovation at the same function. Speaking on the occasion, Ramesh Chopra, said: "The awards rightfully belong to all those who have been instrumental in making EFY a success story. I am just representing all these people here. Credit for the awards goes to my colleagues—present and past—and to our patrons (the contributors of articles, the advertisers, and the subscribers as well as readers of our publications) who have been supporting us and appreciating our efforts to help the industry through our publications. We have always kept the long-term objectives in mind instead of going for short-term gains."

It’s action time! This time in the Gujarat market. With Dainik Bhaskar entering the Gujarat market with its Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar, the existing market players are tightening their belts. Gujarat Samachar, a 72-year-old Gujarati daily, is revamping its operations. "We are planning to invest Rs. 40-50 crore in revamping infrastructure, manpower and in the layout and designing of the newspaper," said GM-Mkt. Gujarat Samachar.

Its national marketing team has been strengthened with the induction of known faces in media circles. About 22 new people have been inducted at Mumbai and Delhi to spruce up the strength with an idea of offering better service to clients and agencies. Likewise, its local marketing team has 16 new faces all over Gujarat in addition to the existing set up.

"The new layout and designing will have a vibrant look and appealing aesthetics and content." Presently, Gujarat Samachar publishes six editions in Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Mumbai. Ahmedabad, the commercial town, has the highest literacy level in Gujarat, followed by Surat, Vadodra, Rajkot and Anand.

As per the latest IRS, Gujarat Samachar is the highest read Gujarati daily with a total readership of 50.05 lakh readers. As per NRS 2002, the total readership of Gujarat Samachar is 55.10 lakh. Its circulation as per ABC for July-December 2002, stood at 1,042,751.

The edition-wise break up is as follows: in Ahmedabad it circulates 379,230 copies, followed by Mumbai where it circulates 198,029 copies, then comes Rajkot with 145,560 copies. These main centres are followed by Vadodra and Surat, where its circulation is at 144,720 and 138,421 copies, respectively. "Our philosophy has been to be as close to reality as reality itself and hence we present the news in its original form. Authenticity and unbiased news has been our forte and motto for years," says Nirmalendu, highlighting the strength of the paper among the Gujarati community.