MUMBAI: WhatsApp is synonymous with ‘messaging’ today, to keep in touch with friends and family. Making the most of the application, Red FM has tapped into the popular platform to reach out to its audience; a first for any radio station in the country. Listeners can now get in touch with Red FM in Mumbai through WhatsApp on 9930935935.
Apart from generic interaction with the radio station, listeners can sing a line of their favorite song and send it to the station via WhatsApp, for an opportunity to be ‘Red FM ka WhatsApp Star’. Those with the best auditions will be featured on Red FM live.
Red FM has put up collaterals of the activity at several youth hangouts, and its RJ will also be visiting these to encourage people to participate.
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Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan talked to Radioandmusic.com about their campaign saying, “We position ourselves as a young station. As part of catering to the youth, what is better than WhatsApp as a communication medium to reach out to an audience that consumes it so strongly?”
She went on to say that they have received a fabulous response from people of all age groups, including four to five year old children.
Narayanan explained, “Earlier, maximum listening used to be at home on a transistor, but now that has changed. Radio consumption has gone up, as far as listenership is concerned, through mobile phones. We believe in riding with the tide and taking full advantage of it. We want to be a part of the culture.”
Creatively, the initiative has been designed in a very simple way to gain mass appeal. Listeners have to simply record their voice while they sing and press ‘Send’. WhatsApp text messages are also welcome and users can get in-touch with Red FM’s RJs through this campaign.
The entries will be shortlisted and broadcast on air, and the station might ask people to vote for their favourite ‘star’. The campaign is currently effective only in Mumbai but, the station is looking to take it to other cities as well. The Red FM team is also in discussion with WhatsApp’s team to expand the project. Should it become a huge success, the station might consider taking it to an international level.
