Cool new website - Planet RadioCity

Discovered this new initiative by one of India's leading music stations. An interactive video and music website called Planet RadioCity, along the lines of Channel V's vIndia and MTV. For a company not known for its online presence, this was a pleasant surprise. It has good features and looks promising. If only they'd reduce the intrusive ads until they have attracted a significant following. Unlike the MTV site, this one seems to have its heart in the right place (music!) and could become a better source of old and new music than shady sites like Raaga.com

Of course, seeing how they destroyed their wonderful brand in Bangalore one hopes they do not repeat the mistake with the website. From being the ONLY place for music in Bangalore about 3 years ago, they have come to a point where even cabbies don't listen to them anymore. All thanks to their absurd fetish for discarding brilliant programming like current topic discussions, movie spoofs, jokes, campus banter and good blend of regional/bollywood/english music in favor of only playing the latest Kannada songs. Even local friends who know the language cannot relate to their music anymore!

In my opinion, the blame lies more with the flawed government policy than with the station itself. By allowing a production company to run no more than one station per city, the government restricts them to playing whatever gets the maximum revenue. All stations end up playing safe and playing the same kind of music. Creativity, differentation and building taste becomes a casualty of petty culture policing. The next round of auction for radio frequencies must allow the market to decide who plays what music on how many channels per city. By making it cheaper to run radio stations, the government can truly allow them to enrich our lives.

Until then, this new venture by one of my favorite radio people will be keenly watched for some old-fashioned entertainment. The fact that I landed on their page after seeing a banner ad on some unrelated website means that at least their marketing guys are doing it right!