Anil Ambani group launches FM station in Singapore

NEW DELHI: Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) on Tuesday launched an FM radio station in Singapore that will broadcast Indian film music, news and other trivia in a joint venture with a local station - MediaCorp Radio.

The station has been named Big Bollywood 96.3 FM and will broadcast programmes between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

"Singapore has a very large Indian diaspora. In fact Indians account for almost eight percent of the total population here," Tarun Katial, chief operating officer of Anil Ambani group's Big 92.7 FM said.

"We have launched this channel to cater to the needs of these people," Katial said on phone from Singapore. He said similar projects were also being planned in the US, Middle East and Britain.

In India, the Anil Ambani group runs Big 92.7 FM radio station and the entry into Singapore is another major overseas foray for the group after it decided to join hands with eight major Hollywood production houses last month to make movies.

"We see this collaboration as a great opportunity to improve relations with the country as well as profitable in the sense that it will provide us with a window for international expansion," the Big FM executive explained.

He, however, did not want to go into the investment the group intends to make. "It is not about the investment. For us it is more important to broadcast the right content and to tap the potential that exists in the market here."

The radio jockeys of the station will be Indians who live in Singapore, he said, and added that the broadcast will be done using MediaCorp studios.

MediaCorp Radio operates 13 local FM stations, of which six are in English, three cater to the Chinese, two to Malays and one each for Indians and the cosmopolitan listeners.