Radio ga ga prompts new institute for jockeys

EMDI Encompass Institute of Radio Management will offer diploma, PG courses.

With the radio scene witnessing a boom, a host of FM channels are expected to hit the airwaves of Mumbai and the rest of the country.

"This is surely going to generate a sudden opening for more than 18,000 skilled professionals in India.

"Approximately 338 FM channels will be launched in 91 cities in the next six months," exclaimed Anant Rangaswamy, dean of EMDI (Event management Development Institute).

This prospect is what prompted  Encompass Productions, run by showman Roshan Abbas, to partner EMDI to launch a radio management institute in Bandra.

The EMDI Encompass Institute of Radio Management will be inaugurated on April 29. Abbas will be the dean of the institute, which will be located on the EMDI campus.

This school will offer post-graduate course in station management and diploma course in radio jockeying.

"Existing media schools are not on the right track in terms of generating the right professionals for radio," said Rangaswamy.

He said the radio institute would have the support of veterans like Amin Sayani, RJs  Anish Trivedi, Hrishikesh Kanan and Ashish Jagtiani. "We are creating the right radio environment with radio computing softwares, and are targeting to provide placements to the students," Rangaswamy said.

The syllabus would incorporate standardised books, cameo of the actual work environment with infrastructure matching that of a radio station, Anant added. 

So will this pose a threat to independent trainers like Pratap Sharma and Khodus Wadia, who have been training students in radio jockeying for years? "Absolutely not! It's a vicious circle. The personalised touch that I can provide they cannot, and the infrastructure they will provide, I cannot. "At the end of the day, you will yet have students in this industry who need that personal touch before they go on air!" said Wadia.