HUBLI: Mobile phones with FM radio seem to have become a boon for Vividh Bharati (VB) channel of All India Radio (AIR) Dharwad. Such phones have led to an increase in VB's listenership and are reconnecting youth with radio again.

The number of VB listeners has gone up to 83.2% from 74% last year, according to a survey conducted by the Audience Research Unit of AIR. People listening to VB on mobiles constituted 28% of the total radio owning households.

Speaking to STOI, station head C U Bellakki credited mobiles for boost in the number of radio listeners. "We are happy that the young generation is again turning to radio, which gives information plus entertainment. We found that radio listeners on mobiles are mostly youths," he said.

According to Bellakki, the radio-listening habit is uniform in urban (83%) and rural (83.3%) areas. "A majority of the audience desires to listen to radio at home (79.3%) and while 12.7% likes to do that while travelling," he said.

The survey revealed that the daily reach of VB Dharwad has gone up to 19.5 lakh listeners — 54.2% from 49.5% in 2012 — mainly due to mobile phones.

The VB channel of AIR Dharwad covers five districts — Dharwad, Belgaum, Gadag, Haveri and Uttara Kannada. The estimate population under the coverage was 56.2 lakh according to the 2011 census.

 

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