Radio Asia 2011

THE MORNING SESSION OF RADIO ASIA 2011- 

V Sadhu

It was 21st Feb 2011, at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi Radio Asia 2011 came out of the shadows.The weather was quite cool , due to the winter rains at Delhi. But the warmth spread by the organizers especially Ms. Vijay Sadhu and her team made the delegates more then cozy.

  D S Bali(Mauritius),Dr BK Ravi, M Sharma (author), A Sharma

 It was Mark Neely, Regional Director Radio Asia Pacific, who conducted the very first workshop at the Regal Room. The topic Profiling Target Audience through Audience Measurement Data was well received by the audience. Coincidently  Mark is responsible for introducing new RAM services in the Asia Pacific Region. 

Mark Neely, Regional Director Radio Asia Pacific, taking a question...

 What followed after Mark, was the workshop which emphasized more on Hands on Experience and less on talking. The Entire team of DRM consortium led by Ruxandra Obreja was quite impressive. With unlimited FM frequency availability, and 5.1 surround sound the Digital Radio Mondiale has come a long way and is here to stay.                                                                                                                                

Ruxandra Obreja was quite impressive with the mike..

 The dark horse of the DRM team was Alexander Zink, who ensured that no  question from the delegates remained unanswered through out the workshop.

Mukesh Sharma & Alexander Zink at the Radio Asia 2011

       THE AFTERNOON SESSION OF RADIO ASIA 2011

Kiran Karnik former President NASSCOM

The afternoon session started with the right note. Mr Kiran Karnik former President NASSCOM was the key note speaker. Though his association with Radio per Se was limited, however he was quite clear in his thoughts and speech that radio which suffered a benign neglect in the 90ties is now not only talking but has become a medium of dialogue. In the words of Mr Kiran Karnik "the radio is now Informative, Interactive and Involved".   

Delgates at the  Radio Asia 2011- Ist Day Session

 After the key note address by Mr Kiran Karnik the content was some what repetitive. Madam Ruxandra Obreja of DRM and Mark Neely and Alexander Zink where now addressing a some what bigger gathering , but most of the information was same as morning session, except for some changes here and there. But it was useful even the second time.

 Dr. Michael Mc Cluskey

The other speakers in the afternoon session were Dr. Michael Mc Cluskey, (CEO) ABC Radio Australia, Masahiko Hattori from NHK Japan, and Pradeep Hejmadi TAM Media. The topic was" paradigm shift in content programming: Digital Radio, Internet, Blogs And Interactive platforms for global Radio." Being a compulsive blogger myself ,I was expecting to take home something new, but  things did not work out as the topic suggested. How ever Mr Pradeep Hejmadi picked up maximum questions for the day.                                                                         

Steve Ahern

The topic for the last session was How Technology has impacted Radio Content And Service. The speaker Steve Ahern from Ahern media & training, apprised the delegates that Digital Audio Broadcast  or DAB is in full throttle in Australia and is going great guns.  Nicholas Levitte talked about Streaming Radio.

By 5.30 the Radio Activity was at its zenith when the day's session ended and  I rushed back to my hotel to complete this post.