'Radio Mirchi now gets up close & ‘visual'

Not again. There goes that soulful number on FM radio, and once again you weren’t attentive when the RJ announced the name of the singer with that haunting voice.

No sweat. Switch on to Radio Mirchi on your cell — it will be an interactive experience. You can get information regarding the singer and the song, you can also download it as a ringtone, chat with the RJ, write to the website, rate the song... the works. There’s also a visual element to the viewing experience, and all this is thanks to four corporates — Radio Mirchi, Nokia, Hutch and Hewlett Packard — coming together to co-create a service called Visual Radio.

This service is being brought for the first time in India by Radio Mirchi and Hutch and has been launched in New Delhi on July 25, ’06. Besides information and graphics related to music, Visual Radio also provides an interactive platform for advertisers.

You could, for instance, click on the phone for more details of an FMCG item that’s caught your eye or check who your local car dealer is. You could take part in polls and song ratings. “This is the first in a trend that you will see where brands will go for alliances not just to cut costs and share risks, but also to target groups of audiences,” says AP Parigi, MD & CEO, ENIL (Radio Mirchi).

FM has been there for quite some time now on your mobile. “But the visual and interactive elements are big steps in adding value to a customer’s experience,” says Natesh BV, head, multimedia experience, Nokia.