India has a dynamic radio landscape, with over 380 operational commercial radio stations and more than 480 community radio stations as of 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved the FM Radio Phase-III Policy, a significant expansion of India’s FM radio network in an effort to reach 234 new cities and small towns, an initiative that is expected to enhance the growth of the FM radio industry in India. This expansion is anticipated to address the existing demand for FM radio services in some cities and many small towns that currently lack such provisions, creating a platform for the dissemination of local content in the target locations’ native languages.

The commercial radio sector in India has undergone a major transformation since its inception in the early 2000s. India’s FM radio stations have started moving from completely studio-centric shows over to on-the-ground activations for attracting new listeners and even ’at-home studios’ for post-pandemic programming. Topicality, high interactive content, and quick digital adaptation have been strategies adopted by many stations to ensure and sustain listenership with a few adopting cross-platform strategies resulting in a broader listener base. The traditional aural medium in India is showing signs of hybridisation by shifting its stance from being an anonymous ‘blind’ medium to a hybrid visual medium with the advent of social media.

A preliminary content analysis using the ‘intensive listening’ method revealed that interactive shows are high among Indian radio stations. Are these interactive shows just forms of mere engagement, or participatory in the real sense? How about the quality of participation of the listeners? What are some of the content strategies adopted by these radio channels? How are Indian Commercial Radio stations responding to newer tastes of listeners? This presentation will discuss these questions and explore issues related to the FM Radio Phase-III FM Policy, the challenges these stations face, their show strategies, and insights on creating persuasive audio creatives.

Speaker Biography

Padmakumar K

Dr Padmakumar K is a Professor and Head of Post Graduate Programs at the Manipal Institute of Communication located within the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. He teaches courses on podcasting, radio production, media research, brand planning and corporate communication. He is a recognised PhD Supervisor at the Institute and a member of Boards of Studies at several Indian Universities. He is currently the Indian Faculty Ambassador of the International Association of Media & Communication Research (IAMCR). Professor K was awarded the prestigious Australia India Research Student (AIRS) Fellowship in 2023, funded by the Australian Department of Education, to teach and pursue his research as a post-doctoral fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

Before his academic work, Professor K spent ten years in Commercial Radio, in positions ranging from Producer to Programming Director. As a DAAD Fellow, he taught International Media Systems at Hochschule Bremen, Germany and Media and Culture at Volda International University, Norway, and was invited as a plenary speaker at major international forums, including the 2013 Asia Media Forum in South Korea (2013), Broadcast Asia in Singapore (2015), and Youth Communication Day in Indonesia (2020). He has also conducted a number of workshops on voice culture, radio programming, and corporate communication at leading Indian media and communication schools, including IIMC Delhi and Kottayam, Symbiosis International University, XIM University, Bharathiar University, PSG CAS Coimbatore, and KCLAS.

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Padmakumar K is a Professor and Head of Post Graduate Programs at the Manipal Institute of Communication located within the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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