Radio Mirchi (also known as 98.3 Mirchi) is a nationwide network of private

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

stations in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It is owned by the EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of

The Times Group Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, (abbreviated as B.C.C.L. and d/b/a The Times Group), is an Indian media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company remains a family-owned business with Sahu Jain family owning a major ...

. ''Mirchi'' is

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

for red chillis. The tagline of Radio Mirchi is "Mirchi Sunnewaale Always Khush!" ("Mirchi Listeners are Always Happy!"). It is the first privately owned radio station in India. Radio Mirchi maintains weekly music charts (or

record charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

) for India. The most followed charts are Mirchi Top 20 (Bollywood Songs, now celebrities select their favourites) and Indie Pop 10 (Independent Music). Both of these charts are a ranking of recorded music according to popularity. These charts are published on a weekly basis in the Indian English-language daily newspaper,

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

, and on Radio Mirchi's official website. Mirchi has its stations in

and also in GCC countries: UAE,

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

. As per the latest IRS data released in 2017, Radio Mirchi has emerged as the number one FM broadcaster in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, as well as in the top 8 metros taken together. It's also has been rated as the most popular radio stations in recent survey of this blo
India's Top 5 FM Channel List 2022-2023.

History

The original avatar of Radio Mirchi was Times FM. Radio Mirchi began operations in 1993 in

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

, Madhya Pradesh. Until 1993,

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

or AIR, a government undertaking, was the only radio broadcaster in India. The government then took the initiative to privatize the radio broadcasting sector. It sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

and Goa to private operators, who developed their own program content. The Times Group operated its brand, Times FM, till June 1998. After that, the government decided not to renew contracts given to private operators.

First round of licenses

In 2000, the government announced the auction of 108 FM frequencies across India. ENIL won the largest number of

frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is e ...

, and thus started its operations under the brand name Radio Mirchi.IT'S HOT

Second round of licences

In January 2006, Radio Mirchi purchased 25 frequencies in the second wave of licences that were issued by the Government of India. This pushes the Radio Mirchi presence in 32 centres. In the first wave of launches,

was the first city in India having grade of first private radio channel. Times decided to start radio channel to address the mass audience as advertisers can be attracted by showing a low cost per thousand.

Third round of licenses

Radio Mirchi invested above Rs.339 crore during phase III auctions and purchased 17 new channels in new cities such as

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second ...

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

and

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

, as well as in existing cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur and Surat. This pushes Radio Mirchi presence in 49 centres.

GCC countries expansion

Radio Mirchi started operations across UAE, streaming across three frequencies : 97.3FM in Abu Dhabi, 88.8FM in Dubai and the Northern Emirates and 95.6FM in Al Ain & Bahrain 104.2 and Qatar 89.6 Mirchi One In partnership with ONE FM

ki dhadkan All the RJs have been recruited from various Radio Mirchi stations in India including Anup Chugh, with a total seven who will take to the air. Radio Mirchi UAE is now KADAK FM but later, Radio Mirchi made a comeback to the UAE in 2021 with 102.4 FM Mirchi.

Areas of operation

India

Currently, Radio Mirchi has a presence 76-station network operating in 63 cities, including three Ishq FM stations Along with online and international stations, the company boasts of a 112-station network. * Ahmedabad, GJ * Akola, MH (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Amravati, MH (broadcast on 92.1 MHz) * Amritsar, PB (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Asansol, WB (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Aurangabad, MH * Bharuch, GJ (broadcast on 92.3 MHz) * Bengaluru, KA (two channels - 98.3 and 95 MHz) * Bhavnagar, GJ (broadcast on 91.5 MHz) * Bhopal, MP *

* Chennai, TN * Coimbatore, TN *

* Durg-Bhilai Nagar, CG (broadcast on 91.9 MHz) * Guwahati, AS (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Hubli-Dharwad, KA * Hyderabad, TS (two channels - 98.3 and 95 MHz) * Indore, MP (First city of Broadcasting) * Jabalpur, MP * Jaipur, RJ * Jalandhar, PB * Jamnagar, GJ (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Jammu, JK * Jodhpur, RJ (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Jhansi, UP (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Junagadh, GJ (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Kanpur, UP * Kochi, KL (broadcast on 104.0 MHz) * Kolhapur, MH * Kolkata, WB * Kozhikode, KL (broadcast on 92.7 MHz) * Lucknow, UP * Madurai, TN * Mangalore, KA * Mehsana, GJ (broadcast on 91.9 MHz) * Mumbai, MH * Mysuru, KA (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Nagpur, MH * Nashik, MH * Palanpur, GJ (broadcast on 93.7 MHz) * Patiala, PB (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Patna, BR * Pondicherry, PY (broadcast on 104.0 MHz) * Pune, MH * Raigarh, CG (broadcast on 91.1 MHz) * Raipur, CG * Rajahmundry, AP (broadcast on 91.1 MHz) * Ranchi, JH * Rajkot, GJ * Shillong, ML (broadcast on 91.1 MHz) * Shimla, HP (broadcast on 104.8 MHz) * Siliguri, WB * Srinagar, JK * Surat, GJ * Thiruvananthapuram, KL * Tiruchirappalli, TN (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Tirunelveli, TN (broadcast on 95.0 MHz) * Ujjain, MP (broadcast on 91.9 MHz) * Vadodara, GJ * Varanasi, UP * Vijayawada, AP * Visakhapatnam, AP * Warangal, TS (broadcast on 91.9 MHz) Unless specified otherwise, all stations broadcast on 98.3 MHz It reaches out to almost 52% of FM radio listeners in Delhi, 44% in Mumbai, 40% in Indore, 35% in Jaipur, 30% in Bhopal, 20% Chennai, 27% in Kolkata, 15% in Nagpur 60% in Mangaluru and 12% in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Radio Mirchi has started providing Visual Radio to its subscribers in Delhi from 25 July 2006 onwards and in Mumbai from September 2006. It also has started its Visual Radio service from Kolkata recently. According to the Radio Audience Measurement Reports, Radio Mirchi has been dominating in Delhi and is the leader in Mumbai and Kolkata. However, in Kolkata they are not clear leaders in SEC ABC segments. The SEC ABC segments were earlier dominated by Big FM & now by Friends FM. However, in the SEC D & E segments Radio Mirchi has total domination.

United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi Media Abu Dhabi Media (, also ADM) is the official media organization of the Government of Abu Dhabi. The organization was established in 2007. The company manages over 18 brands in two categories. ADM brands include Abu Dhabi TV, Al Emarat TV, Abu ...

owned and operated 4 radio stations under the Radio Mirchi brand, under conditional license from ENIL. ADM rebranded to Kadak FM in July 2020. Radio Mirchi made a comeback in 2021 as '
MIRCHI
'' 102.4 FM. *

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...

(broadcast on 97.3 MHz) *

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

(broadcast on 95.6 MHz) *

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

(broadcast on 102.4 FM) *

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

(broadcast on 88.8 MHz)

United States

Stations are operated under a brand licensing agreement between ENIL and Arohi Media, with the latter managing and operating the stations. Radio Mirchi went live in the USA on January 26, 2019, as '
MIRCHI
'' * New York tri-state region (broadcast on 1600 AM) * Franklin Park, NJ (broadcast on 92.7 FM) and

Princeton, NJ Princeton is a municipality with a Borough (New Jersey), borough form of government in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of ...

(broadcast on 103.3 FM HD2) * Raleigh-Durham, NC (broadcast on 101.9 FM, 99.9 FM HD4, and 1490 AM) *

Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

(broadcast on 103.9 FM HD2) *

Cleveland, OH Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U. ...

(broadcast on 93.1 FM HD2) *

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

(broadcast on 92.3 FM HD2) *

Columbus, OH Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and ...

(broadcast on 107.5 FM HD2) * St. Louis, MO (broadcast on 95.5 FM HD2) The following stations to be launched soon: * Atlanta, GA (broadcast on 107.5 FM HD3)

RDS service

and

; Radio Mirchi supports RDS information with the station name and current and next song.

Mirchi Music Awards

The Mirchi Music Awards are annually given awards instituted by Radio Mirchi for excellence in Bollywood film music. It was first given in 2008.

References

{{coord missing, Karnataka Radio stations in Kerala Radio stations in Indore Companies based in Indore Radio stations in Ujjain Radio stations in Hyderabad Radio stations in Bangalore Radio stations in Bhopal Radio stations in Patna Radio stations in Madurai Radio stations of The Times Group Hindi-language radio stations Telugu-language radio stations Radio stations established in 1993 1993 establishments in India Music of Bengal Radio stations in Vijayawada Radio stations in Kolkata