FM Radio was a little late coming to Kerala, but come October and a host of private players will be vying to make up for lost time.

The fledgling FM radio market in Kerala is poised for a quantum jump. At least three new private FM radio channels are ready to go on air in October, once terrestrial transmitters under a common transmitting infrastructure (CTI) are set up by BECIL (Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd). BECIL is a systems integrator and turnkey solutions provider under the ministry of information and broadcasting.

Rubbing shoulders with established broadcast players like Sun Network and Radio Mirchi will be Kerala's time-tested leviathans of print, Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi, the two neophytes signposting the FM radio revolution in the state.

The Mathrubhumi Group of Publications is foraying into the FM radio broadcasting business through its Club FM 94.3 brand, at an investment of Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million).

Club FM will go on air from four locations in Kerala by October, M V Sreyams Kumar, director (marketing & electronic media), Mathrubhumi, informs. Having paid Rs 17 crore (Rs 170 million) as licence fees to operate out of four locations in Kerala, the Mathrubhumi group is, like its competitors Sun Network, Radio Mirchi and the Malayala Manorama group, awaiting the CTI facility which will herald the start of private FM operations in Kerala.

In the interim, Mathrubhumi is actively recruiting talent for the four Club FM radio stations being set up in Kochi, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.

Under Phase II of the I&B ministry's spectrum allocation plan, Malayala Manorama is all set to launch its FM channel, Radio Mango, on frequency 91.9 in Kochi, Thrissur, Kannur and Kozhikode.

Others awaiting their date with October are Sun FM (93.5 frequency) from Kal Radio, a subsidiary of Kalanidhi Maran's Sun Network Ltd [Get Quote], Asianet Radio from Asianet Communications, Bennet & Coleman's Radio Mirchi, and Big FM, the radio brand from the Adlabs [Get Quote] stables.

Mathrubhumi's capital expenditure on the Club FM rollout will be partially debt-funded. "We had initially applied for licences in five locations in Kerala, but were granted four," Kumar sys. Mathrubhumi is expecting its FM projects to break even in three years.

While over 80 people, including content and programming experts, technicians and broadcasting personnel have been recruited for the Club FM operations, broadcasting is likely to start off with 100 people. Manorama's Mango FM is expected to commence programming in October with over 60 employees on its rolls.

Mathrubhumi is examining options to further diversify its media platforms, not ruling out a foray into television in the near future if it makes "strategic media sense". The Rs 350-crore (Rs 3.5 billion) Malayala Manorama Group, Mathrubhumi's arch rival in vying for a share of the 40-lakh plus daily circulation base in Kerala, launched its Manorama Television venture last year.

The new FM ventures are yet to finalize ad rates for their various on-air slots, sources say. "FM listening culture is still evolving in Kerala and this is a good time for us to gauge listener tastes," Kumar says.

FM radio holds a 15 per cent slice of the audience base in Kerala with AM radio accounting for another 20 per cent, according to NRS data.

For over five decades, Kerala's airwaves have experienced huge levels of FM deficiency, and FM programming was the pleasure (and preserve) of All India Radio. Private FM players are now clamouring to be on the same wavelength as the FM radio enthusiast.

Kerala was indeed slow to join the party, but the new "October (FM) revolution" will see what were once the backwaters of FM radio, sashaying to a different beat.