[cr-india] Cricket fever sends radio sales soaring

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

Nothing to do with community radio, but the power of radio. FN

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Message: 3
   Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 21:51:46 -0800
   From: "Alokesh Gupta" <alokesh at radiointel.com>
Subject: (unknown)


Cricket fever sends radio sales soaring
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TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2004 12:13:28 AM ]

HYDERABAD: As the cricket fever peaks on Wednesday with the Indo-Pak one-day series final in Lahore, there are more and more people tuning their radio sets to the live commentary. 

This is one time when youngsters, businessmen and officers, all carry a pocket radio to keep track of the score whether they are on the move or stationary. Every shop and tea stall has a radio tuned to the match commentary, where customers stop for the score and discuss their team’s prospects in the match. 

Substantiating this, All India Radio (AIR), Hyderabad officials said that in spite of the live telecast of the cricket matches on TV, the number of people listening to radio commentary is significant. 

“The listenership has doubled during the days of the matches as compared to ordinary days,” one AIR official confirmed. 

As a direct consequence of this, the sales of transistors and radios too have gone up. In Bank Street — the hub for all electronic goods in the city — pocket radio sales in every shop have increased. “We usually sell around 25 transistors every month, but in the past one month, this number has doubled,” said M A Kadir, owner of an electronic goods shop in the area. 

Ravinder Soni has a smaller shop, but he too says there are many people coming in to buy transistors daily. “On normal days, I sell one transistor, but since the cricket series has begun, at least six people come every day to buy a radio,” he said. 

Same is the case in bigger showrooms. V V Srinvas, sales executive at one such big outlet in Begumpet said “During an Indian cricket series, the sales are generally up. And this being such a hyped series with India and Pakistan playing, we are selling up to 15 transistor sets every day which is quite a hike from our daily sale.” 

A pocket radio by a local manufacturer costs anywhere between Rs 130 and Rs 200. Branded transistors cost anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 800. People are also buying two-in-ones (radio and recorder) which costs Rs 1,000 and above. 

(Times Of India,Mar 24,2004)