t seems to be racing to make up for lost time. Coming in four-and-a-half years after the first private FM radio station came up in India, BIG 92.7 FM - which is into its eighth month now - has grown at the rate of two stations a month. With no signs of letting up, it is aiming to get to 28 more places - and seven crore potential listeners - by the end of the year.

What is interesting about the Adlabs-owned FM initiative is that it has moved very quickly into the smaller towns and cities. Eleven of its 17 stations on air are in the Tier II towns (mainly state capitals, other than the six metros). With outposts in places like Bikaner, Aligarh, Srinagar, Jhansi and Guwahati, BIG FM has moved furiously past the other big boys in the Indian FM radio scene. Radio Mirchi, the largest in terms of turnover, has just a dozen stations in all.... more