Subsequent to the announcement of acquiring 51% stake in Next Mediaworks Ltd (NMWL), the owner of Radio One and the appointment of Harshad Jain as the CEO of NMWL, HT Media announced the following changes in their radio leadership team. The changes are being made to ensure maximum synergies consequential to the acquisition of Radio One.
• Neeraj Saraswat, who was heading the content and Events business of Fever FM will now head Radio One business as the Business Head. He will be responsible for the overall P&L of the business & all functions of Radio One will report to him. Neeraj has been associated with Fever since 2009 and has had various successful stints at Regional and National level. Neeraj had played a very significant role in Phase III auctions and the launch of the new stations. He has been credited with building robust sales strategies, processes and systems at Fever. Neeraj will continue to report to Harshad in his new role.
• Abhishek Kapoor in addition to being the CFO for Radio & Entertainment Business, has also been appointed the CFO for Next MediaWorks Ltd (NMWL). Abhishek joined Fever during the thick of phase III action and in a short span of time took control of the finance, legal, admin and technical functions. He also ensured that Fever was the first to launch all the phase III stations across cities. The combined central functions of Finance, Legal, Traffic, Technical and Admin will report to Abhishek and his immediate task will be to ensure rapid integration of NMWL into the larger organization. Abhishek will continue to report to Harshad.
• Gaurav Sharma will now be the overall Chief Programming Officer for all three Brands. Gaurav has been associated with Fever since inception. He has led Fever and Radio Nasha in achieving leadership position in listenership across markets through innovation, creativity and thought leadership in programming content. Gaurav is a veteran of radio and is known across the industry for his Radio Programming acumen and ability to conceptualize, plan and execute monetizable Programming content. Radio One Programming team through the Regional structure will report into him. He will continue to report to Harshad.
• Shikha Dhillon will be the overall HR Head for all three brands. Shikha joined Fever in July 2018 from Star India. In a short span of nine months, she has not only taken control of existing Radio & Entertainment HR function but has successfully led the HR strategy during the acquisition process. She has been an integral part of the M& A project team and has ensured smooth transition and integration of Radio One team into the larger organization. Shikha has a critical task at hand to seamlessly integrate Radio One into Fever culture and ensure people synergies across levels. Shikha will continue to report to Harshad.
• Ravi Arya, who has been heading Marketing function at Fever is being elevated as Business Head for Fever Audio Tools & Fever Entertainment. He will be responsible for scaling up Live Events and In-Store Business of Fever FM. Ravi has been with Fever FM for close to 5 years and has contributed extensively in driving the Marketing function. He played a pivotal role during the Phase III launch of stations across markets. He has also been instrumental in driving content and solutions revenue across stations. In his new role, he will report to Harshad.
• Sameer Anand, who has been heading the Sales Operations for Fever is being elevated as National Sales Head for Radio One. Sameer has been with the Fever for over 7 years and has contributed extensively in driving & consolidating the Central Sales Operations functions. Sameer was also responsible for successfully leading the Fever Delhi Sales team to achieve dominant leadership position in the Delhi market. In his new role Sameer will be report to Neeraj Saraswat, Business Head – Radio One.
• Anil Machado who was the Programming Head of Radio One will now have dual responsibility of heading the Cluster of International stations of Radio One as Cluster Programming Head and will also be the National Creative Solutions Head for Fever FM. Anil is a radio programming veteran and is credited with the success of the Radio One programming especially the international formats. In his new role, Anil will report to Neeraj Saraswat and Gaurav Sharma.
• Sumanto Ray, currently the National Creative Head will get the additional responsibility of creating winning content for Radio One. Sumanto has been with Fever for almost 12 years. During his tenure, he has evangelized the Radio medium through path breaking and innovative Radio Properties. Some of his notable Audio creations include Fever Ramayana, Gandhi, Bal Gopal, Friends in a Metro ( first ever radio sitcom) , Kya Woh Sach Tha?, Sainath and the latest feather in his cap being Fever Mahabharata. He will continue to report to Gaurav Sharma and Neeraj Saraswat.