Hindi Radio Station Targets New England

Internet-based radio station MeraSangeet.com has five DJs who record and produce in India for a target audience in New England. The show has 40,000 listeners and growing. (photo: INDIAnewEngland.com)

A director of technology for a software company in Westborough, Mass., Khanna grew up in Amritsar, Punjab, with Khullar. He now lives in South Grafton, Mass.

The two reunited when Khullar moved from Michigan to Connecticut last year. They decided to use their combined knowledge of technology and Hindi radio from India to start their own version online, only with a twist.

"It is just like a traditional Hindi station you would find in India, except that the company is headquartered here and it caters to the New England population," said Khanna.

He says that even though all the actual recording and production is done in India because it's cheaper, everything has always been done with the East Coast in mind.

Launched in June, Mera Sangeet is still in its beta stage, according to the site.

Khanna and Khullar spent more than a month before going live scouting for the best talent in radio in India. "We went to radio stations in India and called the top jocks," Khanna said.

"It wasn't hard at all - they're all artists who are about appreciation. Most of them were working in small towns for local radio. When we told them we were looking to have a global audience, it was a step up for them."

Originally started with two radio jockeys, the station, which can be found at www.merasangeet.com, now has five to keep up with the volume of producing eight to 10 hours of original programming a day.

The DJs are matched with the type of music they play, as well as the content of their programs. They take news from both India and New England and blend it to create programming targeted specifically to listeners in New England.

One regular segment titled "Desh Kidhadkam," or "Nation's Heartbeat," focuses on news regarding India nationalism.

The two founders say they also have worked hard to make the site as interactive as possible, with the idea behind it being a chance to give people a platform for self-expression.

Listeners are able to leave messages for jockeys or other listeners regarding anything they hear. The site also has regular polls asking people about content selection. "It's social networking with the underpinning of music," Khanna said.

Right now the station, which can be found at www.merasangeet.com, is at 40,000 listeners and growing daily, according to Khanna

On two different weekdays, INDIA New England staff observed more than 500 listeners logged on at the site. The majority of listeners are from New England, but Khanna said because the station is Internet-based, it also draws from other parts of the United States and roughly 40 percent of its listeners are spread out over 142 different countries.

The company saw a spike in listeners after participating in Boston's India Day on Aug. 17, where they had a booth showing attendees how to access the station through new Internet music system devices that allow listeners to pick up global radio stations without going through the Web via a home computer.

The eventual goal, says Khanna, is to make four different radio streams for all of the major zones in the United States, with an additional fifth news and music stream geared toward listeners from the rest of the world.