Radio jockeys and singers talk about special attachment they felt with radio service

Atu00a0midnight on December 31, WorldSpace stopped its broadcasts in India because of financial troubles at home in the US. The company, which offered international, national, and regional radio programming on portable and mobile radio receivers owned by customers, left lakhs in the lurch. Now, after its various digital channels have fallen silent, those who developed a special bond with the pioneering service over the years tell MiD DAY what they feel about the development.
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Divya Raghavan, well-known singer who once worked with World Space, says:
It is really sad that World Space is gone. I have been an ardent listener for the past seven years and it inspired me to think of branching out to become a radio jockey even as I stuck to my singing career. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint in WorldSpace. The 40-odd channels dedicated to different genres of music satisfied many listeners across the globe. The emphasis on playing only back-to-back music for listeners definitely was a plus compared to all other FM channels with all their advertisements and contests for listeners.u00a0 Yes, it would have done very well if WorldSpace could have gone mobile. Though listeners have always complained about the subscription fee and having to make that investment on the instrument, I am sure they will miss the listening to the music after a long, hard day's work.
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RJ Rakesh of Radio One says:
It was great when I used to listen to it in restaurants. I stopped using it a couple of years ago because I could not listen to it wherever I wanted. I think because WorldSpace depended solely on subscribers, it had to close. Such media should come as free entertainment for people to completely enjoy it.

RJ Neethi Bhat, who works with Fever, says:
WorldSpace closing operations is slightly disconcerting for people from the industry, and from what I've heard, people have been asked to leave in a manner that is most unbecoming of a reputable business operation. The reasons for this eventually may be many; however, my opinion is that the business model that WorldSpace had adopted was possibly flawed, as people in India are not yet willing to pay for radio.
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Deepak Srinivasan, who worked as content resource with World Space a couple of years ago, says:
Now that WorldSpace is shutting down, I don't feel too qualified to issue statements on how it felt to be a part of a team like WorldSpace and what it stood for, as there are parts of its history, culture and operations that I was not too well associated with.

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