text: As the Tamil Nadu market gears up to celebrate Pongal, radio players have spiced up their content line-up to bring the festival live on air this year.
  Radio City has initiated 'Radio City Jallikatt', in which listeners are asked four questions and if they can answer all the four questions correctly, they get to win the virtual game. The objective behind this contest is to bring alive the traditions and culture and also the virtual feel of Jallikattu (Bull fight).
  Suryan FM, part of the Sun Group, has been airing contests throughout the week, where listeners were asked questions on Pongal through their various shows. At the end of the week, 20 families will be shortlisted for an on-ground event, named 'Vayalodu Viayadi'. These families will be invited to a set, which has been re-created to depict how Pongal is celebrated in villages. The main objective is to make the listeners of Suryan FM celebrate the festival exactly as it is celebrated in villages.
  Radio Mirchi has initiated a lyricist special programme, wherein well-known lyricists such as Na Muthukumar, Pa Vijay, Madhan Karky, Vairamuthu will be featured on air. The show, called 'Sakalakala Kavignargal', went on-air on January 11, 2014 with pay tributes to Vaali and Kannadasan.
  Talking about the programming strategy, Sangeeta Nair, VP & Regional Programming Head – South, Radio Mirchi said, "We are celebrating everything ethnic, and being a music station, our prime product is music, hence we came out with such an idea."
  The most advertised sector is retail, followed by textile, jewellery, and consumer durables. Advertisers such as Nathella , NAC Jewellers, Prince Jewellers, Saravana Stores, RmKV, Star Health, and Chola MS Insurance, among others, are the biggest advertisers this Pongal.
  According to radio experts, Pongal is the most important festival after Diwali in Tamil Nadu, hence providing an opportunity for the radio stations to begin the year on a high note.