HISTORY OF RADIO ASIA

An English and Hindi live program, Radio Asia was established in 1993 with a simple idea to bring India to the Indians living in the Tampa Bay area. That was a decade years ago.

"On the first day of our program at the old Spanish radio station, we didn't get any calls from listeners. In fact, nobody called us for the first two months," says host Mahesh Patel of Radio Asia.
With more than 10 years of broadcasting excellence, Radio Asia has grown by eaps and bounds. The show has been broadcasting over 2,000 homes spread across the Tampa Bay Area. Today, it can also be heard over the Internet with people from all over the world listening to the show.
Radio Asia's listening base of 3,000 includes professional doctors,lawyers, engineers, businessmen and families. "The Indian community is growing so rapidly in the Tampa Bay area that it's nice to be able to offera three-hour radio show," says Mahesh.
It offers Tampa Bay and Florida news as well as happenings and events in
India.
Latest music from Hindi cinema is an integral part of our broadcast. Radio Asia receives hundreds of requests and dedications each week. Listeners call in with answers to a quiz every week. Several Indian languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Malayalam and Punjabi songs are played for loyallisteners.

Besides playing songs, Mahesh gives announcements of births, anniversaries, travels abroad and weddings. He is proud of helping raise money for charitable causes too. Radio Asia also invites guests such as physicians to come in and talk on a particular subject, such as heart disease.
The broadcast covers live chat shows that include fashion, Bollywood affairs and cooking recipes. There also a special segment that covers musical quiz. Sports coverage, especially cricket news, makes Radio Asia the complete radio show for the Indian family. Radio Asia reaches out to the young generation as much as it touches the heart of the seniors in the
Indian community.