Tune In: From Retro Radio to Podcast Revolution

Rajesh Tahil is many media individuals packed in one. Over the last two decades, he has led a radio channel, set up a radio network, run a daily newspaper, headed programming for a television network, produced one of the longest running radio dramas in recent years for UNICEF and been a content producer and a serial entrepreneur. Donning the entrepreneur cap again, his latest venture is Audiomatic, a platform for high-quality narrative podcasts from top-rated talent. Rajesh, as the force behind Audiomatic is set to rule the podcast revolution in India. True to his media spirits, he juggles between an ideator, a content creator, an experimenter and a leader at Audiomatic. Under his leadership, a team of motivated individuals and distinguishable media faces is shaping up, who work towards one common goal – to create compelling content presented in innovative formats. Having led strategic positions in a sector where ‘content is king’, Rajesh is a rare combination of creativity and deep business acumen. Prior to, and In addition to trying to establish Audiomatic as India’s first podcast network, Rajesh was the Co-founder and Director of Hill Road Media, a publishing and content outsource company that produces magazines, content for websites and mobile. Some noteworthy milestones of his career include editorial and publishing for Right Choice, the Indian edition of Which? UK; 200 episodes of the India’s longest running daily radio show for children - UNICEF’s ‘Meena ki Duniya’, newspaper supplements - Health, Lifestyle, Fashion etc.; and mobile content across multiple genres and languages for Vodafone, Celltick and Dialog among others. Today, Rajesh is a highly reputed name in the media sector. He has been the face of Radio One for more than four years. Prior to setting up Hill Road Media, as the CEO of Radio One where, Rajesh’s role spanned setting up of the joint venture with BBC Worldwide, acquisition of licenses and nationwide roll-out of stations. He has also had a four years strong publishing stint at Mid Day where he served as the group publisher for the print portfolio. Prior to that, Rajesh headed programming, commercial and operations for Mid Day's radio business, Go 92.5 FM. He has also spearheaded Programming at Star India’s youth channel, Channel [V]. He was briefly associated with Star Interactive as well, as the Vice-President - Content and Portal Management. Starting his career as an Account Director with Lintas and SSC&B Lintas in 1993, Rajesh was one of the first professionals to join a nascent private radio industry, took the road less travelled and created a niche for himself in the industry as a multimedia content specialist . Today, he is regarded as a media veteran with an unconventional entrepreneurial streak and a vision to achieve the unthinkable. Rajesh holds a masters degree in Media Management from the University of Stirling and a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from the University of Mumbai.

Vikram Doctor is a Mumbai based journalist who writes on food, trends and material culture in India. He is a senior editor with Economic Times. He worked with Business India and Lintas before he joined ET.

Film Critic and Journalist at Scroll.in