A.P. “Preetham” Parigi Photo Credit: Rensselaer/Kris Qua

Indian Radio Innovator Receives 2009 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Sometimes, innovation means making the old new again, and in the process an entire country is transformed. Next month, A.P. “Preetham” Parigi, managing director of Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL), and managing director and CEO of Times Infotainment Media Limited, will arrive in the Capital Region to receive the 2009 William F. Glaser ’53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Indian and U.S. business leaders, media executives, past recipients, community leaders, and students are expected to attend the cross-cultural celebration in Rensselaer’s Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) Concert Hall on April 8, 2009, from 2-4 p.m.. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and the Lally School of Management & Technology.

A fan of the Capital Region, Parigi will be available to meet with members of the media while he is here from April 6–8, 2009.

The Entrepreneur of the Year Award recognizes Parigi’s vision, commitment, and compassion in transforming ENIL’s Radio Mirchi, once a small player in a heavily regulated industry, into India’s largest private FM radio network in just seven years.

According to David Gautschi, dean of the Lally School of Management & Technology, “Radio Mirchi’s renaissance is one of the clearest examples of corporate entrepreneurship. It is an extreme example of innovation within a company beset by long traditions in an industry slow to embrace change.”

Radio was a ubiquitous, but ignored, technology at the time of Radio Mirchi’s launch in 2000 when India privatized the radio industry.  State radio covered 98 percent of India, but it ignored the 600 million Indians under the age of 30.  It was this reality that fueled Parigi's passion that Radio Mirchi could become a “hot” brand in the world’s second most populous country, and set the tone for what would be the birth of a whole new kind of media company.

“This was a great challenge and a great opportunity,” Parigi notes. “A challenge because we realized it would take us (and the entire private FM industry) years to achieve that kind of geographical coverage. An opportunity because the emerging demographics were so compelling and represented an enormous, and unsatisfied, demographic niche that we not only could fill, but immediately connect with the Indian youth and their aspirations.”

Despite steep licensing requirements and a corporate leadership that did not share Parigi’s vision, Parigi continued to develop the Radio Mirchi brand. The result: he guided the meteoric rise of Radio Mirchi from its humble placement in four markets to become India’s hottest radio network using bold branding, customized content, and innovative programming. “It’s hot” indeed, as the station’s tag boasts. Today, Radio Mirchi reaches more than 200 million listeners, in 32 cities and in 10 languages. And in what one might consider historical irony, Radio Mirchi expanded its international presence in 2008 when it purchased U.K. radio giant Virgin Radio – one of the largest deals brokered by an Indian media company outside of India. 

“Radio Mirchi illustrates the specific transformation of India into the modern world—integrating the rural, non-money-based economy into the expanding money economy of the growth areas, principally in the major cities—using an ignored technology, radio,” noted Gautschi.

Entrepreneurship is one of four building blocks in the Rensselaer Plan and is a key element in preparing future leaders to think about and approach challenges creatively. Established in 1990, the William F. Glaser ’53 Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year Award recognizes successful entrepreneurs whose vision, commitment, and creativity exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit that is Rensselaer’s past, present, and future. Those honored with this award bring the world of entrepreneurship into Rensselaer’s classrooms and laboratories.

Parigi said, “This award not only acknowledges the meteoric rise of Radio Mirchi and the renaissance of private FM Radio in India, it also is an endorsement of India’s ability to set standards, and to surpass those standards, by scaling new heights. Most important, the Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year Award represents an emerging, and growing, global recognition – among academia, businesses, and governments – of India’s potential in the international community.”

Parigi joins past recipients who include Warren Bruggeman ’'46, former vice president and general manager of GE’s Nuclear Business Operations; Fred Smith, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx Corporation; James Crowe ’72, CEO of Level 3 Communications; and Tom Le Fevre ’71, co-founder of Intuit.

In addition to a multimedia presentation about Parigi and Radio Mirchi, the celebration will feature a panel discussion with Preetham Parigi, and selected Indian and American entrepreneurs from RPI’s extended community, including: Michael J. Miller ’79, senior vice president for technology strategy at Ziff Brothers Investments, formerly editor-in-chief of PC Magazine; Tobi Saulnier ’84, founder and chief executive officer of 1st Playable Productions; and Vikram Agrawal ’02, chief executive officer of Etransmedia Technology Inc.