Branson rides horseback to 'wed' Fever 104 FM

Nov 19, 2007, 10:45 GMT

New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) In his own inimitable style, Richard Branson has ridden an elephant and travelled on a rickshaw to promote his 'Virgin' brand in India. This time, he was on horseback to 'wed' an Indian media group and enter the FM radio business in the country.

'I've never married a man before,' the Sherwani- and dhoti-clad Branson told reporters here, as he garlanded HT Media's chief executive officer Rajiv Verma to announce a technology tie-up with the Fever 104 - an FM radio station.

'Now you can expect us to add more Indian cities and bring Fever 104 FM to the entire country,' said Branson, who had begun his multi-industry empire with a foray into the music business.

'India has absolutely transformed in the past few years. More young people in Delhi are listening to Fever FM,' he said, adding similar success was expected in other cities as 'Virgin has tremendous association with the youth'.

'Virgin has brought comprehensive technical expertise to this venture and HT media provides the understanding of the local market,' said Verma, referring to the present Indian policy that disallows foreign equity in such ventures.

Fever FM, which had organised a live concert with music director A.R. Rehman in the capital Saturday, already has a presence in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, with Kolkata set to tune in soon.

As for Branson, he said he had made a foray into music in 1972 - long before launching the more visible Virgin Atlantic Airways - by starting a recording studio when there were no takers for Mike Oldfield's album 'Tubular Bells'.

'Music was the first ever thing I ever did,' he said, as he predicted the death of pre-recorded records and albums. 'Live music is the future. Sale of music in record shops is a changing thing.'

In fact, sensing that, Branson had sold his Virgin Music Group, including record labels, music publishing and recording studios, to the Thorn EMI group in 1992 in a $1-billion deal.

Branson, who rode to a media conference in 1999 on an elephant to mark the entry of Virgin Atlantic Airways into India, said he was also keen on several business opportunities in India, including mobile telephony and animation films.

'The next likely thing is in mobile phone industry,' he said, but added that he would have more to say on that in a couple months.

'We have a partner now,' was the final response of the flamboyant entrepreneur, who has also ridden a cycle rickshaw and travelled with 'dabbawallahs' (packed lunch carriers) from Mumbai's Andheri to Churchgate station with lunch packs to promote his Virgin brand.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service