India’s 94.3 Radio One has launched Chennai’s first 100 percent Bollywood music station.

Chennai is the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and is known for its Tamil film industry and music.

According to Radio One, its Chennai station will now operate under the philosophy of 100 percent Bollywood, 100 percent Chennai.

While the music will be from Bollywood films, content will continue to be about the city and its movers and shakers.

“Chennai is a much more cosmopolitan and globally connected city now than ever before. Movie screens have begun to push both Bollywood and Hollywood cinema while continuing the best of Tamil cinema. With many IT professionals from different Indian cities now residing in Chennai, and growing affluence of ‘retail entrepreneurs’ who love Bollywood as much as they love Tamil music, the time is ripe to give the city a Bollywood station as there is already a sea of accomplished Tamil stations,” said John Justin, Station Head, Radio One Chennai.

“We have launched the change in format with a new content property where we pay tribute to Chennai legends like Rajnikant, AR Rahman, Mani Ratnam, Kamal Hassan, Sri Devi and new stars like Shruti Hassan, Dhanush and many more who have made successful cross overs into Bollywood,” said Anil Machado, Chief Programming Officer of Radio One.

Vineet Singh Hukmani, MD & CEO Next Radio Ltd (Radio One) added: “We are India’s only differentiated radio network focusing on well profiled upscale educated Indians and this is a natural extension for us in Chennai to be ‘away from the herd’. This is what prepares us better for the next phase of FM radio in India.”