Josh 97.8 FM, the emirate’s newest Hindi-Urdu music station

Dubai Josh 97.8 FM, the emirate’s newest Hindi-Urdu music station, and part of Gulf News Broadcasting (GNB), has inaugurated its three-week launch promotion - The Josh Jackpot, offering 300 grams of gold.

The simple mechanics of the contest require listeners to text the word ‘Josh’ with their names to 6363 to enter their names in the draw. From Sunday to Thursday, presenters will pick winners. The contest will run from 6am to 8pm across four shows — Josh Jumpstart, Midday Josh, Josh Afternoons and Josh Drive.

Madhura Rajendra, Head of Josh 97.8 FM said, “Next week, listeners who can say the word ‘Josh’ the longest in a single breath will get the prize. In the concluding week, we will up the ante, and listeners will have to really work to win themselves the bumper prizes.”

She explained that during the first week there were 10 grams of gold given twice a day; during the second week there will also be 10 grams of gold given twice daily; and in the concluding week there will be two bumper draws of 50 grams of gold each on Josh Jumpstart and Josh Drive.

Ending on July 21, 2012, the contest will be a hit with the South Asian audience. “It is a simple interactive contest - easy to understand and tempting to participate in, and everybody loves the yellow metal.” said Rajendra.

Listeners who have sampled the station’s edgy programming have responded with a thumbs-up. Rajendra said apart from South Asian expatriates, Ethiopian, Emirati and Egyptian listeners, have also responded through texts, social media and website (www.joshfm.ae), saying how they are “loving the new sound and line-up of shows”.

The station is positioned to attract young residents and has to its credit several unique aspects including a signature tune composed by Oscar-winning music maestro, A.R. Rahman and exclusive news by the BBC World Service. GNB’s existing FM stations are Radio 1 (English, 104.1/100.5), Radio 2 (English, 99.3 and 106), Hayat (Arabic, 95.6) and Hum (Hindi, 106.2).

Last month the Hayat FM station concluded a successful gold promotion, giving away 200 grams over a four-week period.