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It is music for capital residers

ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi radio junkies now have the pleasure of catching all the action from the popular radio channels - 1078 Arabic FM and 1048 Channel 4 FM - right here in the capital, following the channel's move to start a full-fledged radio station at the Abu Dhabi Mall.

According to DJ Hussain Ibrahim, Channel 4 FM's Representative in Abu Dhabi, who is also DJ-ing for Al Rabiya FM, the channel has been present in Abu Dhabi intermittently over the last three years, although it is only now that it has been thinking of making itself more permanent here.

A full-fledged studio is being established by the Channel on the third floor of the mall Channel 1078 presently has a three-hour daily show being telecast live from the main atrium of the mall.

"Over the years, we have seen a definite peak in our listeners from Abu Dhabi, but now with a definite presence here, we are closer to where the action is, and as of April 20, we have had a regular Arabic show from 4pm to 7pm daily, with an English on Thursday one by our counterpart, 1048 Channel 4 FM," he said.

The Arabic channel now airs talk shows, music, local news, weather forecasts, Mall and capital updates, and a variety of competitions and game shows, like ever-popular "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" with a mall winner being picked and over Dh2,000 in cash being awarded daily, with a potential winner bagging Dh50 for getting the first question right, Dh100 for the second, Dh500 for the third, and on the fourth question, being given an option to double his or her winnings or quit without anything if he or she got the answer wrong.

"Abu Dhabi is growing in importance and becoming more action-packed, and we are looking at promoting the city as well, which is gaining a lot of reverse traffic from Dubai and the Northern Emirates today, we want to tell people that there is much going on in Abu Dhabi too, come and check it out!" he chuckled.

Grant Hawkins, who runs Channel 4FM's English show from the Mall live on Thursday, between 4 and 7pm, noted that although initially there weren't too many people in Abu Dhabi and its vicinity who were even able to tune into the channel, because of a weak signal, all that has changed with the new transponder that has been put up in the capital, showing a perceptible increase in the programme ratings from the region.

"We presently manage to relay information on all the mall special events, in addition to the music, news, forecasts etc, and everything is done live It is going great, and we hope to increase if not the time of the show, at least the content to add on celebrity interviews and stuff," he said.

Annalisa Clarke, Marketing Manager of Abu Dhabi Mall, said the development has been mutually beneficial, with Channel 4 now getting many more listeners in and around Abu Dhabi, while the mall gets more mileage for its different community events, in addition to increasing the flow of traffic into the mall.

"People are enjoying the new Millionaire Show There is a lot of anticipation in the air We are also planning to bring in celebrity pop stars both Arabic and English," she said.