A new Hindi radio station has entered the UAE airwaves.
Launched two months ago, Josh 97.8 - complete with a signature tune composed by the Grammy award winner AR Rahman - is the seventh FM Hindi radio station operating in the UAE and the second to begin transmission this year.
In February, the Indian giant Radio Mirchi (launched by Abu Dhabi Media, which also owns The National) began broadcasting to immediate success.
Josh's manager, Madhura Rajendra, expects a similar response to the fledgling station, which is aimed at the 18- to 35-year-old market, as it attempts to shake up tried and tested formats.
"Josh means energy, passion and drive," she says. "The music will be cutting edge. There will be no 'I listen to this music because my dog died' kind of songs."
Rajendra says that although the local Hindi-radio market is saturated, research into the development of Josh found large levels of dissatisfaction among listeners.
"They are not happy with what they are getting," she says.
"This is because there are a lot of stations wanting to be everything to everybody. This is why we have gone the other way. We are more specific. We don't play any oldies. We have lots of music and very little talk. This is what our potential listeners told us [they wanted]."
One such listener has now become the Late Night Josh presenter Preetam, a 20-year-old Dubai student who sent in his demo tape to an impressed Rajendra.
"He said 'I wanted to be on the radio' and we invited him for an audition," she says. "He came in and proved he had what it takes."
Preetam and the Express host Zainab are making their radio debuts alongside the well established morning announcer Anjan, who has more than a decade's experience in India.
Rajendra hopes the dynamic team members will make their mark on the radio landscape, and judging by the early feedback, they are well on their way.
"The reaction has been great," she says. "We are getting a lot of feedback as well as international listeners like Ethiopians and Emiratis. Things are going well."
You can tune in to Josh on 97.8 FM. For more information, visit www.joshfm.ae
sasaeed@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Soldier F
“I was in complete disgust at the fact that only one person was to be charged for Bloody Sunday.
“Somebody later said to me, 'you just watch - they'll drop the charge against him'. And sure enough, the charges against Soldier F would go on to be dropped.
“It's pretty hard to think that 50 years on, the State is still covering up for what happened on Bloody Sunday.”
Jimmy Duddy, nephew of John Johnson
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
