Galli Galli Sim Sim goes beyond TV; launches on Radio

Kicked off from 6^th June, the rand new radio program is reaching out to children across 11 cities in India.

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 24, 2011

Galli Galli Sim Sim, the beloved children's television program on the leading Indian kids' channels, Cartoon Network & POGO, now launches a brand new radio program reaching out to children across 11 cities in India. Kicked off from June 6^th, Grover & his friends in the new Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program is being broadcast on All India Radio in the cities of  Alwar (Rajasthan), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) Jallandhar (Punjab), Jammu (Jammu & Kashmir), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Raigarh (Chhattisgarh), Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) and Udaipur (Rajasthan).

The new Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program is part of the Healthy Habits for Life campaign supported by MetLife Foundation and also includes a TV sponsorship. The radio episodes promote messages such as hand washing with soap, eating healthy foods and a balanced diet, getting physical activity, the importance of immunization, and more. The content of the Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program has been produced by adapting material from over 1500 existing Galli Galli Sim Sim television segments. It will be aired thrice a week over a period of 52 weeks.

The radio show also has a contest wherein every week children across these cities will get a chance to win a Galli Galli Sim Sim goody bag and at the end of the contest 11 children will also get a chance to come to Delhi and meet with the much loved muppets, Chamki and Grover!

The Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program is the only show currently on air for the young children and will reach out to millions of homes, including those without access to television. Although television viewership ranges between 58%-94% in the cities where Galli Galli Sim Sim will be broadcast, television viewership in surrounding rural areas is much lower, ranging from 31%-56%.<1> Public radio, on the other hand, covers 91% of the population nationwide.<2>

The 11 cities selected for the broadcast of the Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program are located in states where there is a great need for health communication interventions.  Data from the most recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) indicate that the states covered by the program have high rates of preventable conditions such as childhood anemia, which affects 68%-80% of children across the states, and low rates of appropriate care for diarrhea, with less than half of children receiving appropriate care.<3>Galli Galli Sim Sim's Healthy Habits for Life campaign in partnership with MetLife Foundation addresses these messages and other key areas of concern.

There is a critical need to foster healthy habits in young children in India. During early childhood, children form habits and tastes that last a lifetime,<4> providing a window of opportunity to promote positive behaviors that could last well into adulthood, such as eating healthy foods, washing hands with soap, and choosing healthy snacks.

“MetLife Foundation is proud to continue its partnership with Sesame Workshop to help educate families in India on the importance of establishing healthy habits at a young age,” said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation. “The new Galli Galli Sim Sim radio program will help us reach hundreds of thousands of children with simple yet important messages that will impact the way they live today and beyond.”

Sashwati Banerjee, Executive Director of Galli Galli Sim Sim says, “We're really excited about extending Galli Galli Sim Sim on radio to reach many more children and families with additional messages on health and nutrition. Given the immense need to promote good health and nutrition in India, this is a very important venture to us, which supplements the work we're already doing via television and outreach.”

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<1>These ranges represent data for four of the six states where data are available from the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), 2010.

<2>All India Radio Webpage. Retrieved August 4, 2010 from http://allindiaradio.org/about1.html

<3> National Family and Health Survey III (NFHS-3) Webpage, Fact Sheets. Available from http://www.nfhsindia.org/factsheet.html

<4>Birch L. (1998). Development of Food Acceptance Patterns in the First Years of Life.Proc Nutr Soc.;57:617­624.

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