Neerav Patel, Empire’s COO, crucial to station’s success.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The Empire Broadcasting Corp. has launched a brand-new station in the Albany area, due largely to the efforts of company Chief Operating Officer (COO) Neerav Patel.
Patel, who has the distinction of being named to the Albany Business Review’s “40 Under 40” list in 2013, has been shepherding the company through a time in which it has rebranded itself and is doubling up efforts to take over traditional and online airwaves. Its new station, Mix 106.1 FM, is somewhat revolutionary in that the Empire has taken research from the last 25 years to determine what the most popular songs have been, and play those almost exclusively.
In an interview with the Albany Business Review, Patel explained that people tend to develop their lifelong musical tastes in their teen years, during middle and high school, but there are no radio stations playing those songs for people who are currently in their 50s, 40s, or even 30s.
Patel has said that the station will also be simulcast in AM on station 1160, and that within the next few months, Mix FM will have its own website, so that listeners can stream the station’s content on their Internet-connected device from wherever they are.
Patel has been the COO of Empire Broadcasting since June of 2012. Prior to that, he was the President of Scanris Teleradiology, the Executive Vice-President of The Hernia Institute, the General Manager of WVCR-FM, and also founded his own company, Patel Wellness Opportunities, in 2000.
He earned his B.S. in Finance from Siena College, and his M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. According to his LinkedIn page, he is currently in the process of getting his M.S. in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University. Originally from Mumbai, he currently resides in Clifton Park, New York, with his wife and daughter.