Era's flagship frequency slot, which is 103.3 FM in
Klang Valley, was originally known as
Classic Rock, one of the five radio stations first introduced by
AMP Radio Networks along with
Hitz FM,
Mix FM,
Light & Easy and TalkRadio (whose frequencies were taken over by
My FM on 1 August that year). It launched on the Malaysian FM airwaves in January 1997 after being one of Astro's audio-only channels since the launch of the satellite network in October the year before. Over the one-year period, demand grew for radio content in Bahasa Malaysia, as listeners who were exposed to AMP's English brands wanted the same formats but in other major local languages. This compelled AMP to make changes to its line-up, swapping Classic Rock to Era FM, leaving Classic Rock as an Astro-only radio station. On 1 August 1998, Era FM went on air as the first private radio station to be broadcast completely in the Malay language, with "Hijau" by Zainal Abidin, which is a trademark for the radio station, being the first song to be played on the radio station, ending the monopoly of Malay-language radio stations run by state-run
Radio RTM. Era FM was once the leader in Malay-language FM radio stations, but has lost its popularity to its sister station,
Sinar FM. In 2012, Era FM regained the top spot as the most popular radio station in Malaysia with close to 5 million listeners. Era FM is the first radio station in Malaysia to hold three records in the Malaysia Book Of Records since 1998. On 2 January 2018, Era FM was rebranded to ERA in a move by Astro Radio to integrate multiple platforms beyond traditional radio.
Era in East Malaysia Prior to 2000, like its main sister stations, Era FM did not have any stations in Sabah and Sarawak. In 2010, Era FM began opt-out programming for Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, with their own studio and on-the-ground team in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, respectively; as well as local announcers and DJs conversing in Malay and different East Malaysian languages. Between 2017 and 2018, Sabah and Sarawak opt-outs were upgraded to full-fledged local outlets, with all content originating from their respective capital cities 24 hours a day, and ending reliance with its Kuala Lumpur flagship during off-peak hours. Era FM Sabah became fully-local on 24 April 2017; Era Sarawak followed suit on 22 January 2018.
Downsizing of ERA Sabah and ERA Sarawak On 30 September 2023, layoffs were imposed to local staffing in Sabah and Sarawak, which led to the end of five to six years of ERA's state-based feeds from Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, respectively. The following day, all transmitters in East Malaysia carrying ERA were downgraded back into direct relays from Kuala Lumpur. On 8 January 2024, ERA Sarawak and ERA Sabah partially reintroduced local programming, albeit with presenters originating from Astro's HQ in Bukit Jalil. ==Frequencies and availability==