Initial broadcasts In 1922, a series of government committees were constituted to look into the licensing requirement for receiving, transmitting, and broadcasting radio signals throughout the
British Empire. In 1924, only 17 licenses were issued in Singapore, mostly for experiments to ascertain the equipment necessary for
wireless transmissions, while the issuance of licenses to amateurs remained suspended. Operating under the callsign, 1SE (One Singapore Experimental), the station used a 100-watt transmitter lent by the
Marconi Company to transmit its signals from the top floor of the Union Building, Collyer Quay. Its first concert transmission was broadcast in April 1925. The transmissions could be received from as far as
Penang, albeit with atmospheric interferences at times.
BBC World Service The
BBC World Service of the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was inaugurated on 19 December 1932, as the BBC Empire Service, broadcasting on
shortwave and aimed principally at
English speakers across the
British Empire. In his first
Christmas Message (1932),
King George V characterized the service as intended for "men and women, so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them". First hopes for the Empire Service were low. The
Director-General,
Sir John Reith, said in the opening program: Don't expect too much in the early days; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes, to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone. The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good. Since 1976, the World Service has been relayed in FM in Singapore through a long-term partnership between the BBC and Mediacorp.
Radio Singapura Radio Singapura, the first local radio service, was launched on 4 January 1959, months before Singapore gained gradual autonomy from the United Kingdom. Radio Singapura subsequently became part of
Radio Television Singapore (RTS), which in turn became part of the
Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). After SBC was fully
privatised, it became the
Radio Corporation of Singapore (RCS), which would later become the radio broadcasting division of
Mediacorp.
Rediffusion Singapore With the success of Radio Singapura, another key player in the broadcasting industry in the pre-independence Singapore,
Rediffusion Singapore, introduced cable broadcasting service to Singapore in 1949. Rediffusion Singapore brought radio to housing areas which lacked sufficient radio reception with improvements in radio broadcasting. Radio Rediffusion, the pioneer
cable-radio operator on Clemenceau Avenue, continued to operate in the modern era of radio broadcasting in Singapore. However, it was not entirely able to technological advancements over time. Radio Rediffusion operated successfully for several years on a subscription-based model, and while the service did make the
digital transition (as well as pioneering the use of encrypted DAB+), it was evident that more changes were needed to maintain the operation. These changes were insufficient, however, and led to it eventually closing down. Its name and assets were sold off in 2012.
NTUC Heart (1991-2001) The
National Trades Union Congress began planning to operate its radio station in 1990, with the launch set for early 1991. with 10% aside for Malay and Tamil programmes on the two stations respectively. NTUC would later adopt the name
Radio Heart in January 1991, which was also the name of its sponsored radio programme, "Voice from the Heart", which aired on SBC. His brief speech at 10:45 am was followed by NTUC's theme song, "Voices from the Heart", requested by Ong himself to the NTUC members. Radio Heart was operated by NTUC Voice Cooperative Society Limited, which also owned "other communication and publication ventures", with studios located at the basement of Singapore Labour Foundation building at Thomson Road. On 15 July 1991, transmissions of Radio Heart's 91.3 and 100.3 were suspended for 32 hours due to problems with the transmitter at the SLF building in Thomson Road. Both stations resumed broadcasting on 17 July on low power. In October 1992, Heart 91.3 revamped its programming to shed its "teeny-bopper" image and to appeal to a wider audience, with each programme having a specific theme and play a wide range of music from
reggae to
country. The changes were not related to the competition with SBC as their target audience was different. By 1992, Heart 91.3 had an average daily listenership of 61,000, or three percent of adults, lower than the Class 95 and Perfect 10. in Orchard Road, operating from 12 pm to 8 pm. Over four hours of live programming came from the studio, with 91.3 from 12 to 2 pm and 100.3 from 6 to 8 pm. As part of National Day celebrations in August 1993, 91.3 aired Lion City Heartbeat, airing only Singaporean music throughout its broadcast day, divided into easy listening, blues and alternative. The station collaborated with local magazine BigO for sourcing older music materials and relevant information. The broadcast continued the following year, lasting for 21 hours. On 3 September 1995, Heart 91.3 relaunched as a station playing adult contemporary songs targeting listeners aged between 25 and 45 to avoid the misconception that the station is for the younger listeners. In October 1995, NTUC members proposed to Radio Heart to use Standard Malay in its programmes; however it was already implemented. The members also propose Radio Heart to air Malay programmes in earlier slots for the convenience of listeners. In 1997, Radio Heart 100.3 had a core group of 250,000 listeners aged between 25 and 40 and are blue and white-collar workers. It also had six deejays, each of them had assigned nicknames that end with "Heart". The tentative name of the new company was UnionWorks and the relaunch was initially set for the end of May. Ahead of the relaunch of More Music as WKRZ, SPH MediaWorks announced that it would carry at least 22 hours of syndicated MTV content per week. On 3 October 2001, SPH Radio Broadcasting Arm, a joint management between SPH Multimedia and NTUC Media was launched as SPH UnionWorks; owns, manages, and operates
UFM 1003 and
WKRZ 91.3FM. Both radio stations were simply re-branded and resume operations of Heart 100.3FM and More Music 91.3FM previously wholly owned by NTUC Media. More Music was given a US-style name, going under the fake callsign WKRZ, and Heart FM was renamed UFM, in a tie-in to
Channel U.
So Drama! Entertainment So Drama! Entertainment is managed by the
SAFRA National Service Association, a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to the welfare of
National Servicemen (colloquially called "NSmen"). So Drama! Entertainment runs two stations,
Power 98 Love Songs and
88.3Jia, broadcasting in English and
Mandarin Chinese respectively. The stations cater to national and professional servicemen, and both radio stations are entertainment-based, featuring modern commercial music and the latest entertainment news.
SPH Media SPH Media operates five radio stations in Singapore: • Money FM 89.3, an English-language business news/talk station which launched in January 2018. •
One FM 91.3, an English-language
adult hits station. • Kiss92 FM, an English-language
adult contemporary station which launched in September 2012. • 96.3 Hao FM, a Mandarin-language
classic hits station which launched in January 2018. •
UFM100.3, a Mandarin-language adult hits station. ==Radio stations==