75 Years of Radio

RADIO

info from ChannelNewsAsia

"It was a night of glitz and glamour at the Capella on Sentosa on Tuesday as MediaCorp Radio celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala dinner.

And, it was nothing short of a starry night with radio's biggest personalities - past and present - celebrating the diamond jubilee.

MediaCorp Radio started out with just one radio station at Empress Place in 1936.

Today, MediaCorp operates 13 FM stations.

Overall, there are 18 FM stations in Singapore now.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of Information, Communications & the Arts, who graced the event, paid tribute to Radio saying it has stayed resilient all these years.

And he's confident that in tandem with the changing media landscape, Radio will adapt and stay exciting to listeners.

Dr Yaacob said: "I believe MediaCorp has done a good job in reinventing Radio .

"Stations and deejays have built up a faithful following and even have presence across media platforms and live shows, giving an added boost in reaching out and keeping the conversation alive even after the music fade."

Mr Shaun Seow, CEO of MediaCorp, said: "American songwriter Bob Dylan once said radio makes hideous sounds. The (late) 38th US president Gerald Ford remarked he listened to a lot of baseball onradio.

"So whether you're a radio fan like Ford or a hater like Dylan, guess what, radio is alive and kicking at 75 years.

"75 long years and radio rocks!"

Mr Seow also paid tribute to those who have contributed to Radio 's success.

"I value even more very special people who have made this all possible, my dedicated radio team........................................................." for more read at CNA

(In my 43 years there I spent most of my time in the TV Engineering Department but had opportunity to manage the radio engineering facilities for a few years. During these few years i met with nice people like Brian Richmond and the late Steven Lee and Vernon Palmer. During the later years when they were about to call it day at Caldecott Hill Vernon and Steven were our regular lunch kakis. I missed the jokes (original ones) from both of them which never failed to make my day.....)

Note: Picture shows a visit 42 years ago by VIPs at the early short wave and medium wave radio broadcasting station in Jurong. In subsequent years transmission technology was replaced by FM and the site at Jurong given way to HDB estate.