Red FM (Malaysia)

Red FM is a defunct Malaysian English language-private radio

station that used to broadcast across Peninsular Malaysia and Red FM
Singapore. It was managed by Star Media Radio Group [1] (http://
www.smrg.my/), a wholly owned subsidiary of Star Publications
(M) Bhd. Red FM began broadcasting on 1 September 2001 and
was one of Malaysia's top five English radio stations.[1]

The station was targeted at urban and suburban listeners, playing

selected music from the 1980s and 1990s as well as current
favourites. In a 2015 listenership survey done by Gfk, Red FM
commanded a weekly listenership of 325,000, which shows
expansion by 70%.[2]

On 9 September 2016, satellite TV company Astro announced

plans to acquire both Red FM and Capital FM from Star Radio for City Petaling Jaya
a price of RM42 million. Astro intended to rebrand and broadcast
Broadcast West Malaysia and
these two radio stations via on-air and online platforms after
area Singapore
acquisition.[3] The acquisition was completed on 30 December
2016 and these stations are now owned by Astro Radio and no Frequency Varies depending on
longer branded as such. From 1 February 2017 until 2 October its region
2017, these stations broadcast test transmissions for the then- Programming
upcoming rebrand and the official website also stopped
working.[4] Red FM's frequencies are now used by Astro Radio's Language(s) English
newest Muslim-oriented radio station, Zayan FM with effect from Format Talk, contemporary
2 October 2017. hit radio
Ownership
Owner Star Media Group
Contents Berhad
History Sister 988 FM, Capital FM
stations 88.9 and Suria FM
Frequencies
Active History
Defunct First air date 1 September 2001
See also Last air date 31 December 2015,
References 2359 hours

External links Links

Website www.red.fm (http://w
ww.red.fm/)
History (defunct)

The radio station originates back to 1949 as Rediffusion Malaysia by the first commercial cable-transmitted
radio stations. In 1989, Arab-Malaysian Group acquired a 49%-stake in Rediffusion. It changed its name to
Rediffusion Cable Network in 1991. In 1996, FM transmission was launched as a trilingual service. In
December 1997, REDI-FM 98.8 was relaunched as a full-fledged Chinese radio station, ending the
monopoly of the government-owned Radio 5 (now Ai FM) as the only Chinese radio station in Malaysia.
The frequency of Rediffusion was changed to 91.5 FM immediately, and it became a bilingual radio
service. By the end of the year, cable transmission ceased. In 1999, the frequency was changed to 104.9
FM, but 91.5 FM was not taken over by any radio station, until 2001, when IKIM.FM (Malaysia's Islamic
radio station) took over the previous FM slot and began broadcasting. In 2003, RED FM was acquired by
Star Media Group Berhad. The current reincarnation was in 2008, when it dropped the 104.9 in the RED
104.9 FM, to become RED FM only.

Starting from 2016, the radio station would still remain active, albeit with the lack of radio shows and the
public service announcements. News and traffic reports are unaffected. All of these have since stopped
after the acquisition of this station by Astro Radio.

Frequencies

Active

All frequencies are now taken over by Astro Radio's Zayan starting 2 October 2017.

104.9 MHz - Klang Valley

98.1 MHz - Kedah, Perlis, Penang and Taiping, Perak
106.4 MHz - Ipoh, Perak and Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
98.9 MHz - Malacca and North Johor
92.8 MHz - Johor Bahru, Johor and Singapore
91.6 MHz - Kuantan, Pahang

Defunct
98.2 MHz - Taiping, Perak, inactive since May 2009, then replaced by high TX 98.1 MHz
from Gunung Jerai, Kedah.
106.0 MHz - Negeri Sembilan, inactive since June 2009, then replaced by high transmission
power frequency from Gunung Ulu Kali, 104.9 MHz. FM 106.0 MHz is used by City Plus FM
since November 2016.
103.3 MHz - Langkawi, Kedah, inactive since Feb 2001.
101.2 MHz Tapah, inactive since July 2000.
107.6 MHz - Penang, ceased transmission since 16 March 2014, then frequency slot was
taken over by Capital FM on 17 March 2014 and FM 107.6 MHz is used by Go Xuan since 2
October 2017.

See also
Other Rediffusion stations:

Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion
Rediffusion Television (Hong Kong, now known as Asia Television)
Starcom Network - formerly Radio Distribution (Barbados) Limited
Rediffusion Singapore
References
1. http://my.nielsen.com/news/20091020.shtml
2. "Star Radio getting louder" (http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2015/11/28/
star-radio-getting-louder/?style=biz). The Star (Malaysia). 28 November 2015. Retrieved
29 November 2015.
3. "Astro seeks to acquire all of Capital FM for RM42m" (http://www.themalaymailonline.com/m
oney/article/astro-seeks-to-acquire-all-of-capital-fm-for-rm42m#sthash.2sH0TjMp.dpuf). The
Malay Mail. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
4. "Radio industry will remain relevant, says Astro Radio CEO" (http://www.commercialradio.m
y/radio-industry-remain-relevant-astro-radio-ceo/). 23 January 2017. Retrieved 4 February
2017.

External links
Official website (http://www.red.fm)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_FM_(Malaysia)&oldid=1042463623"

This page was last edited on 5 September 2021, at 03:57 (UTC).

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