In today’s technological age and consumer-driven economy, Singapore’s Chinese radio stations are mainly concerned with listenership figures, which predominantly determine their survival and success.
In their race towards attaining greater listenership, these radio stations are gradually losing their identities. Greater uniformity in song features and discussion content are key factors that account for such a trend.
Individual identities of many Chinese radio stations across the region have been declining, especially within Singapore. A predominant factor behind this trend lies in the declining number of the target audience, specifically those below the age of 35. This is due to the growing popularity of alternative forms of entertainment, such as online radio channels, social media platforms (eg. Facebook, Twitter) and online broadcasting avenues (eg. YouTube, DailyMotion).
As a result, many local radio stations are now aiming to attract greater numbers of middle-aged (35-59 years old) listeners, in addition to their pre-existing group of core target listeners. As most of the middle-aged in Singapore have greater purchasing power, they could help boost the radio station’s appeal towards various advertisers.
However, such ‘strategy’ adopted by these radio stations might provoke a backlash as more high quality and niche radio programmes, targeted towards a smaller group of audience, is being demolished.
For instance, the once-popular jazz radio show UrbanNite on UFM100.3 was terminated due to the relatively lower commercial revenue that it generated, as compared to other programmes for the general audience.
Another example would be a local paid radio service, Rediffusion. Offering unique and alternative radio programmes, it had once reached its peak with an impressive number of 120,000 paid subscribers in the 1980s.
Traditional storytelling programmes, hosted by ex-local radio veterans Lee Dai Soh (or Li Da Sha) and Wang Dao, were extremely popular on Rediffusion. However, as time passed, listenership began to decline and this led to the closing down of the historic cable radio service in 2012. It was announced in December 2012 that a new form of Rediffusion would be launched, with an array of radio shows that would appeal more to general public preferences.
Instead of cultivating a radio listening culture among the younger generation, the radio industry is focusing on retaining its older listeners. Songs broadcasted are those from the 1980s to 2010, with many repetitions of singers such as Jacky Cheung, Zhang Hui Mei, Aaron Kwok, Daniel Chan and Julie Su (more commonly known as Su Rui). Additionally, the content of news discussed is centred on entertainment, family and relationship issues.
Such moves could be unfavourable for the local Chinese radio industry. Young listeners below the age of 35 might be disinterested in Chinese radio stations if programme contents do not appeal to them.
They might also have difficulty in identifying the radio stations. In the next 20 years, without the existing group of older listeners, local radio industry might face serious survival problems. A major re-adjustment of programme contents would have to be carried out so as to suit the preferences of the new batch of audience.
It is extremely important to cultivate a more appealing radio environment to the younger generation as well. It is also crucial for each radio station to constantly create new ideas and concepts and to develop a unique identity, instead of accommodating to the needs of advertisers or focusing on listenership figures. This provides a greater variety of choices and attracts listeners of different age groups.
How are radio listenership surveys conducted in Singapore?
Every year, between March to May and September to November, Nielsen will randomly choose 2000 respondents to fill in a manual form or opt-in for mobile data (M-data) to track on your radio listening habits. The figures collected will be used to compare against the Singapore population. A detailed report will then be generated to provide details of every radio station, such as the tuned-in ratio figure, total market share, and total time spent, etc for each station.
Due to COVID-19, there were no results tabulated for Wave 1/2020. During the wave periods, radio stations usually hold contests that give out huge cash prizes and organize big campaigns, hoping to up the listening figures.
In Singapore, we have 19 stations in total. 11 are owned by Mediacorp, 5 are owned by SPH Radio, 2 are from So Drama! Entertainment and one syndicated station (BBC World Service 88.9FM). There used to be Lush99.5FM, but was closed down due to Low listenership; XFM96.3 was vacated and the frequency was returned to IMDA and later placed on an open bid. SPH won the bid and the new 96.3HaoFM was launched in January 2018, together with MoneyFM89.3.
As this radio diary survey or less commonly known as Singapore’s RAM (Radio Audience Measurement), is commissioned by MediaCorp and SPH Radio, So Drama! Entertainment was excluded from the survey. The actual figures for both 883Jia and Power98 Love Songs radio stations are only reflected under the Others section.
RAM’s next renewal is due next year, with the option to renew for up to 2 years (2021 – 2022).
Other research companies which does radio listenership surveys include YouGov, Milieu and etc.
So… how is Milieu media consumption survey conducted then?
The methodology used by Milieu to gauge Singaporeans’ media consumption survey is different from Nielsen’s. They would first sieve out users who live in Singapore (from the 1 million user pool worldwide) and purge the survey randomly to those who fulfil the criteria set by the client (i.e. age, occupation, income group etc).
The survey would first ask what station(s) does the user listen to daily. For those stations that the user does not select, there is no way he or she can provide additional inputs on that station, even if you do listen to it occasionally. That’s the major downside of this survey.
Comparatively, Nielsen’s manual diary and M-data disallows survey participants to indicate that they are listening to two stations concurrently, and are recorded based on blocks of 15 minutes (total hours per day should not exceed 24 hours too). As for Milieu, it is an open field for you to fill in how many hours do you tune in per day, and it does not need to add up to a logical number of hours per day.
本地展开的 “民众通讯使用与习惯 (Selected Primary Internet Activities by Age Group – Communication Activities)” 的报告中显示，逾70%的年轻人（15-24岁）和约53%的成人听众（25至34岁）几乎每天都会上网接收海外影音内容。
尼尔森近期公布的 “民众广播收听习惯调查” (Nielsen’s Radio Diary Survey) 更显示，本地电台听众持续收听的时长整体明显下降，主要是因为年轻受众大量流失，加上大部分的中年听众（35-50岁）还是以车载调频收音机(in-car tune in radio)收听广播，并以早上7点至9点，和傍晚5点30分至7点为收听巅峰。
When you were young, do you remember eagerly wanting to grow up? Those times were the best days of our lives, when we were in our best shape. For love, friendship, kinship, we went all out to experience life without any reservations.
Leading up to 96.3 Hao FM’s upcoming 2nd birthday on 8 January 2020, the station is excited to present listeners its best side through Radio Drama series <The Best of Us>. Acclaimed Director Boris Boo was invited to write the scripts for the Radio Drama series, and the station hopes to showcase DJs’ interpretation of the script through honest performances.
<The Best of Us> is the first Radio Drama since the station’s establishment. Without any fancy special effects and exaggerated storyline, it hopes to feature life as it is.
96.3 Hao FM’s Senior Program Director Carine Ang says: “The initial concept was to write a letter to our 16 year old selves. Looking back at my past, there have been many beautiful moments worth capturing. After much discussion with Boris Boo, we developed five different storylines. It feels like with each story it gets more and more interesting. We are really thankful to Royal Caribbean International for supporting our proposal. I hope the listeners will enjoy it.”
There is a total of 20 episodes in this series, centered on five key stories. Through the DJs’ interpretation, the stories probe into the emotions of love, loss, sorrow, and hope, to summon your hopes for the future, and to act as a reminder to love without reservations.
Scriptwriter Boris Boo says: “I took on this job as a scriptwriter for the Radio Drama as I found it interesting. In comparison to visual mediums, radio has a bigger space for story development because it doesn’t require physical settings, but relies only on voices and sound effects. Any scenario can be conceived without creative constraints. The possibilities are limitless!”
<The Best of Us> will start airing from 14 October onwards on 96.3 Hao FM. The Radio drama will be aired once on every time belt at 9.40am, 12.40pm, 4.40pm and 8.40pm. To find out more about <The Best of Us>, please visit 963haofm.sg or stay tuned on air.
96.3好FM1月8日庆祝2岁生日，作为生日活动的第一炮，96.3好FM率先在去年10月底推出首部广播剧《最好的我们》。
你是否还记得年轻时，急着要快点长大，恨不得赶快要脱离少年时期的我们？那是我们一生中最好的时光，也是处于“最好状态”的我们。对爱情、友情、亲情都是那么奋不顾身，毫无保留地去爱，去体会。
