The or is
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
's only network of multi-lingual
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...
stations. The network was established in December 1999. Currently all such stations are members of the network. The flagship station is
InterFM
InterFM (JODW-FM 89.7 MHz Tokyo, 76.5 MHz Yokohama) is a Japanese commercial radio station on the FM band, transmitting in the Greater Tokyo area (including Narita International Airport), and owned and operated by . Since September 202 ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
.
They all broadcast in
FM. It is the latest network, third national FM network and the fifth in radio in general in Japan.
Operation
As a network of foreign-language focused FM radio stations which serve four major metropolitan areas, MegaNet reaches about 65% of Japan's population. However, unlike the rival network
JFL, MegaNet doesn't have an affiliate in
Hokkaido
is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
. MegaNet lost an affiliate in
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
when Radio-i closed in 2010, reducing its affiliates to three; MegaNet returned to Aichi in April 2014 as InterFM Nagoya and change name as Radio Neo in October 2015.
Initially, it was planned that affiliate stations in the network would only share information and produce and broadcast shows independently. However, recently the network has begun to broadcast flagship station InterFM's programming across the entire network.
During the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
held in Japan and Korea, the network capitalized on the fact that it was targeted towards foreigners by being the only FM network offering live coverage of Japan's games, as well as broadcasting news in English to foreign tourists in the country for the games. (MegaNet is a member of the
Japan Consortium
The is a joint venture set up by the Japanese public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corp. ( NHK) and several commercial television and radio networks under the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) in 1984 to cover broadc ...
). They also broadcast games from the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...
in Germany in conjunction with other radio stations, however
FM COCOLO
is a multilingual FM radio station owned and operated by FM 802 Co., Ltd. The station broadcasts on the 76.5 MHz FM to the Kansai area which includes Osaka, Kyoto, Hyōgo(city of Kobe), Nara, Shiga, and Wakayama prefectures. FM Cocolo's fo ...
did not participate.
MegaNet stations
Current
Defunct
References
:ja:MegaNet as of 2007-06-05T22:26.
{{Japan radio networks
Radio in Japan
Japanese radio networks
Radio stations established in 1999
1999 establishments in Japan