Kool 101 (formerly Kool FM and then Buletin FM, stylised as KOOL 101) is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n private

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

owned by Media Prima Berhad through its radio subsidiary, Media Prima Audio, which broadcasts in the

Malay language Malay ( , ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays (ethnic group), Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on the mainland Asia. The lang ...

. It was launched on 1 March 2016. It is the fourth radio station from Media Prima Audio after

Eight FM Eight FM (formerly Wanita FM, One FM and 8FM) is a Malaysian Chinese-language radio station and owned by Media Prima. History Eight FM began broadcasting in 2006 as a women's radio station called "Wanita FM", which was acquired by Media Pr ...

, Fly FM, Hot FM and before Molek FM. The radio station is based on the acquisition of Laureate Sdn. Bhd. in October 2015, which owns Ultra FM and Pi Mai FM. Kool 101 is the first Media Prima radio station to remove the " FM" suffix from its brand name.

History

2016-2019: Classic hits & adult contemporary format

Originally, Kool FM targeted listeners from the country's

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

, with songs being played mostly from the 1980s and 1990s, but it also included some songs from the 2000s and 2010s. The name was based on the band Kool and the Gang.

2020-2021: Shift to talk radio

On 3 January 2020, Kool FM rebranded with a new logo. It changed its radio format into

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

from 6 January with the tagline ''Suara Semasa'', focusing on current affairs, social and community, and various talk and infotainment programmes. The announcers as well as the music playing on the station (80s, 90s and current songs) would remain. Beginning 4 May 2021, the station broadcast simultaneously on TV9, every day from 3:30 - 4:30 am.

2021-2023: Rebrand to Buletin FM

On 2 August 2021, Kool FM was renamed as Buletin FM and rebranded as the most focused and credible news radio station, with Ally and Hawa (from ''Malaysia Hari Ini'' and ''Buletin Utama''

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

respectively) as the new announcers. Buletin FM will complement

's news and current affairs programming and compete with Bernama Radio. The live audio simulcast of ''Buletin Utama'' from TV3 began on air from 2 August 2021 to 31 May 2022 every weekday. On 29 November 2021, Buletin FM broadcasts in

Kuala Terengganu Kuala Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay language, Terengganu Malay: ''Kole Tranung''), colloquially referred to as KT, is the administrative, economic and royal List of capitals in Malaysia, city of the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. Kuala Tereng ...

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

and

Kota Bharu Kota Bharu ( Kelantanese: ''Koto Baghu''), colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mout ...

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

were discontinued. It was replaced by Molek FM on 9 January 2022. On 14 March 2022, Buletin FM changed its tagline again from "Info Terkini & Muzik Sepanjang Zaman" to "Isu Semasa dan Info Terkini". From 28 March 2022, Buletin FM no longer broadcast temporarily through the MYTV platform.

2023-now: Rebrand to Kool 101

According to the GfK Radio Audience Measurement Wave 1 2023, Buletin FM recorded 133,000 weekly listeners, the lowest number of weekly listeners recorded on any Media Prima owned stations (compared to the previous Kool FM branding which recorded 701,000 weekly listeners in late 2020). Because such a large number of weekly listeners were lost and its previous role as an all-news radio didn't work well, Buletin FM ceased using the brand on 17 June 2023. The station was later rebranded as Kool 101 on 3 July 2023. The name "Kool 101" was chosen as it is more relevant to the current situation where most listeners are familiar with the original Kool FM name. The number " 101" on the station name refers to giving basic knowledge of the topic, as well as being the frequency used for the Klang Valley, dating back to the early broadcast as Ultra FM. The music playlist has changed to play more Malaysian adult contemporary based music from the 90s to now. Indonesian and English songs were occasionally played with Malay music rarely featured on Kool 101. In December 2023, TV9 temporarily stopped simulcasting Kool 101 due to low listenership. It was replaced by Hot FM simulcast from Tuesday - Saturday 3:30am – 4:30 am and Monday 3:40am – 4:40am but brought back simulcast on same TV channel in January 2024 from the same timetable. Kool 101 began broadcasting from its new studios in Balai Berita, Bangsar on 6 January 2025.

Notable announcers

Current

Aznil Nawawi Yang Berbahagia Datuk Aznil bin Haji Nawawi (born 6 November 1962), better known as Aznil Nawawi (sometimes he credited as Aznil Haji Nawawi, Aznil or Pak Nil), is a Malaysian TV host, singer and actor. He won the Best Talk Show Award at th ...

* Haiza * Muaz Mohamed * Jamal Jamaluddin

Frequency

Radio

Television

Similar radios

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References

External links

* * {{coord missing, Malaysia 2016 establishments in Malaysia Radio stations in Malaysia Malay-language radio stations Radio stations established in 2016 Media Prima Adult contemporary radio stations Talk radio stations