The or is Japan'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 transm ...

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 2020, ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. 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 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 football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea ...

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 broadca ...

). 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