XFM 96.3 was a multilingual radio station in Singapore. Owned by the state-owned broadcaster

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. is the state media, state-owned media conglomerate of Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the investment arm of the Government of Singapore—it owns and operates television channels, radio, and digital media properties. ...

, it primarily broadcast news and cultural programming serving expat communities, including blocks of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, simulcasts of programmes from international radio services such as

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

and

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

, and locally-produced cultural programmes in languages such as Japanese and Korean. The station was shut down on 30 September 2016; its frequency was later awarded to SPH Media, who launched 96.3 Hao FM in 2018.

History

The International Channel

Plans for the station was announced by Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo in March 1998, with the tentative name Inter FM, providing programmes in French, Japanese, and German. Ahead of the launch of the station, it was announced that FM 96.3 was going to feature locally-made programming in Japanese, as part of the first phase of the service, set to begin on 14 September 1998. The initial target during the first four weeks of operation was to consist mainly of 25,000 Japanese immigrants residing in Singapore. From 12 October, French and German output were to be added, when the station's regular broadcasts were about to begin. The station started 24/7 broadcasts on 1 January 2008.

XFM

Both the

Media Development Authority The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was founded on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcasti ...

(MDA) and

mutually agreed to cease transmission of the station on 30 September 2016.

stated "new technologies and evolving radio listenership preferences" were the reasons for their evaluation. In 2016, the vacated frequency was tendered and won by SPH Media, which launched the new classic mandopop station 96.3 Hao FM on 8 January 2018.

Programming

* French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: from the outset of the service, the station carried live satellite feeds of RFI and

mostly in their respective languages. * Japanese: the Japanese programme was the oldest to be made for the station, as well as the first to be outsourced, as opposed to be a direct simulcast of a foreign service. Titled ''Hello Singapore'', it was produced by Comm and featured news and music, in contrast to the current affairs and heavy cultural line-up offered by the European providers. News consisted of a daily relay of an

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

news bulletin and reports from the

Asahi Shimbun is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...

and Jiji Press. * Korean: the slot started on 1 February 2008, shortly before the station was renamed. ''Cool K Time'' was produced by Briyo Media.

References

External links

XFM 96.3 Official Website
{{coord missing, Singapore Radio stations in Singapore Radio stations established in 1998 Radio stations disestablished in 2016 1998 establishments in Singapore 2016 disestablishments in Singapore Japanese-language radio stations Korean-language radio stations French-language radio stations German-language radio stations Defunct mass media in Singapore Defunct radio stations

History

The International Channel

XFM

Programming

See also

References

External links