Bad news, peeps. We just got tipped that 2 English Star Media Radio Group channels will cease operations sometime this month.
An insider source who declined to be named told us that Capital FM (88.9 FM), Malaysia’s only women-centric radio station, is the first to go.
As Malaysia’s first and only station dedicated to women, Capital FM was the perfect platform and sounding board for women to air their views and share their thoughts. Personally, we loved the idea behind it but perhaps it was too niche and therefore too narrow a reach.
And actually, it was fairly easy to tell that Capital FM was dunzo considering the fact that the station has been playing only music for a few weeks now. Also, Capital FM’s last Instagram post was some 9 weeks ago.
Plus we’ve seen the not-so-subtle goodbye posts from some of the Capital FM talents (DJs/announcers):
#CapitalWave, over & out! Thank you so much for all the love on today’s show. Your calls and messages have made my day! It’s been a ride the past year and a half and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. I’m going to miss keeping you company on #CapitalWave. Thank you so much for the love and support so far. But here’s to new beginnings! Stay in touch, exciting stuff to come x A photo posted by Ashley Chan (@ashleycwc) on
The other English Star Media Radio Group channel that will also cease operations before the year ends is Red FM (104.9 FM), one of Malaysia’s top 5 English radio stations.
We’ll be honest and say that this came as a bit of a surprise to us because Red FM actually has a long history in radio. Formerly known as Rediffusion Malaysia, the radio station originates back to 1949. It was one of the first commercial cable-transmitted radio stations in Malaysia.
After several frequency changes and rebranding attempts, Red FM was finally acquired by Star Media Group Berhad in 2003. The current reincarnation was in 2008, when it dropped the 104.9 in the Red 104.9 FM, to became Red FM only.
And now, the golden question: “What happens to the talents and the channels?”
Capital FM talents exited the building in September while Red FM talents were just told during a meeting this morning that their last day with the station is on 31st December. Quite a bummer, really 🙁
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V44fbCCnzK4
As for the stations, our source told us that they’ll still be on air until Star Media Radio Group decides what to do with them. Whether or not Capital FM and Red FM will be rebranded or sold off altogether remains to be seen.
Star Media Radio Group has 2 other channels under their umbrella: Suria FM (105.3 FM, Malay) and 988 FM (98.8 FM, Chinese).
Meanwhile, feel free to reach out to the Red FM talents and send them your messages of support:
- Terry: Instagram, Twitter
- Jeremy Teo: Instagram, Twitter
- Ezra: Instagram, Twitter
- Kavin Jay: Instagram, Twitter
- Azura: Instagram, Twitter
- Jaydee: Instagram, Twitter
- JJ: Instagram, Twitter
As at time of writing, Star Media Radio Group/Red FM has yet to release an official statement regarding the above news. But we’ll update this post with more information as soon as we have ’em.
