More Malaya History: Extract From 1988 Media Article
Rediffusion Singapore's station approval was made public in January 1948 and one year later extension of its operation with construction of studios ln Kuala Lumpur was announced. A new service would be made available there first, then later in Ipoh and Penang. Malacca and Seremban also were mentioned as future locations.
Subscribers needed a radio receiver license and with payment of a M$5 monthly fee, they could obtain live and recorded programs from the U.K. and U.S. Some informants suggested that Rediffusion was authorized to operate "in perpetuity" by the British government, but the license granted in 1947 clearly stated that termination would occur by the "effluxion of time," or by December 1. 1969.
Malayan wired radio was approved under peculiar conditions. In March 1947, a confidential letter was sent as an introduction to L. Mansfield-Robinson of Rediffusion by Noel Sabine, an officer employed in the colonial service in London. The note was delivered to P.A.B. McKerron of the government in Singapore in March 1947. Contained in the letter was information about the firm which was described as a "thoroughly reputable and efficient concern with a considerable sense of responsibility." The letter went on to say: "our advice would be that these people would give you a fair deal and good service". As discussions proceeded on a license for wired radio, a major stumbling block was the company's insistence
on the right to carry advertising. The BBC's Director of Overseas Programme Services objected to "the introduction of a commercial element in a Colonial Territory where public service broadcasting is already in operation".
Correspondence between London and Singapore reveals that the government conceded advertising privileges on condition that preference be given to products of "British or British Empire origin". After the agreement was concluded, Noel Sabine left government service to assume a senior position in the Rediffusion corporation in London. This move seemed suspicious to some observers and rumors about use of influence in the licensing procedure began to be heard. Confidential correspondence between colonial officers in London and Singapore reveal an agreement to "deny in strongest terms" such allegations and to claim the letter sent by Sabine to the Singapore government was "unexceptionable.
Following this, a proposal for over-the-air broadcasting by the private radio service was presented to government but it immediately encountered difficulties. There were "legal problems over transmission on private property." A bill was introduced which would have amended the Telegraph Law in the Malay States to enable commercial broadcasting. but opposition arose in April 1949 and the effort was abandoned. Financing also seemed to be a problem. Noel Sabine. then Director of Rediffusion's Broadcast Relay Services, issued a request for local capital to fund construction of facilities. It was emphasized that the government was not a shareholder in the company, although 15 minutes daily were requested for official announcements.
The Malayan branch of Rediffuslon began its service on August 4 1949. In the beginning, the broadcasts' primary function was to relay English transmissions to homes in the region, both from the BBC and local studios of Radio Malaya. Nevertheless, Chinese programs soon became a permanent staple of the wired speaker system, a feature of which were shows in dialect. Radio Malaya scheduled Chinese broadcasts only in Mandarin, and Rediffuslon discovered it was able to gain an audience that the over-the-air service could not reach.
While English continued to be offered on wired speakers. Dialect Chinese programs attracted more listeners, and as independence loomed in the 1950s, the commercial potential for shows aimed at Chinese listeners was clearly better than relays to the declining British audience.
Rediffusion subscribers receive a simple box, about 12 by 16 inches. gray in color with a black speaker grille on its face, A single knob on the unit controlled sound volume. The audio signal arrives at the speaker from an amplifier in the neighborhood. In wired speaker systems, broadcasts are transmitted to homes in the form of amplified audio; only a speaker is needed for the programs to be heard. Like cable systems, vvired speaker radio's coverage areas are limited to ones which have access to the wires and amplifiers. For years, Rediffusion's programs were distributed by the Malaysian Telecommunications Department along with telephone services, but the company now maintains its own distribution system.
Wired speaker radio is most economic in urban areas, and the four zones served by Rediffusion on the Malayan peninsula have the greatest concentrations of population. The total number of persons in coverage areas is a little less than six million. In Malaysia, there are 2.84 million individuals living in the regions served by Rediffusion. Because Chinese have tended to settle in urban areas, they predominate in the coverage zones. In Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Penang. and Butterworth, the proportion of residents who are Chinese is 57.0%. Costs for the service have remained remarkably constant over the years. In 1949 it required M$5 monthly to receive Rediffusion. lt was soon raised to M$6 where it stayed until 1987 when the Malaysian fee was increased to M$7, or about US$2.75 per month. For this sum listeners receive one box providing programs from a single network, installed in a location of the homeowners choice.
Rediffusions programming is broadcast in Teochew. Cantonese. and Hokkien Chinese dialects. In the 1940s when transmissions began, a large proportion of Malayan Chinese spoke only their regional dialect, but in ensuing decades this situation changed.
Program Services of Rediffusion Malaysia
Rediffusion offers home subscribers two networks. each presenting broadcasts in English and various Chinese dialects 18 hours daily. The Gold Network offers programs tn Cantonese and Mandarin supplemented with Malay and English news bulletins relayed from RTM. The Silver Network provides English, Malay. and Chinese shows in Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese. Both sign-on at 6:00am and end their schedules at midnight daily. Of the two services. the largest audiences are garnered by the Gold Network. A separate service is available to hotels within the three service areas providing music programs with little talk. There is no physical link between the headquarters and locations in lpoh and Penang.
Recorded programs produced in Kuala Lumpur are shipped to other centers and outlying stations send their productions to headquarters in exchange. According to Wong Lat Ngo, Programme Manager of Rediffusion Malaya, lpoh and Penang offer some local shows but not more than 10% of the broadcast schedule.
Rediffusions program schedule depends heavily on music and DJ shows, just as radio does nearly everywhere. To support these offerings, an immense record collection has been amassed. reputedly the largest in Southeast Asia. Rediffusion officers indicate there are more than 100.000 items in the holding, in formats of all types. Four full-time staff members are required to tend the library. The majority of recordings are in Chinese, including operas and songs in Cantonese, Fukien,
Hakka and Teochew, but there ls a large collection of Western recordings also, mainly in English, as well as a few in Malay and Japanese. Rediffusion relays news in the national language from Radio Television Malaysia. Recently, to assist In reaching the objective of language competency among all ethnic groups.
Subscribers needed a radio receiver license and with payment of a M$5 monthly fee, they could obtain live and recorded programs from the U.K. and U.S. Some informants suggested that Rediffusion was authorized to operate "in perpetuity" by the British government, but the license granted in 1947 clearly stated that termination would occur by the "effluxion of time," or by December 1. 1969.
Malayan wired radio was approved under peculiar conditions. In March 1947, a confidential letter was sent as an introduction to L. Mansfield-Robinson of Rediffusion by Noel Sabine, an officer employed in the colonial service in London. The note was delivered to P.A.B. McKerron of the government in Singapore in March 1947. Contained in the letter was information about the firm which was described as a "thoroughly reputable and efficient concern with a considerable sense of responsibility." The letter went on to say: "our advice would be that these people would give you a fair deal and good service". As discussions proceeded on a license for wired radio, a major stumbling block was the company's insistence
on the right to carry advertising. The BBC's Director of Overseas Programme Services objected to "the introduction of a commercial element in a Colonial Territory where public service broadcasting is already in operation".
Correspondence between London and Singapore reveals that the government conceded advertising privileges on condition that preference be given to products of "British or British Empire origin". After the agreement was concluded, Noel Sabine left government service to assume a senior position in the Rediffusion corporation in London. This move seemed suspicious to some observers and rumors about use of influence in the licensing procedure began to be heard. Confidential correspondence between colonial officers in London and Singapore reveal an agreement to "deny in strongest terms" such allegations and to claim the letter sent by Sabine to the Singapore government was "unexceptionable.
Following this, a proposal for over-the-air broadcasting by the private radio service was presented to government but it immediately encountered difficulties. There were "legal problems over transmission on private property." A bill was introduced which would have amended the Telegraph Law in the Malay States to enable commercial broadcasting. but opposition arose in April 1949 and the effort was abandoned. Financing also seemed to be a problem. Noel Sabine. then Director of Rediffusion's Broadcast Relay Services, issued a request for local capital to fund construction of facilities. It was emphasized that the government was not a shareholder in the company, although 15 minutes daily were requested for official announcements.
The Malayan branch of Rediffuslon began its service on August 4 1949. In the beginning, the broadcasts' primary function was to relay English transmissions to homes in the region, both from the BBC and local studios of Radio Malaya. Nevertheless, Chinese programs soon became a permanent staple of the wired speaker system, a feature of which were shows in dialect. Radio Malaya scheduled Chinese broadcasts only in Mandarin, and Rediffuslon discovered it was able to gain an audience that the over-the-air service could not reach.
While English continued to be offered on wired speakers. Dialect Chinese programs attracted more listeners, and as independence loomed in the 1950s, the commercial potential for shows aimed at Chinese listeners was clearly better than relays to the declining British audience.
Rediffusion subscribers receive a simple box, about 12 by 16 inches. gray in color with a black speaker grille on its face, A single knob on the unit controlled sound volume. The audio signal arrives at the speaker from an amplifier in the neighborhood. In wired speaker systems, broadcasts are transmitted to homes in the form of amplified audio; only a speaker is needed for the programs to be heard. Like cable systems, vvired speaker radio's coverage areas are limited to ones which have access to the wires and amplifiers. For years, Rediffusion's programs were distributed by the Malaysian Telecommunications Department along with telephone services, but the company now maintains its own distribution system.
Wired speaker radio is most economic in urban areas, and the four zones served by Rediffusion on the Malayan peninsula have the greatest concentrations of population. The total number of persons in coverage areas is a little less than six million. In Malaysia, there are 2.84 million individuals living in the regions served by Rediffusion. Because Chinese have tended to settle in urban areas, they predominate in the coverage zones. In Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Penang. and Butterworth, the proportion of residents who are Chinese is 57.0%. Costs for the service have remained remarkably constant over the years. In 1949 it required M$5 monthly to receive Rediffusion. lt was soon raised to M$6 where it stayed until 1987 when the Malaysian fee was increased to M$7, or about US$2.75 per month. For this sum listeners receive one box providing programs from a single network, installed in a location of the homeowners choice.
Rediffusions programming is broadcast in Teochew. Cantonese. and Hokkien Chinese dialects. In the 1940s when transmissions began, a large proportion of Malayan Chinese spoke only their regional dialect, but in ensuing decades this situation changed.
Program Services of Rediffusion Malaysia
Rediffusion offers home subscribers two networks. each presenting broadcasts in English and various Chinese dialects 18 hours daily. The Gold Network offers programs tn Cantonese and Mandarin supplemented with Malay and English news bulletins relayed from RTM. The Silver Network provides English, Malay. and Chinese shows in Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese. Both sign-on at 6:00am and end their schedules at midnight daily. Of the two services. the largest audiences are garnered by the Gold Network. A separate service is available to hotels within the three service areas providing music programs with little talk. There is no physical link between the headquarters and locations in lpoh and Penang.
Recorded programs produced in Kuala Lumpur are shipped to other centers and outlying stations send their productions to headquarters in exchange. According to Wong Lat Ngo, Programme Manager of Rediffusion Malaya, lpoh and Penang offer some local shows but not more than 10% of the broadcast schedule.
Rediffusions program schedule depends heavily on music and DJ shows, just as radio does nearly everywhere. To support these offerings, an immense record collection has been amassed. reputedly the largest in Southeast Asia. Rediffusion officers indicate there are more than 100.000 items in the holding, in formats of all types. Four full-time staff members are required to tend the library. The majority of recordings are in Chinese, including operas and songs in Cantonese, Fukien,
Hakka and Teochew, but there ls a large collection of Western recordings also, mainly in English, as well as a few in Malay and Japanese. Rediffusion relays news in the national language from Radio Television Malaysia. Recently, to assist In reaching the objective of language competency among all ethnic groups.
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