Thank You & Goodbye, Rediffusion.

Today, I am not going to talk about food.

Today, I want to use this space to pay tribute to something close to my heart.

Today, Radio service Rediffusion will go off the airwaves at 12am sharp.

For those of you who have never heard about it before, Rediffusion Singapore (Chinese: 丽的呼声) was founded in 1949, bringing a Cable Radio Service to thousands of subscribers in Singapore at a time when radio sets were very expensive and reception of such stations very poor. It is Singapore’s only subscription radio service and the “1st in the WORLD to broadcast on DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting Plus).

63 years. Rediffusion has been providing infotainment to thousands of Singapore’s homes for 63 years. From the day I came to this world, Rediffusion has been in my life. It was never switched off for any reasons and my grandparents would just sit by it and listen to every single programs they have.

I remembered when I was in my Primary School, I would come back early to listen to Rediffusion and call the DJs for a chat. They would always play old songs by 冯静萱 before dinner and I would sing along while doing my homework. They used to have children’s radio program by 周海铃 where we can call in to guess some riddles and win ourselves lovely stationery sets.

I remembered they had a story telling competition during Teacher’s Day and I wrote a long story about my favourite teacher to read it aloud over the phone. I remembered they used to have “玲玲玲财神到” program during Chinese New Year Eve where all the DJs will gather to do the program and give out cash prizes to listeners.

I remembered visiting Rediffusion when I was young and getting so excited when I met the DJs. They are like my idol and my teacher. I remembered I would always write greeting cards to all the DJs during Chinese New Year, Christmas etc. I remembered my aunty and Grandpa would join their one tour to Kukup Malaysia and join the DJs for a crab feast.

There was so much memories I have of Rediffusion. Even when I am at home now, I would listen to their radio dramas or singing to the pop songs they play on weekends.

But well, reality hits hard sometimes. Now that I work in the media industry, I can’t agree more to the impact of commercialization in any media company. No matter how much passion you have, if you don’t have the capital to sustain your passion, everything fails.

If you have Rediffusion at home, please tune in tonight from 8pm till 12am to listen to the last 4 hours of the program.

Rediffusion will be sadly missed by me and many Singaporeans. Thank you for keeping me company through my growing up days. Thank you Rediffusion and every single DJs. Marvelous years, many happy memories.