Mediacorp was founded in 1936 as the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation, although its history traces back to the first radio experiments in 1925. The company endured Japanese occupation (as SBS), became a part of Malaya and regained its status as an autonomous company after self-rule in 1959. A separate company for television was established in the early 1960s and began television broadcasts in 1963.
With the independence of Singapore, the existing companies (Radio Singapore and Television Singapura) were kept, but were now under the umbrella of Radio Television Singapore. Budget concerns led to its corporatisation in 1980 as the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. In order to increase its competitive nature, it was privatised on 1 October 1994, under the Singapore International Media ecosystem, as three separate companies, two for television (Television Corporation of Singapore and Singapore Television Twelve) and one for radio (Radio Corporation of Singapore). In 1999, SIM was renamed MediaCorp (styled Mediacorp since 2015) and subsequently created a new umbrella brand; Mediacorp moved to one@north in 2015 and left Caldecott Hill a few years later.
First experiments The history of radio broadcasting in Singapore began with the formation of the Amateur Wireless Society of Malaya (AWSM) in April 1925, which launched shortwave transmission from a studio in the Union Building at Collyer Quay using a 100-watt transmitter lent by the Marconi Company under callsign 1SE (One Singapore Experimental). The transmissions could be received as far as Penang. In 1930, Sir Earl from the Singapore Port Authority commenced its short wave broadcast every fortnight either on Sundays or Wednesdays. The Empire Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was inaugurated on 19 December 1932, broadcasting on shortwave and aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire. In his first Royal Christmas message (1932), King George V characterised the service as intended for "men and women, so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them". First hopes for the Empire Service were low. The Director General, Sir John Reith, said in the opening programme:
In 1933, Radio ZHI was launched as the first professional shortwave broadcasting station in Singapore. Owned by the Radio Service Company of Malaya, it was a shortwave radio station that delivered static-free broadcasts. Radio ZHI acquired a loyal following in Singapore and abroad. Despite its success, the station closed at the end of December 1936 when its licence expired, as the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation had been granted a radio monopoly.
British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation The British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation (BMBC) was created on 12 April 1935 with a nominal capital of , formed on 21 July 1935 and awarded a broadcasting license by the British crown on 1 June 1936 as a radio network. The station was initially scheduled to start broadcasting in 1935, but was subsequently delayed to 1936 due to initial government uncertainties. The station broadcast from the hill on Thomson Road. ZHL made its first broadcast of Chinese music on 10 June 1936 as an experiment. The BMBC conducted auditions in November 1936. On 1 March 1937 at 6 p.m., its studios and transmitters at Caldecott Hill were officially opened by Governor of the Straits Settlements Shenton Thomas, aiming at a potential target audience of 10,000 listeners.
In a move to adjust its budget, BMBC cut the number of weekly hours in late June 1937, from the initial hours to . The Sunday schedule was cut from seven hours to four: before the revision, the daytime period ran from 11am to 1:30 p.m. and the evening period from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.. This was cut to 11:30am to 1:30 p.m. for the daytime period (reducing half an hour) and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the evening period (cutting two and a half hours). On weekdays the schedule ran from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., simply cutting the last quarter hour on air (before then, the station closed at 10:15 p.m.). On Saturdays, the afternoon period remained in the 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. slot, but the evening period, starting at 6 p.m., now ended at 9:35 p.m. instead of 11:15 p.m.. This also prompted ZHL to reduce the number of artists to those able to perform without paying fees. Juvenile sessions were dropped because the artists had paid more. The existing charter suggested that the daily schedule would last at least four hours, with extensions depending on listener feedback. Any potential expansion was hampered purely by lack of budget. The monthly income was $3,500: $2,500 from the licence and $1,000 from the Municipality. There were hopes to increase the income due to the start of sponsored programmes. Plans for shortwave broadcasting had been outlined in July 1937, despite concerns over the quality of its reception. In its first trimester on air, the BMBC was operating at a loss, a cause of "grave concern" for the staff.
Work on the shortwave BMBC station started in October 1937, aiming at a March 1938 launch date. The station was to broadcast at a frequency of 31.48 meters daytime and 49.9 meters nighttime. The programming would be the same as the existing medium wave ZHL station.
In January 1938, it was announced that the BMBC would cease receiving its monthly $1,000 grant from the municipality effective the end of February. In the year ending February 28, 1938, the BMBC was operating at a net profit of $275.88; compared to the loss of $5,368.67 The number of listeners now stood at 4,213, up from the initial figure of 2,598 - even so, the figure was relatively lower than the planned target of 10,000 in the formal launch the previous year. Ahead of the start of the shortwave service, it was reported that it would be picked up by over 9,000 radio receivers in Malaya - combined with over 4,000 in Singapore, the number of potential listeners was going to increase threefold. The station started on 19 July 1938 under the callsign ZHP (the "P" stood for "Progress") attracting an audience not just in Malaya, but also in Sarawak, Borneo and the Dutch Indies, especially in tin mines and rubber estates.
Thanks to the wider coverage range of ZHP, ZHL was able to broadcast more sporting events, namely horse races, tennis and the football, specifically the Malayan Cup. Before the change in policy, it was more likely for attendees to go to the matches.
The shortwave frequency moved in on 1 October 1938 from 30.96 meters to 48.58 meters, under the new callsign ZHO, at the request of the Posts and Telegraphs Department. The extant medium wave frequency (225 metres or 1333 kHz) remained unchanged.
In February 1939, the government started giving aid to the BMBC. The listener base was by then upgraded to 15,000 listeners: 5,000 in Singapore, a further 5,000 in the Federated Malay States, 2,000 in Penang, 1,000 in Johor and 350 in Malacca. Statistically, out of the 5,104 licence holders (number of receivers) in Singapore, 2,574 were Europeans and Eurasians, 2,023 were Chinese, 219 were Malays, 195 were Indians, 87 were Japanese and six were Siamese. The shortwave transmitter carrying ZHO upgraded its power in mid-1939, from 400 watts to 2 kilowatts. At the 1939 Annual Report, there were plans to create two separate services, an -hour European service and a -hour Asiatic one. Included in the proposal was the creation of a second medium wave transmitter for the two programmes to be delivered from the extant facilities. Subsequently, a second plan to increase the power of the shortwave transmitter was held in early 1940, this time increasing its coverage to reach out to the entirety of Malaya, Borneo, the Netherlands Indies and Siam. Much of the equipment used was already manufactured in Singapore.
Malaya Broadcasting Corporation The corporation was taken over by the Straits Settlements government in 1940 as a part of the British Department of Information, the local counterpart to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Additional French programming was added on 16 September 1940.
In order to counter German propaganda, a second shortwave transmitter, ZHP 3, was added on 29 September 1940 (the existing transmitter was renamed ZHP 1). The station carried a special programme in German on Friday nights from 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.. The remainder of the line-up consisted of music and news, in Hindustani, Dutch, Tamil, Arabic and French. ZHL and ZHP 1 carried primarily content in English and Chinese dialects, with some Malay programming as well. By April 1941 ZHP 2 was activated. The station was merely a relayer of ZHL's output, that was also heard on ZHP 1.
Syonan Broadcasting Station During World War II, when the Japanese Imperial Army occupied Singapore from 1942 to 1945, the radio station on the island of Singapore was seized by the Japanese authorities, renamed the , and used by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). Broadcasts under the new administration started on 13 March 1942 and broadcast over three frequencies, one in medium wave for within Singapore, another to relay output from Tokyo and a shortwave frequency aimed at the time in Australia. After repairs, broadcasts officially started on 28 March. Programming was at the outset of occupation airing daily from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (later the closing time moved to 10:30 p.m.) with an additional hour-long period from 10am to 11am for educational programming. Programming was still in the same mix of languages as before, but content in Japanese was added.
In June 1942, the Syonan station broadcast Japanese-language learning classes to students, installing sets in 87 schools.
Radio Singapore After the war, the British came back into power and reclaimed the radio station, with the station managed by the interim British Military Administration (BMA).
Two separate stations were introduced from 23 December 1945. The existing service was renamed Blue Network, carrying programming in English and Malay. The second service, the Red Network, carried content in Tamil, Hindustani and Chinese dialects. The Blue Network was carried on the 41,61,225 metre band and the Red Network, on the 41,61,300 metre band.
On 1 April 1946, Radio Malaya Singapore and the Federation of Malaya (RMSFOM; or Radio Malaya), a short- and medium-wave service, was established in Singapore. Radio news and information, as well as local entertainment, were aired on its stations in English and later Mandarin Chinese and Malay. In June 1947, the BBC initiated a one-year takeover plan of the BFEBS. The plan was culminated on 8 August 1948. Changes to programming led to the Blue Network adding some Chinese content on from 1 January 1949. Both networks increased their airtime. This was due to requests from individual communities, who demanded more programmes for them. 1949 also brought forth the innaugural Talentime contest, impulsed by Kingsley Morrando; its success in Singapore was high that Morrando brought it to other cities of the Malayan Federation still in 1949.
The Chinese output gained its own station on 1 January 1951, the Green Network. Radio Malaya left the Cathay building on 4 November 1951 at closedown. The two networks increased their schedule again in January 1952.