Over the weekend, commercial radio stations in Malaysia toned down music and asked listeners to pray for those on board a missing Malaysian Airlines airline travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens an hour into its journey with 239 passengers and crew on board. Thirty-eight of them were Malaysians.
The news has left the country in a state of shock, not least because of Malaysian Airlines good safety record, but also as possible terrorism theories emerged. Difficulties locating any wreckage from a likely plane crash have compounded the distress and left aviation experts puzzled.
A short time after the plane was declared missing, several stations began running news bulletins every 30 minutes as Malaysians stayed glued to their radios for the most up-to-date information.
Malaysia’s largest commercial network Astro Radio called on the resources of its sister news channel Astro Awani.
Among its nine terrestrial FM stations, Astro joined a campaign to encourage listeners to ignore wild speculation that was spreading through Social Media.
Astro stations have minimised all promotions and contests and are playing a “lighter” genre of music.
On Saturday, Malaysia’s business station BFM diverted two reporters from a political convention to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to give regular updates on the missing plane.
BFM also suspended regular weekend programming and broadcast Malaysian Airlines’ (MAS) press conferences live.
Coverage continues on Monday with one journalist permanently stationed at KL airport.
Star Radio Group, which runs four stations, has suspended all on air contests this week .
Again, its stations provided news bulletins every 30 minutes over the weekend and aired press conferences and interviews with several aviation experts.
Listeners to Red FM, 988, Suria FM and Capital FM were also invited to call in to extend their wishes, hopes and prayers for flight MH370 on air.
Coverage continued on Monday morning with interviews with experienced pilots, airline executives and a former stewardess who used to work on MH370.
Chinese station 988 and female-targeted station Capital FM spoke to psychologists and therapists about the impact of the disaster on relatives and how they can be helped to cope with so-called ‘ambiguous loss’.
Media Prima’s three stations Hot FM, one FM and Fly FM toned down content also created a platform for listeners to share their concern and wishes.
Again bulletins were run every 30 minutes and radio teams shared resources and information with Media Prima’s TV news crew.
Most stations helped lead a ‘prayers for flight MH370’ campaign on air, on their websites and through Social Media.
Almost 72 hours after its disappearance, the whereabouts of flight MH370 is still unknown.