Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) has launched a public tender to seek proposals to operate commercial or not-for-profit radio stations on two FM frequencies – FM 89.3 and FM 96.3.
MDA a statutory board under the Ministry of Communications and Information and regulates the media sector to safeguard the interests of consumers, and promotes a connected society.
Presently, there are 18 free-to-air radio stations in the country, mainly under Mediacorp, SPH Radio and Singapore Armed Forces Reservists’ Association (Safra) Radio.
The FM 89.3 spectrum is vacant while FM 96.3, currently occupied by Mediacorp’s Expat Radio 96.3 XFM, will be vacated by September 2016 upon expiry of its operating licence.
The last time the MDA called for bids for new radio stations was in 2011, which led to the launch of SPH Radio’s English language station Kiss92FM.
To attract the widest range of proposals possible and inject greater vibrancy into the local radio scene, MDA says that it welcomes new concepts and will not limit proposals to any particular genre or programming format.
Those looking to operate commercial radio stations on the two frequencies will be required to submit a monetary bid.
All proposals will be evaluated based on the strength of programming characteristics and quality, as well as the financial standing of the tenderers and their business plans.
Tenderers submitting not-for-profit proposals will be evaluated on the social impact of their programming concepts.
“(This is) to attract the widest range of proposals possible, and inject greater vibrancy into the local radio scene,” an MDA spokesperson told TodayOnline.
ONE FM presenter The Flying Dutchman, told The Straits Times that he would like to see another Malay or Tamil station.
While he hopes there will be more “creative” stations exploring different radio formats entering the fray, he acknowledges that they may not be seen as “commercially viable”.
Earlier, jazz musician Jeremy Monteiro had called for “a real station playing good jazz in all its forms in Singapore” in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The tender opened on June 15 and will close on September 14.
Results will be announced by the first quarter of 2017.
Interested parties can download the tender document from MDA’s website www.mda.gov.sg.