History
The National Trade Union Congress began plans to start radio stations in April 1990, with the launch set for early 1991. [1] Known as NTUC Radio at the time, [1] it broadcast on 91.3 MHz in English and 100.3 MHz in Mandarin, [2] with 10% aside for Malay and Tamil programmes on the two stations respectively. [3] Both stations were the first "wireless" private radio stations in Singapore. [3] Being not profit-driven, [4] the radio stations would have a "social purpose" besides providing entertainment. [2] It planned to compete with SBC and the two radio stations from Batam. [1] NTUC would later adopt the name Radio Heart in January 1991, [3] which was also the name of its sponsored radio programme, "Voice from the Heart", which aired on SBC. [2]
Radio Heart began trial transmissions on 28 January 1991 [3] and launched on 2 March by the then secretary-general of NTUC, Ong Teng Cheong. [4] His brief speech at 10:45 am was followed by NTUC's theme song, "Voices from the Heart", requested by Ong himself to the NTUC members. [5]
Radio Heart was operated by NTUC Voice Cooperative Society Limited, [6] which also owned "other communication and publication ventures", with studios located at the basement of Singapore Labour Foundation building at Thomson Road. [1] It operated with an initial budget of $10 million. [6]
By mid-1991, the English service Heart 91.3 had 9,000 listeners in the one-hour period between 12 pm and 1 pm. [7]
On 15 July 1991, transmissions of Radio Heart's 91.3 and 100.3 were suspended for 32 hours due to problems with the transmitter at the SLF building in Thomson Road. Both stations resumed broadcasting on 17 July on low power. [8]
In October 1992, Heart 91.3 revamped its programming to shed its "teeny-bopper" image and to appeal to a wider audience, with each programme having a specific theme and play a wide range of music from reggae to country. The changes were not related to the competition with SBC as their target audience was different. [9] By 1992, Heart 91.3 had an average daily listenership of 61,000, or three percent of adults, lower than the Class 95 and Perfect 10. [9]
The Straits Times in 1993 described Radio Heart's programming which include lifestyle, fitness and health, current affairs, education and entertainment. [10]
In July 1993, Radio Heart opened a satellite studio – a "branch" of the main studio – at the Takashimaya complex of Ngee Ann City [11] in Orchard Road, operating from 12 pm to 8 pm. Over four hours of live programming came from the studio, with 91.3 from 12 to 2 pm and 100.3 from 6 to 8 pm. [10]
As part of National Day celebrations in August 1993, 91.3 aired Lion City Heartbeat, [12] airing only Singaporean music throughout its broadcast day, divided into easy listening, blues and alternative. The station collaborated with local magazine BigO for sourcing older music materials and relevant information. [13] The broadcast continued the following year, lasting for 21 hours. [12]
Heart 91.3 began 24 hour broadcasting on 1 May 1994. Roland Tan, general manager of NTUC Radio, said that the stations' overnight presenters made the station different to other stations. The response was positive, with callers coming in at 2 am, mostly students in the higher institutions studying for exams and want to relax after studying. [14]
On 3 September 1995, Heart 91.3 relaunched as a station playing adult contemporary songs targeting listeners between ages of 25 and 45 to avoid the misconception that the station is for the younger listeners. [15]
In October 1995, NTUC members proposed to Radio Heart to use Standard Malay in its programmes; however it was already implemented. The members also propose Radio Heart to air Malay programmes in earlier slots for the convenience of listeners. [16] By 1997, Heart 91.3 had an extensive playlist, ranging from "pop to alternative to classical" and multilingual programmes that feature English, Japanese, Thai and Chinese-dialect music. [17]
MediaWorks had the intention of buying radio stations from NTUC in March 2001, with the creation of a joint-venture between the two, taking over 91.3 and 100.3, then now known as Most Music and Heart FM respectively. [18] The tentative name of the new company was UnionWorks [19] and the relaunch was initially set for the end of May. [20]
Ahead of the relaunch of More Music as WKRZ, SPH MediaWorks announced that it would carry at least 22 hours of syndicated MTV content per week. [21] On 3 October 2001, SPH Radio Broadcasting Arm, a joint management between SPH Multimedia and NTUC Media was launched as SPH UnionWorks; owns, manages, and operates UFM 1003 and WKRZ 91.3FM. More Music was given a US-style name, going under the fake callsign WKRZ. [22]
