Radio-Activity: Singapore’s Alternative Radios Up-close

By Felda Chay, Lynette Lim and Sariwati Latif

The exterior of the 3-room HDB flat on Holland Avenue looks much like its neighbours along the narrow corridor – visitors are greeted by a row of paint-coated metal grilles in front of wooden doors. Furnishings are sparse: the living area is cluttered with piles of newspapers on a dining table, and stacks of shoes next to the door. In one of the bedrooms, pieces of furniture are pushed against the walls, leaving the centre bare and empty. A weathered blue leather couch leans on the right, while a cupboard and shelf sit on the left. Two turntables covered with a patterned blue cloth and two shelves stacked full of vinyls and records, ranging from Radiohead’s 2007 album In Rainbows and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, complete the room. Charanpal Bal and Roland Ngoi station themselves comfortably on bean bags near the couch, facing a laptop and a hard disk perched on top of a stereo.

This is the humble abode of Unpopular Radio.

The alternative webcast radio station was an accidental start-up. In 2005, Charan had stumbled on a computer programme with a webcast function while surfing the net.

“I just clicked on the webcast button and the sound stopped, but the player kept playing,” the 31-year-old recalled. “I pasted the link on my friend’s MSN window, asked her ‘eh can you listen to this?’ and she said, ‘wow you’re playing Interpol.’”

“I’m like ‘wow you can hear what I’m playing but I can’t hear what I’m playing.’” Only then did he realise that he was broadcasting over the Internet.

However, the technology was “obiang” (outdated) since he could not even use a microphone to broadcast, said Charan,  who works with a Singapore-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). His cousin, who sets up and maintains web servers, then suggested Shoutcast Radio, a website that provides free Internet stations for deejays and broadcasters, as an option. He also gave Charan a free server to broadcast his shows for approximately one year.

And with that, Unpopular Radio started streaming online.

Months after airing his first radio show, Charan bumped into Roland, who started sweetmusic.fm – another independent radio station - that same year. Realising that they were fans of similar types of music, the two deejays decided to collaborate and host their shows together when their schedules permit. Their shows usually stream at around 10pm, after their day job ends; Roland works as a chef on top of his deejay activities.

Unpopularity isn’t such a bad thing

The name Unpopular Radio sprung from Charan’s personal blog called Unpopular Culture, which focused on topics deemed lowbrow, uncultured or simply non-mainstream.

“It was about things we don’t really consider culture, in our own everyday interaction. We don’t consider picking nose to be culture. We don’t consider putting a 20-cent coin in your ear or plucking out your chin hair as culture, but that was what it was about – unpopular culture,” said Charan, who signs off as DJ Tan(g)kap Accent on his show. This idea then translated into Unpopular Radio, where he started off by playing ‘unpopular’ music such as The Smiths and Arcade Fire, and local tunes from bands such as Force Vomit and B Quartet.

And as the station’s name suggests, his show only commands a listenership between seven to 35, comprising mostly his friends. Charan also puts the audio files of his shows on the web for free downloads after the ‘live’ broadcast. About 30 people download these files each time.

But the small number of listeners is not a huge concern for many alternative radio stations, which are run by individuals or schools and are not part of the national broadcaster, MediaCorp Radio. In fact, some prefer catering to a small audience, since their limited reach would mean that the local authorities would most likely turn a blind eye to their existence. This translates to greater freedom for them to express themselves, reducing the need to self-censor on their shows.

“Because it’s not mass music, it’s not mass culture,” said Charan. “I mean if you all go back home and start listening to me, I’ll be really happy. But if a lot of people start listening to me, I’d be quite scared,” said Charan with a laugh.

All he wants is to maintain the current number of listeners and share his favourite music with others.

Radio Fusion goes 'live' in their studio booth in NTU's Canteen B. Click on this picture to see the rest of the photo series.

Similarly Radio Fusion, Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) campus radio station, is not too bothered by the number of listeners it attracts. The station, which broadcasts its shows in NTU and restricts the streaming of  programmes to its Intranet, is run by students from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) under its Radio Practicum module, an academic course where students will receive a pass or fail grade at the end of a semester.

“With more power (reach) comes more guidelines to follow,” said Professor Bradley Freeman, advisor to Radio Fusion.

And given that Radio Fusion was created to be an avenue for students to learn about the workings of a radio station, there is no need to be overly concerned about listenership, added Professor Freeman, who has years of experience as an on-air presenter at numerous radio stations in the United States. Currently, he teaches radio production and the workings of the recorded music industry at WKWSCI.

But unlike Unpopular Radio, this freedom that results from broadcasting to a restricted audience cannot be as freely exercised by campus stations such as Radio Fusion. They have to be more wary of Singapore’s Out-of-Bounds markers as the university receives large amounts of funding from the government, which is known to match some donor grants dollar for dollar. When asked whether students could set up a political talk show on the airwaves on campus, Professor Freeman said, “If they told me that they wanted to do that, I’d have to advise them not to.”

The recent stabbing incident in NTU, for example, has gripped the nation, but the topic is still not completely free for discussion on NTU’s broadcast media. Student deejay Goh Shuiling experienced this first-hand on her shift: “I mentioned it on my show, but the rest of the deejays stared at me and asked ‘Why do you talk about this kind of things on air?’”

Live but not Loaded

The lack of a profit motive and the low cost of starting up and maintaining an alternative radio station also means that they do not bear the burden of hunting for advertising income. Unpopular Radio pays an annual fee of about S$300 to S$500 for their server, which is based in North America, while Radio Fusion receives a S$5000 budget per academic year from WKWSCI. National University of Singapore’s student-initiated campus station, Radio Pulze, is also financially supported by the university’s Office of Student Affairs, which provide an annual sum for the purchase and maintenance of broadcast equipment.

For Singapore Management University’s Broadcast and Entertainment club (SMUBE), costs are reduced by having major record labels such as Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group acting as sponsors. The recording giants give SMUBE, which started out in 2005, albums to play and inform the radio station when their singers have press conferences.

Low costs, coupled with the outpour of funding in the case of campus radio stations, decreases  the need to attract a large group of listeners. Yet a small but growing group of people are tuning in – even as these stations are not widely advertised and promoted in the mass media.

“There are two main reasons why people tune into these radio shows,” said Professor Freeman. “One, they want to listen to their friends as deejays, and two to listen to music that they would not otherwise be exposed to.”

Exploiting these two attractions for independent radio shows, Charan kept instant messaging his web link to his friends on MSN Messenger and Facebook. 10 minutes into the show he was hosting with Roland, who goes by the alias Mister Black, Charan chided, “Roland, you not spamming enough! Now only 7 [listeners]!”

One of these listeners, Zian Ismail, a 22-year-old arts administrator, said she tunes in because “the music is better and more interesting than mainstream radio, and the deejays are funny.”

Unpopular Radio plays mostly music not heard on mainstream radio stations in Singapore; either indie international bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs or regional ones from Singapore and Southeast Asia, where some even send their albums to get airplay on the station. Sometimes the music may be covered under a major record label, but Charan maintains that the station aims only to promote these non-mainstream music, and he does not make any profit from this endeavour. The small number of people tuning in also helps to keep Unpopular Radio under the radar of the local authorities and record labels.

“The record labels only come after you if are making lots of money from it, or if you have lots of money to begin with,” said Professor Freeman. “As long as you do not in a blatant sense try to make money from it, then you can move forward.”

To play the top 40 hit songs in Singapore, Radio Fusion pays S$5000 per year for an Intranet web license, which restricts their audience to campus staff and students. Professor Freeman said it would cost them about five times more to put their show up on the Internet. SMUBE also pays a yearly sum for the music they play but its student deejay, Richard Kua, said he is unaware of the exact figure.

Passion for the Community

Though Unpopular Radio may not be a household name for the average Singaporean, it has its own following in the indie subculture here. Charan occasionally plays deejay sets at Home Club and The Substation, where their fans are also their friends. These places cater to the alternative arts scene, where local bands play their music and mingle with like-minded artistes and fans.

Unlike mainstream radio stations which target the larger population, these alternative radio stations “seem to serve a specific community and interest group,” said Zian. This observation is in line with how Radio Fusion and Unpopular Radio target their audiences and the cultures they hope to inculcate within the specific demographics.

“It’s a very pocketed platform and it’s there for the community,” said Charan. “What we really want to do is to get people more familiar with bands which are not known and bands which they do. And bands which they can watch, support and be a good solid following for.”

Local bands such as Tiramisu have been featured on Unpopular Radio’s playlists since the station started. “It helps to circulate music by local bands which you may not have heard of,” said Rizman Putra, 30, lead singer of Tiramisu. “That’s very important.”

“If they don’t do it, who else will?”

This leads to an interconnected community where fans, musicians and deejays can provide feedback directly to each other as they belong to the same social circles. And this interactivity is what is lacking in mainstream radio stations in Singapore.

“The mainstream industry creates a template of what music should be or what the flavour of the month is,” said Rizman, who recently performed on Channel 5′s Live ‘n’ Loaded, a variety show that showcases performances by local artistes. “With stations such as Unpopular Radio and Sweetmusic.fm, the audience will have the liberty to decide.”

Radio Pulze also attempts to connect students to the local music scene through its Live Lounge segment, where local bands are invited to perform on campus grounds. This year alone, I am David Sparkle, Midnight Marvel and most recently, Plainsunset, have been featured in its programme.

Ideally, these stations should also represent the voice of their target community. According to Professor Freeman, “campus radio stations, in theory, can be a nerve centre for activity on campus.”

What’s Playing Next for Alternative Radio Stations

Campus radio stations will likely remain as fixtures in the school environment, with some expanding their scope or getting a brand-new studio for their activities. With 12 hours of programming every day and looped music playing during the remaining hours, SMUBE deejay, Richard, said that it intends to expand into hosting Mandarin shows, while Radio Pulze’s broadcast director Jason Lee said that a new studio is in the works, and will be ready by 2011.

Meanwhile, Charan hopes to provide airtime for other forms of artistic expressions in the future.

“What I want to do long term is to expand my programming to a broader range of programmes such as spoken word or poetry recitals, not just the kind of stuff we play,” he said.

An important factor would be to generate original local content from potential contributors to the station. This is one of the advantages of owning a Web-based radio station, as shows can be hosted from anywhere in the world.

As optimistic as they may be about the future, closures are part and parcel of this niche group. Another local independent web station, Lion City Underground Radio, stopped broadcasting in 2006 due to time and work commitments. “These things aren’t rigidly organised,” Charan said. “”The only thing that keeps Unpopular Radio running is my own discipline.”

“If I don’t do it, then it just doesn’t exist anymore.”

Timeline of Alternative Radio Stations in Singapore

Click on the picture for an enlarged view of the timeline.

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