Singapore’s Lush 99.5 FM will stop broadcasting on August 31 at 11.59 pm after being on air for 13 years.

The Mediacorp station began transmitting on Dec 31, 2004, positioned as an indie music station catering to a niche following. It plays chill-out, deep house and indie music.

According to the post on the station’s Facebook page, while they have “built a loyal core of followers, the listeners, who are supporters of local music, we have not managed to grow the base of listeners enough to sustain the operating costs of the station.”

Though it emerged as a champion of alternative and local music, Lush’s listenership has been on a decline for years, with a Nielsen survey placing the weekly listenership at 38,000 in 2015 – the year when its license was up for renewal.

Currently its numbers are at 50,000 a week, the lowest among Mediacrop’s stations.

According to Mediacorp, this was a “part of a rationalisation of its network of radio stations”.

It is also focusing on incorporating key elements of Lush’s brand of entertainment into its other English stations: 938LIVE, 987, CLASS 95, GOLD 905 and Symphony 924.