Mediacorp's radio stations have moved to a new campus, with 14 on-air studios and a range of new state of the art facilities.
Singapore's largest broadcaster has been moving its divisions into the new building over the past few months, and recently the corporation's radio station staff moved in.
Mediacorp has been based at Caldecott Hill since 1937, and this year, after much planning and construction, the new site at Mediapolis is ready for occupation, 80 years after the first transmissions from Caldecott Hill.
Explaining the fitout of the new studios, Chinese and English station Love 97.2 FM’s PD Foong Wai See told AsiaRadioToday:
“The console desk layout for music station is designed with co-DJ seated opposite and guests at the specially designed side desk facing both the DJs. And from the tour route, it's able to view the DJs at work in the studio.”
She also said the new studio is much bigger than the old studio. It's fitted with all new equipment, with internet plug in, social media live sound plug-in, more table space and more mics for both guest DJs/speakers/interviewees. The spacious studio allows DJs to create more content related social media posts and live videos that are linked back to on air programming.
When asked about the station’s plans to connect with new audience segments on new platforms, and how will the new facilities help, she said:
“With the many new radio production suites, all stations' DJs can switch to different production suites to do their programming production. No longer like in the old radio building that each station was confined to its own production studio. DJs are more accessible to different suites, hence less congestion in production time resulting in faster workflow.”
Tamil station Oli 96.8 FM’s Executive Producer and Presenter Mohamed Rafi said:
“The interior of the new studio is good. It is spacious and addition of spot lights adds an extra fine touch to the ambience. The widened panel and new mixer have made our work much easier.”
He also feels that the added monitors and direct output from the internet to listeners have definitely widened their creativity, as the crew can play related clips and music when listeners mention them during an interaction.
Jean Danker, Producer-Presenter at English station Class 95 feels great in the new studios.
“Now we can have guests perform in the space and very possibly have listeners in the studio too because of the extra space. It opens up many possibilities for in-studio performances in many shapes and forms,” she said.
Erina Cook, Assistant Lead, Audience & Content, Family English Segment, Class 95, Gold 905 and Symphony 92.4 FM also thinks this move will bring more creativity to the teams.
“We are definitely inspired by our brand-new campus and its facilities. It has been a long time coming and we're very glad that we've finally moved and settled in.”
Malay station Warna 94.2 FM’s Acting Assistant Programme Director Zaza Majid feels the new studios have an ‘open feel’ with the use of glass panels, are pleasing to the eyes and give an upbeat, positive vibe, enabling the presenters to think clearer and be more creative.
Chinese station Y.E.S. 93.3 FM’s DJ Kun Hua started to love the new studio after a while and loves the big windows and the nice view he gets to see every day, which brightens up the mood.
The new studios also help his creativity: “We have this large floor-to-ceiling window in our studio which gives us the best weather report. I love to share with our listeners what I see at the window, the morning sunrise, the family having fun in the park, and our listeners feel connected. With our new on-air equipment, it allows us to do more creative stuff, like adding “effects” to our voices and doing quick editing.”
With a Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 80,000m2, 12 soccer fields can fit inside the new MediaCorp Campus. It has a state-of-the-art theatre with acoustics to rival the world’s best concert halls and a majestic 50-step staircase that leads to a grand vista overlooking the media park. The building was been designed by award-winning Japanese architect Maki & Associates, with the latest green environmental principles in mind.
A range of radio companies supplied equipment for Mediacorp's new home. Manager Foong Wai See says “the equipment chosen is based on its features, reliability and ease of operations.”
Because it is such a significant new studio construction in the Asian region, we will bring you more information about the equipment used as details become available. Click the links below for more info.
Studio playout systems: RCS
Studio to transmitter links: Tieline
