Revamped Rediffusion to return next year 

SINGAPORE: Former Rediffusion deejay Eva Chang Mei Hsiang announced during a press conference on Friday, that she had bought the Rediffusion brand in Singapore along with its assets for an undisclosed sum, and aims to get the revamped Rediffusion, named Voice of Singapore Rediffusion, operating in the first half of next year.

“The new Rediffusion will change with the times, but will not forget its roots,” said Chang, who is also the General Manager of music label Ocean Butterflies, and owns her own language centre.

“It will feature a mixed platter of programmes to cater to listeners of all age groups,” Chang continued, adding that Voice of Singapore Rediffusion will approach dialect programming in a new way.

Chang expressed that she has “very concrete plans” for Rediffusion’s revival, but could not give details as she was still in discussions with Singapore cable company StarHub, along with numerous other parties, such as the deejays who had worked for Rediffusion until it closed in April, as well the Media Development Authority.

“It (Rediffusion’s return) will not happen quickly. There are still many things to do, and many people to bring onboard,” said Chang, pointing out that she intends to put together a team of “around ten people” to run Voice of Singapore Rediffusion.

Whatever form it may take, the Taiwan-born Singaporean said she hopes to allow Voice of Singapore Rediffusion’s listeners to catch its programmes “24-hours on demand”, as “the lifestyles of listeners today has changed”.

But for now, Chang revealed that her immediate goal is to digitize Rediffusion’s archive of some 300,000 pieces of footage as well as audio recordings, and make it available to the public in some way, by the end of November this year.

She has also begun looking for a suitable site to house the planned Rediffusion museum, which will contain interactive exhibits of artefacts from Rediffusion’s past.

All these plans take a whole lot of cash to realise, but Chang dismissed rumours that she has a behind-the-scenes backer, and insisted that the entire project is currently a one-woman show.

Chang said she is actually “actively looking for investors”, and hoped to work with both Singapore media organisations and ordinary Singaporeans to make Voice of Singapore Rediffusion a success.

“I want Voice of Singapore Rediffusion to belong to Singapore, to belong to everyone.”

“This project must succeed,” said Chang. “There is no room for failure.”