988’s big birthday bash
Local radio station 988 celebrated its 23rd year anniversary in style earlier this month.
LOCAL Chinese language radio station 988 turned 23 in May and celebrated by throwing a big birthday bash at Power Plant, 3 Damansara, Petaling Jaya last week.
The party kicked off with an outdoor live broadcast anchored by 988 Power Show’s trio of hosts Danny One, Cassey Soo and Fish Poh and featured local celebrities such as Crystal Ong, Orange Tan and Ribbon Ooi. Other local artistes attending the event included Alvin Chong, Fuying & Sam, Victor Lee, Thomas Kok, Winnie Ho, and Jane Ng.
Later in the evening, the station’s radio announcers entertained with a medley of Mandopop hit songs, followed by a performance by singer-actress Ribbon Ooi, who says she is very grateful for the opportunities given by 988.
“I am very thankful to 988, for being so supportive of my career and giving me a platform to showcase my creative pursuits. 988 deejays have always been very encouraging to a young artiste like me even when I was just a newcomer,” said Ooi.
“When I made my debut in 2016, my new songs benefited from a large amount of airplay time on 988 and 988 even gave me my first opportunity to perform live on stage (during its 20th anniversary Movela Party at Genting’s Arena Of Stars),” added the Penang-born artiste, who already has three feature films, two albums, and several singles to her name.
Best-known for his late-night show City Heartbeat (Friday, 8pm-12am), veteran 988 radio presenter DJ Chan Fong has been with the radio station since its Rediffusion days, when it used to be a commercial cable radio station.
“Radio broadcasting has been gradually transforming over the years, and now requires more digital presence from deejays who have to be on Facebook and Youtube so the job involves a lot of video shooting. We’re also very thankful that in recent years, even before the change of government, there has been a greater freedom in broadcasting so we have been able to discuss a wider range of topics.
“As for movie projects, we are in the process of working on another festive release,” said Chan, whose passion for radio broadcasting is on another level as he has been in the radio company for 28 years.
Chan is currently seeking an apprentice to co-host 988 Morning Up with him.
As 988’s new head, Woo Bee Ay commended the radio station on successfully embracing the transformation of media with its digital strategy and social media presence: “988 celebrates its 23rd anniversary by expanding its presence into the digital landscape, by providing content not just via radio broadcasting limiting to just audio, we now produce video content which are available on our digital platforms. We are working on something new, marrying both traditional and new media, so do stay tuned.”
The radio station can trace its origins all the way back to 1949, when it was Malaysia’s first commercial cable radio station, Rediffusion. It began broadcasting as a tri-lingual station in 1996, and relaunched as a full-fledged Chinese-language station in 1997.
988 is part of Star Media Radio Group. To find out more about what the radio station offers, visit 988.com.my or 988’s Facebook or Youtube or Instagram or Twitter.