Rediffusion 1949-2012 RIP

[RonRon]

Singapore's oldest cable radio station to close on April 30

Singapore's oldest cable radio station, Rediffusion, will be going off the air come April 30, reported The Straits Times.

It was reported that the station had announced the end date of its service via e-mail to the papers on Sunday, April 8.

The e-mail had expressed gratitude to its listeners for their support during the station's 63-year journey on the airwaves.

The station started broadcasting in 1949.

[email protected]

 

[erection2015]

final chapter of another childhood memory......listened to lots of pop songs over rediffusion at my next door neighbour's place.

The rental was something like $ 6 per month. :(

Singapore's oldest cable radio station to close on April 30

Singapore's oldest cable radio station, Rediffusion, will be going off the air come April 30, reported The Straits Times.

It was reported that the station had announced the end date of its service via e-mail to the papers on Sunday, April 8.

The e-mail had expressed gratitude to its listeners for their support during the station's 63-year journey on the airwaves.

The station started broadcasting in 1949.

[email protected]

 

[Ramseth]

My Chinese, dialects and English were mostly learned from Rediffusion. 曾鹏翔，许惠民，王道，黄正经，李大傻 storeytelling and Casey Kasem American Top 40 programs.

 

[HTOLAS]

Sad. Rediffusion was my morning call for my upper secondary school and JC days. It was much nicer to wake to a song than the jagged chiming of an alarm clock.

 

[zhihau]

Singapore's oldest cable radio station, Rediffusion, will be going off the air come April 30, reported The Straits Times.

was always armed with a pencil and notepad to jot down those 4D numbers in the past... a good journey, rediffusion... truly a pleasant journey with you

 

[hairylee]

The word Redifusion brings back many fond childhood memories.

 

[Kinana]

Who wants to pay for radio nowadays? They just gotta go.

 

[Microsoft]

[FONT=&amp]李大傻讲古称大王​

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[TD="class: sm"]李大傻与颜贵娟摄于80年代[/TD]
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[FONT=&amp]　　大约在我七岁那年，大人带我到豪华戏院看了第一部金庸电影，谢贤、南红首次演绎的《神雕侠侣》。杨过、小龙女的故事深深吸引了我，走出戏院似乎意犹未尽，恰巧一回到家里，丽的呼声正传来李大傻的讲古声，讲的正是《神雕侠侣》！
　　在那之前，李大傻讲的武侠小说没有引起我这么个小学生的兴趣，但这回他延续了我对杨过、小龙女的崇拜，很自然的追听下去。开了这么个头，李大傻讲古就成了我天天必听的节目。
　　那时装置丽的呼声月费五元，以当年一般人月入百元以下的生活水平来换算，相当于今天上百元，那是十分奢侈的享受了。所以父亲手头一紧，首先就“割”了丽的呼声。其他节目听不到了，唯独李大傻的声音“割”不去，在无线电收音机也一样听得见，新加坡电台乃至马来亚电台都有他的节目。
　　后来我任职于丽的呼声，隔三两天就会见到李大傻来录制节目。那时他已年近古稀，步履开始蹒跚，一头短发全白，爱穿Ｔ恤长裤凉鞋。他为人和蔼，笑口常开，和各部门的同事都有说有笑，大家叫他“傻哥”。
　　李大傻录音时，我曾偷眼他手捧的书本，见上面用铅笔做了不少口语译句，划了不少断句分割，可见他的讲古方式虽不如传统说书严谨，但事先也做过不少功课。
　　八十年代开始了讲华语运动，方言讲古即将失去立足之地，李大傻免不了心怀愤懑。我也感觉方言“时日无多”，赶紧在1982年与他做了个最后的粤语专访。
　　从这次长谈中，我了解到：
　　是马来亚电台的中文部主任施祖贤在1938年发掘了他，并从香港红伶何大傻这名字得到灵感，起了艺名李大傻，且用何大傻以粤曲《旱天雷》填词的《边个话我傻》（谁说我傻）做了节目序曲；
　　1938年“大财库”月薪才45元，他讲一段古就15元，月入60元“认真系好世界”（原话，意为“真是好日子”。）；
　　可是到了1982年，他一段讲古费才20元，四十多年才加了5元，而且没有公积金，“最唔抵呢下啦”（也是原话，意为“最不值就是这个”。）；
　　他于1960左右以《鬼才伦文叙》倒流回香港，让香港听众一新耳目；
　　他最满意也最喜爱的作品就是《神雕侠侣》……
　　1989年李大傻享年77岁离世。
　　1997年我小女儿徐凌就读养正小学，我告诉她，爸爸认识你的一个校友叫李大傻，她听得傻了，谁是李大傻？
　　我大女儿徐冰就认识，因为女婿谢燊杰参演舞台剧《李大傻》，演的正是李大傻的好朋友。我算是和这位讲古大王很有缘了。[/FONT][FONT=&amp]
原载2010年6月23日新加坡《新明日报》[/FONT]
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[Ramseth]

The word Redifusion brings back many fond childhood memories.

The Chinese translation of the brand Rediffusion was classic, the translator deserves a knighthood for that. 丽的呼声 meaning beautiful voice calling.

 

[melzp]

Sad. Rediffusion was my morning call for my upper secondary school and JC days. It was much nicer to wake to a song than the jagged chiming of an alarm clock.

Indeed, it was really a pleasant alarm morning call.

 

[Kohliantye]

The rental was something like $ 6 per month. :(

That must be the reason for their demise.
Should have followed our hopeless, repititive and good-for-nothing paid channels.
$6/- ........What a price to receive.
Should have taken a queue from Starhuh and many more.
RIP dear Lay-Tee Fusen

 

[HTOLAS]

Absolutely agree.

The Chinese translation of the brand Rediffusion was classic, the translator deserves a knighthood for that. 丽的呼声 meaning beautiful voice calling.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Indeed, it was really a pleasant alarm morning call.

Yes, mine at home was never switch off.
Always intrigued me where the power source came from.

 

[glockman]

like many things, rediffusion has gone the way of the dinosaur. I grew up with this sound box churning out music, news, etc day and night. Brought back fond memories.

 

[Ramseth]

like many things, rediffusion has gone the way of the dinosaur. I grew up with this sound box churning out music, news, etc day and night. Brought back fond memories.

Sad as it is, it's the way to go, that I agree. Nowadays' not the era for cable radio.

 

[freedalas]

Sad as it is, it's the way to go, that I agree. Nowadays' not the era for cable radio.

As with all things in S'pore, the demise of Redifussion is caused by the greedy policies of the PAP. When the govt decided to open up the radio stations market and invited tenders for grants of licence, Redifussion was one of the bidders for a licence to run a radio station. It was not awarded a license despite its many many years of broadcasting experience and that it was highly acclaimed by its listeners who were all wishing to be able to enjoying listening to Rediffusion over the airwaves instead of cable. But no, the PAP refused to grant them that licence. Instead they gave out licences to all its government linked companies like NTUC, SPH and SAFRA all of whom had not even a minute of experience in broadcasting. Why? Because the advertisement revenue for radio stations is damn bloody lucrative and typical of LKY policies, where there is money to be made, it must be made by the govt, the private sector can pick up the leftovers and scraps.

So in S'pore, all the bad things that are happening can all be traced back to the PAP which effectively is tracing it one one man, LKY.

 

[wuqi256]

like many things, rediffusion has gone the way of the dinosaur. I grew up with this sound box churning out music, news, etc day and night. Brought back fond memories.

Me too, especially at 11pm, always get the "mi li ju chang" or something about an old man's ghost stories.
RIP Rediffusion

 

[Ramseth]

As with all things in S'pore, the demise of Redifussion is caused by the greedy policies of the PAP. When the govt decided to open up the radio stations market and invited tenders for grants of licence, Redifussion was one of the bidders for a licence to run a radio station. It was not awarded a license despite its many many years of broadcasting experience and that it was highly acclaimed by its listeners who were all wishing to be able to enjoying listening to Rediffusion over the airwaves instead of cable. But no, the PAP refused to grant them that licence. Instead they gave out licences to all its government linked companies like NTUC, SPH and SAFRA all of whom had not even a minute of experience in broadcasting. Why? Because the advertisement revenue for radio stations is damn bloody lucrative and typical of LKY policies, where there is money to be made, it must be made by the govt, the private sector can pick up the leftovers and scraps.

So in S'pore, all the bad things that are happening can all be traced back to the PAP which effectively is tracing it one one man, LKY.

You know why? Because Rediffusion is British owned and based, though privately and nothing to do with politics. They, as in British enterprise private style, ignored most of government requests not to broadcast in dialects, political satires and politically senstive contents until government passed acts, chapters and sections to stop them. That caused their decline in the mid 80s since their regular audience lost interest and they couldn't pick up new audience.

Also, cable radio was already inherently fading out of fashion by then. It's a matter of sooner or later but the government has already the airwaves in control.

 

[scroobal]

I got a confession, I had the impression that Rediffusion was closed years ago, more like decades ago after due to the dialect issues.

 

[singveld]

sad, very sad, destroy by TV, and kill by internet