Rediffusion has officially walked into the history books as the midnight struck on the 30th of April 2012, bringing down the curtains of its glorious 63 years of operation. It was 1949 when the first office of Rediffusion was set up here at Clemenceau Avenue. Rediffusion first started in London in 1928, before expanding to Asia after the Second World War, establishing in then-British colonies such as Hong Kong, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang) and Barbados. During that era, the radio broadcasting technology remained largely at AM (Amplitude Modulation), which was often disrupted by noises and interferences. In contrast, the crystal clear sounds provided by the Rediffusion cable radios proved to be a big hit in Singapore. Thousands subscribed to its monthly rate of $5, a considerably large amount by the standards of that era, to enjoy radio programs in English, Malay, Indian and several Chinese dialects. Legendary storytellers such as Lee Dai Soh 李大傻 (Cantonese), Ng Chia Kheng 黄正经 (Teochew), Ong Toh 王道 (Hokkien) and Chong Soon Fat 张顺发 (Hakka) helped Rediffusion cement its leading position in radio broadcasting from the fifties to seventies.

Lee Dai Soh (1913 – 1989), in particular, mesmerised countless listeners with his charming narration of classics such as Monkey God and Return of the Condor Heroes. The programs in dialects were so popular that by the seventies, Rediffusion’s subscription rate hit almost 100,000. One of Rediffusion’s most prominent English DJs in the past was Roger Kool (Roger Kiew, 1954 – 2005). He was the first blind DJ (Disc Jockey) in Singapore, overcoming his physical disability when he made his debut on the air in 1973 at an age of only 19. Roger Kool had a huge following of fans during his time at Rediffusion, which lasted until the late eighties. The catchy “ding ding ding” bell ring sounds and the Dial-A-Joke program were some of his highlights. In the early seventies, a booming Rediffusion was eager to groom many local broadcasting talents. Some of them, such as Xiang Yun and Mark van Cuylenberg (The Flying Dutchman), are still active in the local entertainment realm today.

In order to attract new fans, Rediffusion also came up with many unprecedented ideas such as live broadcasting at shopping malls, interviews with stars, call-in games and lucky draws.stockists of rectella curtains In 1967, the Radio Television Singapore (RTS) launched four FM (Frequency Modulation) radio stations with high quality sounds that posed a threat to Rediffusion’s advantage. curtains dugdale centreFierce competition in the radio broadcasting arena also caused Rediffusion to lose some of its brilliant talents. arvind curtains dehradunIn 1982, Rediffusion suffered another blow as its dialect programs were ordered to cease in conjunction of the Speak Mandarin Campaign launched in 1979.covina purple and ivory 72 x 72 shower curtain

The iconic building of Rediffusion at Clemenceau Avenue was demolished a year later after the ownership of Rediffusion in the United Kingdom changed hands in 1988. The rising popularity of new FM radio stations and the failure in its application to switch to the free-to-air broadcasting right in the nineties determined the fate of Rediffusion. By 2006, it had only 8000 subscribers. The pace in the society and technology might be too great even for an old established brand to keep up. Both Rediffusion Hong Kong and Rediffusion Malaysia were taken over in 1973 and 1997 respectively. For Rediffusion Singapore, the final moment came in 2012 when the former broadcasting giant decided to cease its 63-year-old operation after failing to find new investors. It is truly a sad day for many of its supporters, especially the older dialect-speaking generations who have depended on Rediffusion as their main source of entertainment. For more memories of Rediffusion, visit Rediffusion’s former DJ Xu Huimin’s Chinese blog.

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I don’t plan on ever returning. Behind the curtains of the hawker stands and the brand new five billion dollar casino, there is a struggle in Singapore. A struggle that is constrained to the small boundaries of this city-state, but reflects issues rooted in the human experience. What happens when everything goes right? Singapore, in its current political state, has only been around for 50 years. In this short time, it has defied all odds, and become one of the worlds most outstanding countries. It leads the world in education, banking, and shipping, and has created an everyday existence of unrivaled cleanliness, safety and stability. In Singapore, even petty theft is uncommon. One answer is pride. Every student in Singapore starts their day by vocally and harmoniously declaring their pride in their country. Similarly, they start each class by verbally acknowledging their teachers. Unlike most schools, Singapore mandates curriculum on empathy and cultural understanding.

The wars of foreign countries are studied in school so that the mistakes of others will not be repeated by Singaporeans. After graduating, every male citizen is required to do active service in the military. Historically, Singapore hasn’t been a warring nation, so the excess manpower in the military is assigned to civil work. Again, pride is the outcome. In Singapore, people simply do as they should do. They actually follow the golden rule. Singapore was founded with an extreme sense of the necessity of survival. From the beginning, government officials declared that they would do whatever was necessary to survive as an independent nation. The leaders of Singapore’s educational system saw the importance of math and science, and built a system almost exclusively around those two areas. The political leaders saw the benefits of being inclusive, and uninhibitedly opened the country’s borders to foreigners. The leaders understood the importance of tourism dollars, and literally added land to their island city-state in order to build a world class casino.

Singapore’s leaders set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to grade their government’s performance, and within 50 short years surpassed them all. In essence, everything went right. This, I believe, is the reason Singapore is a country in struggle. In 2001, Singaporean student, Lysher Loh made national news after committing suicide. Lysher was a 10-year-old girl. She cited stress at school as the reason for taking her life. Unfortunately, her case is not an isolated one. The suicide rate in Singapore is rising at an unprecedented 29% a year. With people between the ages of 20-29, the increase is a horrifying 80%. In a school system built to produce scientists, bankers and mathematicians, an artsy student was deemed a failure. The school system is one of the world’s most efficient, but it is only able to produce a limited type of human widgets. When the census was taken in 2011, it was revealed that only about 60% of Singapore’s population were Singaporean.

The rest were foreigners. Singapore has become so open, that outsiders are getting close to outnumbering locals. During my months in Singapore, I walked around and tried to investigate the heritage of the people. Time and time again, citizens laughed and said “what heritage?” Like all current global citizens, modern Singaporeans are living in a time of change. New media is helping to facilitate conversations that used to happen in small groups behind closed doors. For the first time, open letters to the heads of education are going viral on Facebook, and political critiques are spreading on YouTube. The conversation is spreading, and fueled by the Internet, the voices are getting louder. I would describe my time living in Singapore as sterile. Nothing particularly bad happened, but it wasn’t particularly good either. Daily life was convenient, but it was only the bare minimum of living. I had everything I needed to be comfortable, but I didn’t have anything that inspired me.

Even though there wasn’t a language barrier, I encountered a hefty communication barrier. In my experience, people were polite but conversations rarely moved past surface-level niceties. Of the conversations that I took part in and overheard, the vast majority of them were about work. I routinely watched people work 15 hours days and stress over strict deadlines. Yes it was living, and they were making progress, but it wasn’t holistic and people openly admitted to me that it wasn’t fulfilling. There are an incredible amount of amazing places in the world. I don’t want to waste my limited time and resources in places that doesn’t make me better. So then, what happens when everything goes right? In the case of Singapore, it meant that more serious questions had to be asked. The country had accomplished amazing feats in some of the world’s most competitive and lucrative industries, but at what cost? When a country is founded on the idea of surviving regardless of the cost, what happens when it thrives?