Article

Music Programming, Radio Listenership, and Broadcasting Issues in Radio ZHI and The British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation (1933–1940)

Xin Ying Ch’ng and Ham Chew Yung

Published in: Ethnomusicology Ireland 11 (2026)
Pages: 17-32 | Published Online: 19 June 2026
https://doi.org/10.64208/VYUF4228

Abstract

While early broadcasting in British Malaya was often experimental and fraught with issues of reception, official establishment of radio, first with ZHI in 1933 and later the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation (BMBC) in 1937, also demonstrated the difficulties of catering to a multi-ethnic and linguistically diverse population. Singapore-based, English-medium newspapers provided a platform for radio listeners to voice frustrations and demands, while programme controllers relied on the press for distribution of audience feedback and surveys. This article examines press accounts of radio programming to understand the cultural and musical tastes of British Malayan listeners during a period of intense and contesting nationalisms and identities. The resulting account of early radio listenership and reception demonstrates an aural landscape that was diverse, contradictory and often messy in its projection of colonial identity.

Keywords: Music programming, history of broadcasting, colonial radio, radio listenership, reception, British Malaya

Author: Xin Ying Ch’ng | ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6044-8040

Author: Ham Chew Yung | ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6642-5732