Metropolis 107fm

[marquess]

Sorry Guys, I should have updated you sooner.

All the DJ's have been kept on until 15th August. After this date the station format will change to current international hits. It will be a bilingual station using young good-looking Thai DJ's to appeal to the younger female market. It will be run in conjuntion with Seed 97.5 FM which is also owned by MCOT.

We have received hundreds of SMS's and emails from listeners complaining at this change in format but I feel it is all in vain.

The 15th. August will be another sad day for radio in Bangkok.

You would have thought that MCOT with all their financing and clout could have maintained at least one proper English language radio station here with western presenters and a musical genre that is evidently popular with Thais and foreigners alike!

After the 15th - foreigners and many of the existing Thai listeners (of which there are apparently many) will surely desert the station in their droves rather than endure the mind-numbing tedium of listening to these 'young good-looking Thai' DJs with their hip banality and sugar-coated music.

MCOT have five other Thai language stations in their stable. Why destroy what is probably the only other realistic alternative to these - Metropolis - catering, in the main, to the tastes of the very large number of expats and residents here who listen presently to the station?

Looks like the trend of squeezing foreigners out of the FM radio market is continuing, by design or not, unabated!

Anyone know of any other Western DJ's currently broadcasting on FM here in Thailand, other than those currently on 107 Metropolis? Does anyone listen to Smooth FM (105) or have any info. about it?

Incidentally, a friend of mine presents a show on Nation Community Radio (95.75) every Thursday evening (21.00 until 24.00 BKK time) which can be heard on the internet - go to NationRadioOnline and click on the box on LHS at the bottom of the page. Plays three hours of Beatles - but Thai language interspersing the songs!

I wonder what Russel J is up to these days, he did his last show, on Monday last week!? I wonder if he will still remain in Thailand, and if so how would he make his living? Unless they paid them a fortutune as DJ's!

[bulmercke]

Yes, Julie Kaufman stood in for Russel J. for the remainder of the week.

And Richard Green was back from Aus. taking over the reins of his 10.00 to 13.00\14.00 slot again.

Apart from the departure of Kevin Wood, a while back, and Russel J. last week, everything "appears" to be normal and there is no other indication of the station's impending fate - at least 'on air'.

And the band played on!

[hm1973]

Trust me bulmerke everything is far from normal. Next weekend will be my last two shows on the station and this week they were holding auditions for the new "crew". They were a combination of ex tv presenters/popstars and "handsome men" who do not have any radio experience but will attract the young female listeners which is what they want. The station will be run the same as Seed 97.5fm. The music is controlled by a technician and the "announcers" just announce when told to do so. Apparently I have been told that that is the future of radio in Thailand......good luck to them.

[marquess]

Trust me bulmerke everything is far from normal. Next weekend will be my last two shows on the station and this week they were holding auditions for the new "crew". They were a combination of ex tv presenters/popstars and "handsome men" who do not have any radio experience but will attract the young female listeners which is what they want. The station will be run the same as Seed 97.5fm. The music is controlled by a technician and the "announcers" just announce when told to do so. Apparently I have been told that that is the future of radio in Thailand......good luck to them.

That is the future of radio controlled by MCOT, and if this is the case the only stations I will be bothering with, will be 98.5 and the Chula station at 21.30. Thank heavens for the internet, though there was a time when used to have my radio on in the house. I suspect the new station will have all the usual giggly Thai pop, I don't know why the bother when there are other stations doing the same thing. They had a real opportunity with what they had previously. Hey do you know if any of the ex DJ's will remain in Thailand, is there some form of alternative employment?

Edited August 7, 2006 by marquess

[hm1973]

Well I certainly will be staying Marquess because for me it was only a hobby. We are all just waiting to see if someone seizes the opportunity and starts up an english language station. They would be mad not to because it would be the only one in Thailand. We must wait and see.

[thaitransit]

its time for a group of expat farangs to start an english language radio station that is really on the radio instead of just online maybe the current online station of radio bangkok could try to set up an offline version.

in the mean time can shortwave radios be purchased in thailand or brought in from outside thailand.

this will at least allow you to get international english news BBC etc

thats the only 2 good radio stations down the toilet in less than a year

Edited August 8, 2006 by thaitransit

[marquess]

So the last day of 107FM RIP, you will be missed, as there won't be any alternatives, once your gone!

[bulmercke]

Mcot signs exclusive music megadeal

Thailand's media firm Mcot announced it is about to sign a deal to become the exclusive Thailand broadcaster for four of the world's top music firms.

Mcot president Mingkwan Sangsuwan is to sign the deal tomorrow with executives of EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner Music Group.

The four major record labels claim they have a combined global market share of 82% -- and a full 90% in Thailand.

According to Mr Mingkwan, the deal was reached after months of discussions with the four record labels. He called it a new "radio and universal music phenomenon" in Thailand.

Mr Mingkwan is also to announce the relaunch of Bangkok FM 107 radio station, which will become the hub of universal music from the "Big Four."

A signing ceremony and a press conference will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon at Studio 1 of Mcot on Rama IX Road. - (TNA)

[wilko]

Anyone who thinks the demise of the old Mtropolis station was a free market "commercial" decision is deluding themselves.........

[HarryHacker]

...well, I caught 30 mins or so this morning, quite liked the new format. They still have the BBC news and the music was lively and thank <deleted> for no amateur farang DJs.

[HarryHacker]

Anyone who thinks the demise of the old Mtropolis station was a free market "commercial" decision is deluding themselves.........

….and?

Keep taking the conspiracy pills.

[terdsak_12]

Sounds good so far, guess they haven't trained up the new DJs yet, just modern English music and news at the moment.

[wilko]

Rather just Muzak isn't?

I liked the immediacy of a DJ who could tell me it's raining or there's an elephant blocking Soi12, and being able to SMS and get a reply. In short I like a live broadcast with a real person.

The jingles are gibberish, and we seem to have lost the Beeb in the last 2 hours to VOA...that would be a tragedy.

They seem to be saying that they havn't started properly yet so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[vegas]

Christine Aguilera was the first song I heard this morning and that was enough to convince me to turn off the radio and read a book on the way to work.

I miss the nerdy DJs already.

[marquess]

Christine Aguilera was the first song I heard this morning and that was enough to convince me to turn off the radio and read a book on the way to work.

I miss the nerdy DJs already.

I liked the Hip Hop songs this morning, we shall see how we go along with them. I would like to see them go over the BBC at 01.00 untill 06.00, rather than have all that automated crap!

[hm1973]

Coming from a ex-metropolis DJ, I think the new music is OK but their plan is to use ex-superstar/young tv stars as announcers/dj's. They will speak mostly Thai. This deal puts them in direct competition with Get 102.5fm which I think has a slightly better format because it plays some older stuff as well. I guess that is the end of classic music in Bangkok (for a while anyway), which I think is a shame but that is what they have decided to do with the station so we either accept it or don't listen. Your choice.

[hm1973]

Also this exclusive deal they have apparently signed is utter BS. The record companies want their music to be heard in as many places as possible, that is how they work. Are you trying to tell me that they will no longer allow other stations to play their music...no way. Nice try MCOT.

This new format was kept secret from the Metropolis DJ's, but now I undertstand why they have done this. They don't care about the listners, this change in format is money driven. Someone has made a fortune out of this deal. TiT

[bulmercke]

This format change at 107 is a truly shameful decision by MCOT and they have shown very clearly by their actions, (axing all their former DJs and news readers), that they don't give a ###### about their loyal employees - particularly the foreign ones!

MCOT's obvious 'hire and fire' policy, in this matter, has demonstrated how a very powerful organisation will put profits before it's employees.

MCOT didn't even have the common decency to let their employees know in advance of this tawdry and cowardly decision to dump them in favour of a bunch of a wannabe presenters with next to no hands-on experience of deejaying on a commercial radio station.

Metropolis's redundant DJs and listeners have every right to feel disgruntled and cheated by these recent developments. The DJs were dedicated and conscientious professionals who put a lot of effort into each of their shows.

Again another example of Thais lording it over foreigners.

Proves, yet again, that at the end of the day we have no real rights here!

[wilko]

I reckon it's not so much money as a xenophobic move on the part of MCOT which is basically a govt. org.

There was never an effort to sell advertising space on the station to the likes who listened to the station...and I wouldn't be surprised if having a lot of EL and foriegn DJs getting popular in Thailand was considered to be culturally dangerous by the "great and the good"

[wilko]

Well I certainly will be staying Marquess because for me it was only a hobby. We are all just waiting to see if someone seizes the opportunity and starts up an english language station. They would be mad not to because it would be the only one in Thailand. We must wait and see.

A problem I have (and hm?) is that I don't live in Bkk and drive about a lot....107 was the only radio station I could listen to all day (& night) internet is no use to me - so any replacement would have to have a pretty powerful transmitter.

Did you know you could pick up 107 on Samui???

as for the new...what is about Thais when they speak English...they never seem to get native speakers advice when doing adverts/jingles....they don't make sense, or sound right, they use phrases that they seem to think are catchy advertising sound bites but in fact are total rubbish...I know of nowhere else that so staunchly refuses to get advice. Are they kidding themselves that they know all the intricacies of the English language?

[marquess]

Well I certainly will be staying Marquess because for me it was only a hobby. We are all just waiting to see if someone seizes the opportunity and starts up an english language station. They would be mad not to because it would be the only one in Thailand. We must wait and see.

A problem I have (and hm?) is that I don't live in Bkk and drive about a lot....107 was the only radio station I could listen to all day (& night) internet is no use to me - so any replacement would have to have a pretty powerful transmitter.

Did you know you could pick up 107 on Samui???

as for the new...what is about Thais when they speak English...they never seem to get native speakers advice when doing adverts/jingles....they don't make sense, or sound right, they use phrases that they seem to think are catchy advertising sound bites but in fact are total rubbish...I know of nowhere else that so staunchly refuses to get advice. Are they kidding themselves that they know all the intricacies of the English language?

I remember being unable to pick the station up in Pattaya! I doubt that it will go as far Samui, of course I could be wrong!

[hm1973]

Marquess,

I doubted that as well but I did used to get telephone calls from listeners (Thais) who claimed they were listening in Phuket.

[marquess]

Marquess,

I doubted that as well but I did used to get telephone calls from listeners (Thais) who claimed they were listening in Phuket.

I was once able to pick it up 10,000 ft above Don Muang, on my MP3 radio. I have noticed that on the new version of the station, they seem to be reading out the news from TNA and Owana, on the hour in English. A complete waste of time, as the audience that they are aiming at could surly listen to that gov prepared stuff in Thai elsewhere; whilst I for one would much rather prefer to hear the BBC or even the Radio Australia news. Truth of the matter is that 102.5 is a much better option. DJ, and good music, that is completely international.

I noticed today that 107 played a Thai song, they would probably be better of going down the completely Thai road!

[hm1973]

I think the truth of the matter is they really don't know what they want to do with the station. I knew about the change of news service last week and laughed when I saw the revised schedule for the newsreaders. They intend to offer a 5 minute bulletin of TNA & OANA news between 13.00 and 20.00 every day. That news is politically biased and boring. It was bad enough when we did 2 minutes of it on the half hour mark.

On a sidenote, I have been listening a bit today and noticed that they are quite happy to play songs with explicit lyrics during the day.....nice touch MCOT.

[wilko]

Well I certainly will be staying Marquess because for me it was only a hobby. We are all just waiting to see if someone seizes the opportunity and starts up an english language station. They would be mad not to because it would be the only one in Thailand. We must wait and see.

A problem I have (and hm?) is that I don't live in Bkk and drive about a lot....107 was the only radio station I could listen to all day (& night) internet is no use to me - so any replacement would have to have a pretty powerful transmitter.

Did you know you could pick up 107 on Samui???

as for the new...what is about Thais when they speak English...they never seem to get native speakers advice when doing adverts/jingles....they don't make sense, or sound right, they use phrases that they seem to think are catchy advertising sound bites but in fact are total rubbish...I know of nowhere else that so staunchly refuses to get advice. Are they kidding themselves that they know all the intricacies of the English language?

I remember being unable to pick the station up in Pattaya! I doubt that it will go as far Samui, of course I could be wrong!

Trust me - I picked it up loud and clear on my car radio in Nathon. I guess that is either because there is nothing but sea in between amui & Bkk or someone had another transmitter!

Now I'm listening to the Beeb again...and they are still putting out "coming soon" ads...so this isn't the permenant format?

Interesting; I noticed too that they are putting out hard-core lyrics during the day...but I doubt they realise that!

[metisdead]

As to the change of the presenters and the genre of the music now presented, I am another disappointed listener, the music that is presented is utter rubbish! As another listener wrote in: there have been many complaints about the current changes, mostly in vain. I suppose in the words of Bernard Trink: any further comment would be superfluous.

I have taken this radio station off of all my radio memories. RIP Metropolis 107.

[popshirt]

And I have done the same.

[wilko]

And I have done the same.

Unfortunately it's the only station in English I can hear whilst driving around. BUT the jingle - there seems to be only one is driving me round the bend as it doesn't mean anything...

"the new favorite international music in Thailand"

Then all of a sudden they say 107 "coming soon" - what the f*** d othey mean by that?

Also they've reduced the amount of BBC news.

I'm unclear why they have an EL radio station at all if they don't want English speakers to listen to it.

[Papa_Lazarou]

I have found Radio Bangkok, but what happened to Bangkok today show?

[penguin]

Curious mix of new songs isn't it? Would a Thai language radio station get away with playing some of those rap songs translated into Thai? I wonder.