Gegar No 1

Thursday December 4, 2008

THR Gegar is number one on the East Coast

By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

THR Gegar is currently the East Coast’s No.1 radio station, according to the latest Nielsen Media Radio Audience Measurement survey.

THR Gegar, whose transmissions are beamed from the All-Asia Broadcast Centre in Technology Park Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, is apparently being heard and closely followed by as many as 1.24 million listeners on a regular basis in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

THR Gegar is aired in Bahasa Malaysia for 24 hours in those states but its transmission in other parts of the country is only from 8pm to 6am.

The radio station shares the same frequencies as THR Raaga and comes on at the conclusion of the Tamil station’s broadcast. While the Tamil THR broadcaster targets listeners in the 18-39-year-old urban category, THR Gegar focuses on the 25-44 age group.

The station’s popularity in the East Coast states had recently resulted in its listeners eagerly signing up to become members of the newly-formed Kelab Pendengar THR Gegar.

According to a spokeswoman, listeners are attracted to the station’s current offerings which include music from the 1970s to the present day, hot chart show Carta Hits Gegar and a request programme called Pilihan Pantai Timur. For more details, visit www.thr.fm.

Elsewhere, the topic of domestic violence, particularly involving women and girls, marked a special report on Radio24 recently.

November 25 was the UN-sponsored International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Bernama’s broadcast journalist Tan Su Lin spelt out the definition of violence as including “physical, sexual and mental” abuse. Other forms of abuse also include discrimination at the workplace, when women and girls don’t enjoy the same privileges as men and boys, she added. Tan interviewed Women’s Aid Organisation’s executive director Ivy Josiah for the programme.

The highlighting of special United Nations-sponsored days and the inclusion of interviews of representatives of local NGOs is certainly a laudable effort by radio stations.