SINGAPORE: From the founding of the British Malayan Broadcasting Corporation in 1936, to Radio and Television Singapore (RTS), Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and finally Mediacorp today – stories of Singapore’s broadcasting history have been compiled into a new book launched on Tuesday (Jul 2).
Titled On Air: Untold Stories From Caldecott Hill, the book features 51 essays by pioneers of the industry.
“The authors have recorded many decades worth of work experience and have shared untold stories from the Japanese Occupation of Caldecott Hill to the changing faces of broadcasting to the move to Mediapolis at North Buona Vista in 2017,” said publisher Marshall Cavendish in a press release.
A page from the On Air: Untold Stories book.
The book, which contains rare and archival photographs, includes behind-the-scenes stories on the subject of censorship, multiracialism, technology disruption, as well as market competition.
Its writers include late radio presenter Vernon Palmer with his story The Love of Broadcasting, veteran journalist and former editor P N Balji’s My Story: TODAY, as well as actress Daisy Irani Subaiah’s Living Under One Roof As Daisy.
Mediacorp’s old headquarters, Caldecott Broadcast Centre. (Photo: National Heritage Board)
The memories of Caldecott were “really part of the memories in Singapore”, said Mr George Yeo, former minister for what was then the Ministry of Information and the Arts.
“The tensions of Singapore are all reflected in the way we tell stories about ourselves,” Mr Yeo, who wrote the book’s foreword, said at the launch.
“Tensions about young and old, rich and poor, Singaporeans of different background, different races and religions, how much freedom, how much censorship.
“All these tensions are reflected in broadcasting and the people who go through Caldecott are very attuned to what makes Singapore what it is,” he said.
Project leader of the book, Mr Philip Tay, added: “We thought it would be good to leave a legacy behind for our children and grandchildren that can be found in homes and libraries – on … our role in nation-building, entertaining the Singapore public and in independent Singapore.”
Mediacorp CEO Tham Loke Kheng at the launch of On Air: Untold Stories from Caldecott Hill on Jul 2, 2019.
The book will go on sale later this month, at a retail price of S$37.38 before GST.
