ANALYSIS: Radio - Upstart's launch turns up heat on dominant station. Market leader's fight back makes radio even cheaper, reports Leithen Francis

The rebranding of two radio stations in Singapore last month will provide dominant player MediaCorp Radio with its first taste of competition in a long time. English-language station The Most Music 91.3FM and Chinese-language offer Heart 100.3 have been relaunched as WKRZ 91.3FM and UFM1003 respectively. The change in UFM1003 is the more noticeable of the two. In its latest incarnation, the station has gone from talk to a music-playing format, mostly Taiwanese pop songs. "We did a complete 100 per cent turnaround, starting with three new veteran anchors. The programming is music intensive with dominant personalities, very high energy," says Tom Roberts, managing director of Capital City Radio Sales, which sells advertising on the two stations. The station has shifted its focus to the 20 to 39-year segment from its previous 35 plus target. The other station relaunched as WKRZ 91.3 FM on October 22. Since it underwent a revamp last September, its format remains predominately the same - latest hits from the US and UK as well as Australia and Asia. It also lured on-air personalities away from its biggest rival. MTV is also providing DJs who will come into the WKRZ studios to do live broadcasts on weekdays from 8pm to midnight. Roberts says the station - pitched primarily at 25 to 34-year old trendsetters - has won some big name advertisers such as Levi's, Foster's, Singapore Telecommunication and Coca-Cola. The relaunch of both stations follows SPH MediaWorks's partnership and acquisition of 50 per cent of the NTUC Media's radio business under a joint-venture company, UnionWorks. The relaunches, along with the deteriorating economy, have prodded MediaCorp into action. With 13 stations under its umbrella, MediaCorp is attempting to corner the market with discounts and exclusive offers to encourage advertisers to only use its stations. Given that the medium is already an inexpensive one, MediaCorp's discount tactics have gone down poorly with the competition. "The challenge when you're a market leader is to maintain the value of your product. They have some great properties and there's no need for them to discount but they are," comments Roberts. But it appears that UnionWorks is itself guilty of discounting. "They've come up with a lot of packages that involve big bonus spots - for example, you spend $10,000 and get $20,000 worth of advertising," says Arthur Sung, account media director at The Media Edge. "But at the end of the day, nothing is guaranteed (in terms of audience reach)." In response, Roberts says "ad agencies like to see ratings, so the fact that it's a brand new station can be used as an excuse not to buy. But there are advertisers who have the courage and the vision and will jump in first". He adds: "It's relatively easy to sell a station that has been around a long time and has a lot of ratings; whether it will show the biggest decline when a new station launches is yet to be seen." MediaCorp has eight of the top 10 rated radio stations, according to AC Nielsen's 2001 survey. These include Yes 93.3 FM, Capital Radio, Love 97.2 FM, Class 95 FM and Perfect 10. The only major competitors are Power 98, which ranks sixth; while UnionWorks' 100.3 FM is 10th and 91.3FM is 11th. As media buyers see it, UnionWorks still has to prove itself. That it is backed by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is seen as a bonus for the upstart in its infancy. "I think SPH will put a lot into revamping the stations and improving the quality; we are already seeing DJs moving across from MediaCorp Radio to UnionWorks," says Deepika Nikhilender, general manager MindShare. Sung at TME adds: "Generating PR for the radio stations will be a lot easier" because SPH has newspapers, TV stations and other media assets. "Radio is very habitual so it's hard to get people to change (stations) but UnionWorks has a good platform to do that."

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