Excerpt from report by Thai newspaper Bangkok Post website on 17 August
MCOT [Mass Communication Organization of Thailand] PLC yesterday signed an agreement with four major music labels, aiming to increase the popularity of its relaunched Met FM 107 radio station.
President Mingkwan Sangsuwan said the company had come to an agreement with EMI Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, Universal, and Warner Music Group to operate the music station around the clock. “Today’s event is phenomenal, since it’s very hard to bring all the big music [players] together in one place,” Mr Mingkwan said.
The agreement coincided with the demise at midnight on Tuesday [15 August] of Metropolis 107, which had played pop and rock hits from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It also carried news from the BBC, Radio Australia and Voice of America. The format and its personable English-speaking disc jockeys were popular with expats and over-40 listeners but advertising revenue was poor. Still, its passing was lamented in local online chatrooms such as Thaivisa.com.
The new Met 107 format offers more contemporary pop, hip-hop and other music aimed at a younger audience. Mr Mingkwan said the agreement with the four major labels would spur growing demand for international music among Thai listeners. “These [music companies] hold a total market share of 81.7 per cent of the world’s music industry,” he added.
Strengthening its radio channel is one of the state-owned broadcaster’s plans to increase revenue this year to 4 billion baht [106m dollars]. Its flagship property is television Channel 9 and it also operates the Thai News Agency. MCOT posted a first-half net profit of 710 million baht [19m dollars], up 30 per cent year-on-year. First-half revenue rose 22 per cent to 2.08 billion baht, with TV revenue up 21 per cent to 1.3 billion and radio revenue rising 53 per cent to 385 million.
Under the partnerships, Mr Mingkwan said the four music labels would also co-ordinate with MCOT to provide chart listings, music videos, concert tickets, and memorabilia for promotional purposes. [Passage omitted]
(Source: Bangkok Post website, Bangkok, in English 17 Aug 06 via BBC Monitoring)
on Aug 18th, 2006 at 19:41
This is a shame (for me) as I’ve often listened to Metropolis 107 while in Bangkok on visits to God’s chosen country. It did, as you say, relay regular foreign newscasts, which were not always as favourable to the Thai Rak Thai party as the local media. This may be another factor behind its passing, as MCOT (Or Sor Mor Tor, in Thai) is most firmly a state-owned corporation.
on Aug 21st, 2006 at 22:49
The new MET 107 format has sent me scrambling to get broadband internet access so that I can listen to REAL radio with a pleasing mix of music, DJ rap and independent world news and information. The first day that I get internet access to radio will be the LAST day I listen to MET 107. What a shame that yet another lineup of (somewhat) unique and independent voices are being replaced in Thailand by the addition of hours of inane and discordant jingles and hip-hop music.
on Aug 28th, 2006 at 09:14
Anybody know if the new FM 107 has a own website ?
on Aug 28th, 2006 at 10:22
There’s one at http://radio.mcot.net/info_fm107.php with a live audio link, but most of the text is in Thai.
on Aug 29th, 2006 at 20:15
Thank you Andy for the link.
Popularity: Is there an independent list of most popular radio-stations 2006 in Thailand and/or Bangkok available ? What are the 10 best ?
[ in English and/or Thai
language ].
on Sep 10th, 2006 at 06:16
Thanks for this transformation in as much as we need unbaised information about events in and around Thailand, we also need to be updated with current music in the world be it RM,Hip Up Reggae etc. Really a lot of us were bored with your so called music of yester-years.
Charles Bongani