Unlike Mediacorp and SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) radio stations, So Drama! Entertainment (formerly known as SAFRA Radio) radio stations 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM are not transmitted from Bukit Batok, instead their own Defense Technology Tower B. Why?

Singapore is a small country in ASEAN region, it has 19 local radio stations, operated by Mediacorp, Singapore Press Holdings and So Drama! Entertainment (SAFRA Radio), most of the radio stations transmitters are located in Bukit Batok, except So Drama! Entertainment radio stations, 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM.

 

 

Honestly 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM were used to locate their transmitters in Bukit Batok transmission tower for a moment, I spotted this information via So Drama! Entertainment open tender to supply, test and commissioning the solid state FM radio transmitter for its radio stations in Bukit Batok 5 years ago. I concluded that 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM were transmitted from Bukit Batok during that time after reading the tender information.

 

However, my friend from Singapore has recently tested the signal of 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM near Bukit Batok, their field strength reading are not high as Mediacorp and SPH radio stations, meanwhile the signal strength of 88.3 Jia FM and Power 98FM are very high near Defense Tower areas.

The transmitter tower of 883 Jia and Power 98FM is located at the top of the building at Defense Technology Tower B. Transmitter power is 12kW for each station, meanwhile when both were transmitted in Bukit Batok, the transmitter power was only 5kW.

 

So Drama! Entertainment (formerly known as SAFRA Radio) is the smallest radio broadcaster in Singapore. In my opinion, its radio stations 883Jia and Power 98 located the transmitter system at Defense Technology Tower B can save more transmission cost than using Bukit Batok tower where Bukit Batok's telecommunications tower is belonged to SingTel (Singapore's largest telecommunications company because So Drama! Entertainment office is located at Defense Technology Tower B, formerly known as Singapore Telecom). In addition, So Drama! Entertainment broadcast engineers can maintain the transmitter system of 883Jia and Power 98FM at their company tower without relying on SingTel broadcast transmission services.

 

By creating the chronology of 883Jia and Power 98's transmitter site history, they were launched in 1994/95 and transmitted from Defense Technology Tower B, then they moved to Bukit Batok temporarily, and shifted back to Defense Technology Tower B again.

I personally suspect that 883Jia and Power 98FM moved to Bukit Batok temporarily because the radio transmitter tower at Defense Technology Tower B had problems, but they moved back to Defense Technology Tower B after repairing the transmission tower.

Mediacorp and SPH radio stations' transmission services are provided and maintained by Singtel in Bukit Batok.

Photo of Singapore Defense Technology Tower B (source: shutterstock.com)