Eight FM had ceased its broadcast in Ipoh, Melaka and Johor since 27th October 2025, and its frequencies are now becoming Kool FM officially. I know several Chinese listeners who tune Eight FM in Melaka, Johor and Ipoh will make noise over the radio program swap to Kool FM (Malay Gen X oriented radio station), the worst thing is some of people take advantage to politicize this issue by attacking the government.
Both Kool FM and Eight FM are operated by Media Prima Berhad, the famous commercial media and broadcaster in Malaysia which owns TV3, Berita Harian and New Straits Times.
Media Prima runs its business under commercial manner, not public or government service.
It is not against the law of Media Prima to switch Eight FM to Kool FM in Ipoh, Melaka and Johor by taking over the frequencies because Media Prima Audio has the rights to make commercial decision.
Just like Astro Radio, the giant commercial radio broadcaster ceased Malay teenager indie radio station Xfresh (XFM) in July 2012, and Xfresh let go all its frequencies to Chinese retro radio station Melody FM.
Even back to 1998, Astro Radio also switched off Talk Radio and Classic Rock on FM radio frequencies platform, then MY FM and Era took over their frequencies respectively.
Time Highway Radio (THR) did the same thing by removing its Tamil program Raaga from East Coast frequencies since 2002 due to low listenership rating of Indian listeners in Kuantan, Terengganu and Kelantan, it resulted Time Highway Radio to divide into two radio stations, namely Raaga in Tamil and Gegar in Malay.
From what I observe by years through radio stations' listenership rating survey report, compare with the competitors such as 988, MY FM and Melody, Eight FM is the weakest performance Chinese radio station because it has the lowest listeners rating among all the Chinese radio stations with 355k listeners weekly (Nielsen CMV 2024).
When Eight FM suffers low listenership rating, it could become liability asset to Media Prima Audio. So, Media Prima Audio conducts the detail study of Eight FM's listeners' rating performance by region, but the listenership of Eight FM in Ipoh, Melaka and Johor are much lesser than other Chinese radio stations, somewhat Media Prima Audio is not able to apply new frequencies for Kool FM as Ipoh, Melaka and Johor have no more vacant frequencies. So, under the rationalization of Media Prima Audio commercial operation, Media Prima Audio decided to launch Kool FM by taking over the frequencies from Eight FM in Ipoh, Melaka and Johor, meanwhile Eight FM ceased its broadcast there.
The decision to switch from Eight FM to Kool FM in Melaka, Johor and Ipoh can help Media Prima Audio to gain more commercial profit.
Interference to Indonesia and Singapore radio stations must be considered when it comes to Melaka and Johor.
In Ipoh, despite I find that FM 93.3MHz is an empty frequency, but it cannot be used due to co-channel interference to Minnal FM 93.3MHz Bukit Palong coverage in Lawin, Perak.
In Johor Bahru, although 88.3, 98.0 and 99.5 are empty frequencies, but those are belonged to Singapore, meanwhile 107.9MHz cannot be used due to airband.
I'm not surprised over that decision because Eight FM did the same thing by letting go its frequency to Molek FM in Kuantan due to low listenership rating.
==Current Chinese demographics in Perak, Melaka and Johor==
Chinese listeners in other states like Johor, Melaka, and Ipoh are mostly Gen X or slightly younger (Gen Y). Many of them listen to radio mainly when they’re stuck in traffic. They already have options such as 988, MY, Melody, and Ai FM.
Eight FM’s positioning is similar to GoXuan — targeting a younger audience who consume more digital content than anyone else. That’s why Eight FM maintains its strongest presence in the Klang Valley and Penang, where the population is larger.
==The current direction of newly rebranded Eight FM (Eight 無限)==
Eight FM is now repositioned as Gen Z Chinese radio station to compete against GoXUAN by rebranding as "Eight 無限" (Eight Infinity), Digital First Chinese radio station by Media Prima Audio.
==My expression towards the listeners==
Yes, it is unfortunate of Eight FM letting go its Ipoh, Melaka and Johor Bahru frequencies to Kool FM due to low listenership rating and commercial reason, I understand some of listeners are sad and pissed off about the decision.
As Eight WuXian is now positioned as Digital First Chinese Gen Z radio station to compete against GoXUAN, let's move on from FM radio by tuning this radio station via online streaming like Audio+, Tonton app and YouTube LIVE. Now, we have 5G internet technology, so listening to a radio nowadays is more advanced than before.
To those people who blame the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the government over the decision of Media Prima Audio to switch Eight FM to Kool FM in Melaka, Johor and Ipoh, you're brainless and too emotional politically. The decision of Media Prima Audio is none of the government's business because Media Prima Audio is a commercial media company, the radio network division of Media Prima Berhad, but government runs Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).
Media Prima Audio was formerly as Media Prima Radio Networks (MPRN) and Ripple.
Please stop blaming YB Fahmi Fadzil and YB Teo Nie Ching who in charge Ministry of Communications. This is the commercial decision of Media Prima, nothing related to public interest.
Several listeners don't really listen and support Eight FM most of the time, but when Eight FM is about to be switched off in Ipoh, Melaka and Johor, they suddenly make noise.To these people, I strongly suggest them to keep quiet and stick back to their favorite radio stations.
Recently I also watched the Q&A session of YB Khoo Poay Tiong from DAP (Kota Melaka) asked YB Fahmi Fadzil regarding the switch off of Eight FM in Melaka, Johor and Ipoh, YB Fahmi Fadzil, the communication minister replied that the decision was made by Media Prima Berhad, not related to government. To me, it is ok of YB Khoo Poay Tiong for raising the question, at least the listeners who tune Eight FM can understand deeply, so at least the issue can be cooled down. Need Kool FM to play Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby. Hahaha 🤣
Dear all listeners in affected areas, please tune to Eight WuXian digitally by downloading Audio+, Tonton apps, or listening via YouTube+. If you're lucky, you may try to tune to Eight FM via distant frequencies on 88.1 from Klang Valley or 87.8 from Penang, but interference would be detected.
