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Asia 1 is a privately owned pan-Asian commercial radio station currently headquartered in Hong Kong. The original aim of the station was to deliver Western pop and rock music to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and parts of East Asia via shortwave and longwave signals, but it was also well-heard in Africa (especially Apartheid-era South Africa), Iran, the Arab world, and Israel, where it became legendary.
Owned by Asia 1 Media, owned jointly by Paramount Global (80%) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (30%), Asia 1 is one of the leading English-language radio broadcasting stations in Asia, with programming available in much of the ASEAN region, South Asia, Hong Kong, and Macau. Asia 1 produces a television chart program, Asia 1 Chart Toppers, which airs on several networks including MTV Free in the Philippines. Asia 1 broadcasts on 153 AM longwave, 21.450 MHz shortwave, DAB+ in Asia, and 88.1 FM analog in most of Asia.
History[]
Early history[]
Conception[]
The idea for Asia 1 was first proposed in 1977 when the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of Morarji Desai's Indian government caused many foreign companies to leave the country. Former American radio pirate Joseph E. D. Barton suggested creating an all-Western music station for listeners in Southeastern and Southern Asia, as he felt the regions had a lack of stations playing Western pop and rock music, especially in India due to the enactment of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. To circumvent the troubles of establishing a station in the region, Barton's company, Barton Radio International of Allen, Texas, teamed up with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and North Limited to form Asia 1 Pty. Ltd., trading in Perth and Sydney, with the intentions of establishing a Asia-wide pop music station broadcast from an Australian coastal area.
Building the station[]
In March 1979, the ABC commenced construction on the station's AM longwave transmitter station in Port Hedland, Western Australia, each of the masts used a specially built pair of air and water-cooled Nautel 300 kW solid-state transmitters (which could be combined to give double power). The shortwave transmitter station, also in Port Hedland, used two Gates 500 kW rotatable curtain antennas on two separate single-mast structures.
The station's studios were set up in a converted department store in Rockingham near Perth, with all programming sent via microwave to the shortwave and longwave transmitters in Port Hedland. The main on-air studio consisted of a Gates Diplomat mixer, Technics SL-1200 turntables, a BASF cassette deck, and Gates NAB cartridge machines for playout of jingles and commercials. The second studio, for production, had a Gates turntable, reel-to-reel tape recorders, and an NAB cartridge recording unit.
Launch[]
The classic logo from 1980-2008
At 8:00 AM Perth time (1200 UTC) on January 2, 1980, DJ Wyoming Goodwyn announced on Asia 1's 153 AM Longwave signal "I am the first voice you are hearing... on Asia 1." This was followed by a specially produced pre-recorded introduction tape that introduced everybody employed by the radio station on its launch day, as well as Barton and various ABC higher-ups. The official "first record played" was The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl". Asia 1 used JAM Creative Productions jingle packages and the initial slogan of "Asia's Hot Hits".
Although the station's shortwave and longwave transmitters were within Australian borders, they were used to beam Western rock and pop music to an intended target audience of 18-to-30-year olds from one Asian country to another.
Mid-1980s peak[]
Initially, the station only broadcast on AM longwave from 8:00 AM Perth time to 8:00 PM Perth time, but starting in March 1982 the AM longwave transmission hours were expanded to 24 hours, but the broadcast time from 11:00 PM Perth time to 8:00 AM Perth time was automated and was branded as "The Night Shift".
Some programs were live disc-jockey presentations by the team of "resident announcers" from the studios in Rockingham, while others were voice-tracked presentations recorded at the studios of Asia 1 (USA) Inc. in Downtown Dallas and then air-freighted to Australia. Ad sales were made in Australia and Singapore, and bills were paid by Asia 1 (USA) Inc. in Texas with most business being conducted by telephone and telex. Asia 1 (USA) Inc. also was in charge of receiving reception reports, acknowledging all reports with cards postmarked "Allen TX". The station cost US$5 million to set up.
A bumper sticker distributed by Asia 1 through QSL reports and letters
Multiple Asian broadcasting corporations, including India's Prasar Bharati, Singapore's Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now Mediacorp), the Philippines' GMA and Tseng's TBS, initially objected to the station, seeing it as a commercial "border blaster". China and Vietnam began jamming the shortwave signals of Asia 1, while both North and South Korea began jamming the longwave signal, with South Korea's KBS claiming that Asia 1 was "stealing listeners" from their music stations. The Sandian Broadcasting Corporation's then-President Juno Chi thought the station was "an awful attempt to get Sandian people to stop listening to Sandian radio stations and give up on Sandian culture".
Nevertheless, Asia 1 (USA) Inc. received reception reports for Asia 1 from such locations as Yugoslavia, Ireland, California, Stockholm, England, West Germany, Tokyo, and New Zealand. The longwave signal had even been received in Brazil at night-time. Current The Cars bassist/co-lead vocalist Philip Mannsåker has claimed Asia 1 was the only offshore radio station with listenable reception in Norway's Greater Oslo Region. The station's English-speaking DJs, JAM jingles, and Top 40 hits attracted advertisers from all over Asia and Australasia. Major advertisers supporting Asia 1 included Pepsi, Sony, Panasonic, Grundig, BASF, Bentoel, Kellogg's, and Qantas; with Indian advertisers including Thums Up, Hindustan, and Gold Flake.
In 1983, Asia 1 held two concerts in Manila and British Hong Kong - named the Asia 1 Super Concerts. The Manila concert at Rizal Memorial Stadium and the Hong Kong concert at Happy Valley Racecourse, combined, were among the highest-grossing concerts of the year. In August 1983, Asia 1 added Asia 1's Top 100, it's countdown of the top 100 popular songs among it's listeners.
By 1985, Asia 1 was broadcasting a wide variety of Top 40 music from the United States, Europe and Australasia for it's pan-Asian audience. Other programming included Asia 1's Top 100, Asia 1's Music Report music news briefs, Rock of Ages (a Friday night active rock feature produced by Cleveland's WMMS), Bubbling Under (an alternative/college rock feature produced by Los Angeles' KROQ-FM) and Asia 1 Jams (a nightly hip-hop/R&B/reggae/dancehall music feature produced by WBLS of New York City). Other Asia-wide stations such as Superrock KYOI would compete with Asia 1 at several times.
During the mid-1980s, the station boasted more than 20 million listeners from South Asia and Southeast Asia to Taiwan, China and Japan, thanks to the format used by the station.
In the Arab world and Israel, Asia 1 competed with the Voice of Peace for listenership in the volatile region. Both Hebrew and Arabic-speaking listeners in the region got their first taste of Western Top 40 music through Asia 1. In Iran, despite attempts by the government to jam the shortwave and longwave signals, it was popular among foreign-music-deprived Iranians. In South Africa, attempts by the Apartheid government to jam the longwave signal were fruitless as the station gave South Africans a window into a world free from racial discrimination.
Presenters[]
The presenters who worked at Asia 1 throughout the 80s included the following: (D marks a personality voice-tracked from Dallas)
- Paul "Dr. Drink" Drinkwater
- Keith Clowers (former 2JJ DJ)
- Uncle Ricky K. (former KMET DJ)
- Tommy Sturge
- Mike Rosenblum (former Radio 270 and Radio Caroline DJ)
- Helen Bulatovic D
- Grace Folwell D
- Drake Alan (former Radio Caroline and Voice of Peace DJ)
- Sven Granheim
- Kendrick Chriss
- Courtney Mogg (former Radio Caroline DJ)
- Sasha Ryan
- Kurt Helgemo D
- Darlene K (former WHUR-FM and Voice of Unity DJ)
- Henry Dermott
- Wyoming Goodwyn (former KMET DJ)
- James Jacklin
- Ian Vale
- Katie Q (former 2CA DJ)
- Spaghettini D
- Elvira Clarke
- Captain Josh D
- Howard Gaudé
- Cynthia Jacklin (James' wife)
- Hugh Kleshchenko D
- Kevin Debney
- Howard Loch
1990s[]
In 1992, Asia 1 created Asia 1's Noisy Storm, a parody of "quiet storm" radio programs featuring various genres of metal and hard rock.
In 1995, Barton sold his stake in Asia 1 to Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, who then bought out North Limited's stake as well. During the 1990s, Asia 1 was the longwave/shortwave home of several shock jocks, such as Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus, and Tom Leykis.
In May 1998, Asia 1's studios were relocated from Rockingham to Hong Kong to be "closer to the heart of Asia". The move was completed on May 24, the last song played from the Rockingham studio was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men while the first song played at the Hong Kong studio was "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by the Backstreet Boys (with Asia 1 presenters shouting "ASIA 1'S BACK!" over "Backstreet's back").
In 1999, Asia 1 & 2 Live in Singapore was held at Singapore Indoor Stadium. The performances were videotaped for television broadcast, with Blue Sky's performance broadcast in the US on the Disney Channel as Blue Sky Live in Concert.
Presenters[]
Presenters who worked at Asia 1 during the 1990s included, but are not limited to:
- MC Brad
- Sven Granheim
- Sasha Ryan
- Wyoming Goodwyn
- Adel Adelsköld
- Frankie Banks
- Mark Carden
- Nick Eisenmenger
- Captain Kevin Paulson
- Cliff Deeks
2000s and end of shortwave broadcasting from Port Hedland[]
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2010s onwards[]
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Presenters[]
Current[]
- Tyrone Aarons (Asia's Top 100)
- Joshua Salling
- Rebekah Min
- Ivan Powell
- Josie Emlyn
- Liu Gui-Ying
- Stephen Rozendaal
- Nathan Kristian
- Charlotte Shen
- Samantha Malinen
- Fred W. Sandy
- Aderonke Akinde
- Pierre Gobet
- Jacqueline Gilchrest
- Corbin Brooks
- Josh Hucker
- Valerie Lightner
- Antwaun Scott
- Dylan Gautier