Cruz Teng

Education

Teng was educated at Anderson Secondary School where he took his GCE O Levels. He completed a Diploma in Business Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 1999. He enrolled in a part-time bachelor's degree course at SIM University in 2009, and completed his studies in 2012 despite a term’s absence. In 2014, he announced that he was accepted into Nanyang Technological University, to read Master of Mass Communications. He had completed the matriculation process and scored a corporate scholarship, but had to withdraw from the course when it was decided that he would return to the morning show.

Radio Host

Cruz Teng started his freelance radio career at MediaCorp YES 933 in 1996. He continued to host weekend programmes on the station during his National Service (NS).

Upon completing NS, Cruz Teng became a full-time radio presenter and hosted the evening drive time show. He then hosted the morning show for two years, before being transferred to the night dedications show in early 2005.

He returned to the morning show by the end of 2005. He repeatedly mentioned that he was unable to adjust to the demands on the morning shift. The six-month period in the dedication show finally made him appreciate the morning programme.

The morning show was relaunched in September 2005, and a new era began as "WRM" (就是万人迷, translated at "That's a total stunner!") became the most listened to morning show across all stations and languages in Singapore.

Teng remained as the constant anchor of the morning show from 2005 to 2013.

Teng stepped down from the morning show in 2013 after being named programme director. He went on to host a 2-hour slot from 10am to 12pm on weekdays, before making a return to the morning show in late 2014. He continued to host the morning show until his departure from the station in Nov 2015.

Cruz Teng published a blog entry to mark his 20th anniversary in radio. He remarked that "it was a shame he couldn't mark this occasion in the studios", and stressed that he "has every intention to go back on air sooner or later".

Television Host

Cruz Teng hosted a talkshow Mars Vs. Venus, Siau Jiahui on Channel U in 2015.

Stage Host

From an early stage in his career, Teng was picked to host several large scale award ceremonies. He has since hosted the Global Chinese Music Awards Ceremony in Shanghai, Taipei, Beijing and Singapore. He has also been hosting the Singapore Hit Awards Ceremony since 2005.

Music

Teng was the lyricist of "Passerby/ Lu Ren Jia". It is Hong Kong singer Justin Lo's first ever Mandarin song. He has been a strong advocate of local music. In 2014, YES 933 dedicated a massive amount of air time to promote new local acts. Singapore Hit Awards 2014 also adopted a local theme.

Theatre

Teng was one of the supporting actors in Resonance, a Chinese theatre production commissioned for MediaCorp Radio's 75th anniversary. He was cast as a comedic radio presenter in the 1980s. He later appeared in the final scene in the 2000s as a middle-aged man.

Endorsements

Teng became the first male celebrity spokesperson for beauty chain, Bioskin in 2008. He was featured in the television commercials and print advertisements for the brand.

A year later, he was the spokesperson for Singtel AMPED, a digital music download service.

In 2015, he was named ambassador of Health Promotion Board’s anti-smoking campaign.

Mediacorp

Cruz Teng was made station head of YES 93.3FM in 2013, replacing Foong Wai See who was transferred to Love 97.2FM, another station in the MediaCorp group. During this period, he chaired the Singapore Hit Awards and Global Chinese Music Awards committees, and launched several new programmes and events, including Cycle to Supper.

NoonTalk Media & Frozen Age

Cruz Teng left YES 933 to join NoonTalk Media in November 2015. As Group Creative Director, he was to oversee the group’s creative direction and development of its products and artistes, including Dasmond Koh, Aloysius Pang, Xu Bin and Kimberly Chia. At the same time, Dasmond Koh did not renew his contract with Mediacorp when it expired in Jan 2016. Dasmond set up a new skincare line, Frozen Age, and Cruz was involved in its initial setup in Singapore and Malaysia.

SMRT

According to his LinkedIn Profile, he is Lead, Internal Communications at SMRT. He began this appointment in Aug 2016.

Awards and nominations

Teng was nominated for five awards at the Golden Microphone Awards in 2004. He did not win any awards and expressed his disappointment in a newspaper interview. A few months later, the Singapore Hit Awards was created. Teng refused to do any promotion, but won "Most Friendly DJ". He won "Most Popular DJ" a year later, and has since continued to hold on to the title. During this period, the Chinese media in Singapore and Johor Bahru began to refer him as "No 1 Ah Ge" of Chinese radio.

Personal life

Teng was one of the earliest DJs to begin a blog. He was nominated for Best Celebrity Blog at the 1st Nuffnang Regional Blog Awards in 2009, Best Radio Personality Blog at the Singapore Radio Awards in 2010 and Best Local Celebrity Blog at the omy Blog Awards 2010. He was named Official Blogger for Singapore's National Day celebrations in 2009.

In 2007, Teng fell into a drain and broke five bones in his left foot. He was admitted to hospital and did a surgery the following day. A week later, fellow DJ Dennis Chew also met with an accident. He fell off a bicycle and fractured his arm and suffered other injuries on his face and legs.

At that time, they were the only two male DJs in the station, and the event was later ranked as one of the Top 10 Local Entertainment Headlines in Singapore that year.

He admitted to a long-distance relationship in 2015, but declined to give further details.

Controversies

After the Singapore Hit Awards in 2007, Cruz Teng allegedly declared online that he was banning a certain record label in Singapore. He said that he would not be playing any songs from the company for the next six months. The reporter understood that Cruz Teng encountered a particularly rude and uncooperative record executive, and whose label publicly attacked the Singapore Hit Awards, accusing it of not being transparent. Cruz Teng never clarified the incident publicly. The radio station also refused to issue any statements.

Teng was reportedly involved in a long-standing feud with fellow veteran radio DJ Dennis Chew. In 2008, Chew was transferred to host the graveyard shift, which had the lowest number of listeners in the entire line-up. Cruz Teng, meanwhile, continued to host the highest rated morning show. This was interpreted as a tactic to boost Cruz Teng's popularity, while undermining Dennis Chew's standing in the station. Cruz Teng declared online that "人不是我杀的。不要什么都算在我头上". It is literally translated as "I'm not the culprit. Don't shift the blame on me."

In March 2010, Teng and Chew were named winners at the Singapore Radio Awards. Cruz Teng, as the incumbent for the "Most Popular DJ Award" retained his title for the 4th time, while Dennis Chew won "Media Choice Award" for the 2nd time. The press published photos of them hugging and congratulating each other. This was perceived to be a stunt to clear the tension between them.

In Feb 2013, it was announced that both Teng and Chew would cease to be the headlines of 93.3FM. Cruz Teng would take on a management role, while Dennis Chew was transferred to 97.2FM as a DJ. Responding to rumours that he was responsible for transferring Chew away, Teng responded in a media interview he had nothing to do with his long-time rival leaving the station. In any case, the rivalry ended there.

Teng celebrated his 30th birthday in 2009, and held a party at the Singapore Turf Club. When interviewed by Xin Ming Ri Bao, Cruz Teng said that he blew a month's salary on the event. Netizens blasted this move as an excessively extravagant move. Teng later clarified that he had asked guests to make donations to charity.

Teng was on leave for 30 days in August 2010. When contacted by Lian He Wan Bao, he insisted that he only wanted a break, and there were not any hidden reasons. The morning shift was substituted with Dennis Chew during this period. A few days later, an anonymous reader left a comment on Teng's blog saying that he/she enjoyed listening to Dennis Chew more than Cruz Teng. Teng simply replied that he "was glad to know that the listener was finally enjoying the show". This led to another online verbal war between fans of the two camps.