Broadcast area Singapore First air date 3 October 2001 | Frequency FM 100.3 | |
 | ||
Branding UFM100.3
(2012-present)
Radio 1003 (2005-2012)
UFM 1003 (2001-2004) Slogan "U选好歌，非听不可!"
(Playing your favourite songs that you must not miss!) Format Music Station, Contemporary Hits, Mandarin Pop | ||
UFM 100.3 is a Mandarin music station under SPH Radio Pte Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings. The station is targeted at working professionals between 35 and 49 years old, and has a market share of 5.9% with a cumulative listenership of 358,000.
Contents
- Station launch and early days
- Post media merger and rebranding to Radio 1003
- Rebranding to UFM 1003
- Former Notable DJs
- References
The station is organised under the Chinese Media group, which also includes SPH Chinese media publications such as broadsheet Lianhe Zaobao, tabloids Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News and freesheet My Paper (Chinese section). News breaks are selected from these publications, while entertainment news are selected from Omy.sg.
The station is also recognized by the National Arts Council for its contribution towards Singapore's arts sector, being a recipient of the SG50 Arts Patron Award in 2015, a Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award recipient in 2010, 2011, 2014, and a Patron of the Arts Award in 2013 and 2015.
Station launch and early days
The station began as UFM 1003 on October 3, 2001, as a station under UnionWorks, a 50-50 joint venture between SPH and NTUC Media. Its target audience is aged 25 to 39.
The 24-hour music station then operated out of the Singapore Labour Foundation building at Thomson Road, taking over the facilities and frequency of the former NTUC Heart 100.3 FM, and adopted green and purple as its station colors. A station mascot U仔 (literally "Little U") in these colors was also created and incorporated in the station logo.
Local veteran radio DJs Anna Lim, Wong Woon Hong (Huang Wenhong), and Danny Yeo were recruited from rival stations Capital 95.8 FM and YES 933, while new DJs were recruited from campus searches at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. In UFM 1003's early days, radio programmes by Matilda Tao and Mickey Huang were syndicated from Taiwan.
Mandopop singer Jay Chou, then a new singer, sang a version of the station jingle which was adapted from his song 忍者 Ninja. The station's other jingles were sung by Singaporean singers Juliet Pang and Corrinne May.
UFM 1003 also launched its music chart 优势流行榜 U Chart, which would continue till 2012 and serve as an alternative reference to YES 933's Pop of the Pop charts. Singaporean mandopop singer Stefanie Sun topped the first-ever chart on October 7, 2001 with her hit track 绿光 Green Light.
In February 2002, UFM 1003 and its sister station WKRZ 91.3 were designated as official radio broadcasters of Chingay Parade. SPH MediaWorks was the official TV and Internet broadcaster for the annual street parade, and the official newspapers were Lianhe Zaobao and Streats.
In October 2002, UFM 1003 began a partnership with Taiwan's Broadcasting Corporation of China POP Network. On Wednesdays 10pm, the two stations would link up over ISDN broadband, and listeners of both stations can tune in to an hourly program co-hosted by UFM 1003's DJ Danny Yeo, and the latter station's DJ Andy Wang.
Post-media merger and rebranding to Radio 1003
Singapore saw a media merger at the end of 2004, with SPH's television operations SPH MediaWorks taken over by MediaCorp. However, UnionWorks was not directly affected by the merger. Variety host Quan Yi Fong, and newscasters Helen Cheung (Zhang Haijie) and Wang Yanqing, who left SPH MediaWorks, became regular talkshow guests on UFM 1003's morning drive time show.
In an effort to synergize with SPH's other media platforms, UFM 1003 began to tap on the newsrooms, with daily broadcasts of news from Lianhe Zaobao, Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min Daily News, The Straits Times and The New Paper. The station also began to move towards an interactive infotainment format.
In 2006, UnionWorks was renamed as SPH UnionWorks after SPH increased its stake in the subsidiary to 70%. UFM 1003 was renamed as Radio 1003, while WKRZ 91.3 was rebranded as Radio 91.3 with a new contemporary hit radio format.
The following year, SPH further increased its stake in to 80%. In November, SPH UnionWorks moved into the SPH Headquarters at News Centre in Toa Payoh North, taking over the renovated space left behind by the defunct SPH MediaWorks' TV news studio.
In 2009, SPH launched the inaugural Singapore Entertainment Awards (新加坡e乐大赏), organised by Lianhe Wanbao, Radio 1003, omy.sg and UW (U-Weekly). The annual rewards honored the best talents in the Singapore and Asian entertainment scene.
In 2010, Radio 1003 was invited to found Global Chinese Golden Chart (全球流行音乐金榜), a new global alliance with top Chinese radio stations around the world, including Taiwan's HIT FM, China's Music Radio and CITY FM, and Malaysia's My FM. The alliance enabled the station to collaborate with record labels in the region to actively promote Chinese pop music and share music resources and content.
Rebranding to UFM 100.3
Radio 1003's name was reverted to UFM 100.3 in 2012, but it adopted a new slogan “UFM 100.3是生活” (UFM 100.3 is life) and a new logo. Programming was adjusted to cater to its core audience aged 35 to 49.
In 2014, UFM 100.3's parent company SPH UnionWorks was renamed SPH Radio, as SPH acquired the remaining 7.1% stake in NTUC Media.
From January 2015, SPH reorganized its newspaper divisions to include other media forms. Under this restructuring, UFM 100.3 was brought under the Chinese Media Group.
Former Notable DJs
Went into TV Productions
Went into acting industry
Left Radio Industry
Crossover to other radio stations