ASIA

In conjunction with the National Day and its 25th anniversary, Malaysians can look forward to an exciting and special line-up on Astro Radio across all 11 stations on-air, on the SYOK app, website and on social media.Kenny Ong, CEO, Astro Radio, said: “We wish to show our appreciation to our fans and listeners who have supported us in achieving this milestone of being 25. Our listeners can enjoy a specially curated playlists of the best of 25 songs, listen to the stories of our many local talents from radio, TV and even cinema, and participate in fun challenges on social media and win prizes. We are honoured to continue to provide Malaysians with the best mix of content across all our radio brands and platforms and thank them for their incredible support in making us their number 1 radio choice.” Malaysians can look forward to these specials this National Day:
The Best Malaysian English Songs, counting down the top local English songs nominated and voted for by listeners on 16 September on HITZ.
Malaysian Pop Culture, for music through the decades and an opportunity to call in to discuss iconic Malaysians movies on 31 August on MIX.
64 Suara Merdeka, a playlist featuring 64 favourite local songs on 31 August, 3pm on SINAR.
64 Lagu Ore Kito, for local songs from the East Coast, on 31 August on GEGAR.
ZAYAN Talk Merdeka, a talk session with local celebrities and more, on 31 August on ZAYAN Facebook and Instagram.
Anugerah Hero ERA Sarawak, a contest to nominate listeners personal heroes, from 30 August on ERA Sarawak Facebook and Instagram.
Virtual 90-minute concert on RAAGA En Malaysia, Un Malaysia, Nam Malaysia, featuring local talents Santesh, Yunohoo, Havoc Mathan, Havoc Naven, Lockup Nathan, Amos Paul, and more, on 31 August from 6pm via Facebook Live.
24-Hours Non-Stop Malaysian Songs, featuring local favourites from 12am, on 31 August on RAAGA.
To mark its 25th anniversary, Astro Radio is also ffering its listeners:

Specially curated music playlists such as:
Carta 25 Gemilang, featuring Top 25 songs from popular local reality shows ‘Akademi Fantasia’ and ‘Ceria Popstar’ from 3 September, every Friday at 9pm on SINAR.Top 25 Nasyid playlist every Saturday and Sunday, from 28 August on ZAYAN.RAAGA-vil Top 25 Hits!, for the best Kollywood and Malaysian hits from the 80’s to date, hosted by Gheetha every Sunday, from 10am to 1pm on RAAGA.
Exclusive, insightful interviews with award-winning film directors, popular local celebrities and TV personalities including:
Astro news anchors, Siow Hui Mei and Gan Jiang Han as well as award-winning director Chiu Keng Guan (On Your Mark, Ola Bola, The Journey) in September on MELODY.The winner of popular reality show ‘Akademi Fantasia’ Season 1, Vince Chong and Astro Arena Host and ‘Akademi Fantasia student’, Burn, on 31 August on GEGAR.Participants of Astro Oasis’ Islamic programmes through a series of interviews on Jejak Iman Muda & Pencetus Ummah, available now on Monday to Friday, from 3 to 7pm on ZAYAN.Amira Othman, Sufi Rashid, Aizat Amdan, Akim Ahmad, former students from popular reality show ‘Akademi Fantasia’ on the ERA YouTube channel and social media pages.Fans can also enjoy a video of the hilarious morning crew, JoHaRa Pagi ERA in Jaguh JoHaRa, competing in a virtual game of ‘Batu Seremban’ with local celebrities.Listeners can also look forward to a list of the Top 25 TV programmes on Astro via GOXUAN, every Thursday at 6pm, from 2 September, and fans can also take part in the TikTok challenge with MY radio announcers held later this year.Additionally, all Malaysians can stand a chance to enjoy a tour of the HITZ, MIX and LITE radio studios while interacting with popular radio announcers from those brands. […]

On Malaysia’s National Day, SYOK invites all Malaysian podcasters to submit a podcast for a chance to take home RM1000 in cash prizes and a trophy in the ‘Anugerah Podcast SYOK: Merdeka Edition’ contest, from now till September 5, via the SYOK app and website.Participants must submit a podcast on the topic ‘What’s interesting about Malaysia’ in either English, Malay, Chinese or Tamil across various formats such as conversations, monologues, interviews and more.To participate, visit the ‘Anugerah Podcast SYOK Merdeka Edition’ contest page on the SYOK app or website, select the language of the podcast, fill in the contest form, share information about the podcast with descriptions required and upload a recorded podcast that is between 15 to 35 minutes long in the required format.

Shortlisted podcasts will be available on SYOK platforms for listeners to stream and the podcasts with highest listeners from each language category will stand a chance to win.For more information, visit anugerahpodcastsyok.my or download the SYOK app. […]

Astro Radio in partnership with Digi launched ‘KamiCare MBiz’ to help local businesses affected by the pandemic find their footing. Under the campaign, businesses who qualify are given free airtime to help them drive engagement and traffic to their brands.Over a seven-month period, this campaign successfully helped over 3030 local businesses by airing a total value of RM116.4mn in airtime.Since the start of KamiCare MBiz in December 2020, Astro Radio brands have received submissions from various local businesses nationwide including home chefs and bakers, restaurants and cafés, florists, event management teams, tailors, car repair and home cleaning services, as well as companies offering IT solutions, pet food, sports attire and equipment, handicrafts, baby products, beverages and more.

From submissions received, selected businesses received at least 25 mentions over period of one week through 30-second on-air announcements. Additionally, these businesses were also featured on respective Astro Radio brand’s social media pages for additional reach and engagement. Selected businesses also received additional mentions via Facebook Live streams, including local food sellers “24 Seven FNB” and “Little Boss” who received additional sales orders following these mentions.Kenny Ong, Chief Executive Officer, Astro Radio, said: “We received overwhelming response since ‘KamiCare MBiz’ launched with almost 7,700 submissions across our platforms. We are happy to announce we are extending this campaign so that more local businesses will have the opportunity to have their businesses featured on air reaching our 17 million listeners, and on social media reaching our 23 million followers.” […]

In a preliminary finding of the International Trade Commission, Google has been found guilty of infringing on Sonos’ patent.The victory comes after a case going back to early 2020 when Sonos first sued Google, accusing them of infringing on five of the Sonos smart speaker technology patents for a number of Google products, including Google Home, Nest Hubs and Pixel.According to Sonos, during a 2013 partnership, Google had stolen the technology under the guise of looking over Sonos’s blueprints in order to make its own music service compatible with the products.

As part of the initial suit, Sonos had also requested a ban on the sale of Google products in the US, including Nest Hubs, Chromecasts, and Pixel smartphone handsets.Google launched a countersuit in the middle of last year claiming Sonos was not paying a licence fee for using Google’s patented technology for software, networking, search, audio processing, digital-media management and streaming. […]

According to a report by Pajhwok, Taliban’s information affairs in-charge for central Ghazni province has banned music and work of female employees in local radio stations.Maulvi Habibullah Mujahid said all radios should disseminate transmission in line with Sharia Law.“Work of women employees and music is banned in local radios onward from today,” he said.

He said Afghanistan is an Islamic country and its people don’t want music therefore it should be banned.He said radios could highlight public issues and could criticise the Taliban but they could not violate the law.At the moment nine local radios, two Shariat radios and one private television are active in Ghazni. […]

Responding to podcast listeners who have “have pointed out to us that their favorite Spotify-produced podcasts have disappeared from their usual podcast feeds,” Spotify has published an explanation of its exclusive content strategy.Spotify believes that “streaming is the future of all audio.”The blog says:

“To enhance our discovery and editorial prowess, in the last few months we’ve brought some of our shows exclusively to Spotify.“What does that mean?“Shows like Serial Killers, Horoscope Today, Motherhacker, and How to Save a Planet will still be available for free, but only on Spotify. Many podcast enthusiasts have found some of their favorite podcasts through our popular playlists powered by your algorithmic listening, like Your Daily Drive, or through our playlists where our expert Spotify editors have personally curated the best episodes.“It’s also important to point out what this change does not mean: that you have to pay to listen to Spotify-produced shows.“You’ll still be able to listen to your favorite Spotify Originals for free on our platform. Although this may require a shift in listening habits, we want to share more about why we are doing this. Spotify’s ultimate mission is to connect millions of creators to billions of listeners around the world and help those creators live off their art. We’re also invested in pushing the medium of audio forward by enabling greater creative freedom and driving the future of audio.” […]