Mediascape - MDA
Mediascape - MDA
Mediascape - MDA
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Keeping it on the Air<br />
Even as we embrace new media and digital technologies to offer more choices to the<br />
consumers, the regular free-to-air television channels continue to play their part in<br />
entertaining and educating the wider public. For the <strong>MDA</strong>, it means keeping well over<br />
3,000 hours of public service programmes of different genres going, in four languages,<br />
across seven free-to-air television channels. Apart from entertaining, these programmes<br />
play other valuable roles: They promote racial harmony; foster social cohesion; celebrate<br />
Singapore’s arts and heritage; and cultivate a sense of community and national identity.<br />
The diverse offerings range from current affairs, children’s shows, sports, arts and minoritylanguage<br />
programmes to animations, documentaries and sitcoms. Put together, they also<br />
reflect the homegrown capabilities and talents of local producers.<br />
Beyond those numbers, these locally-made productions that appeared on local screens<br />
have also received international limelight. Docudrama My World, My Blog, reality series<br />
The Work Goes On – Hungry Ghost Festival, documentaries Culture X and Soul of the City,<br />
and children’s series R.E.M, for instance, made waves abroad, as did Indian, Malay and<br />
Chinese-language productions, proving Singapore’s potential to be a hub of Asia media for<br />
the region. Malay health series Klinik Kita, Tamil drama series Manam Series 2 and Chinese<br />
documentary Twilight Years also won accolades in international arenas. Closer to home,<br />
Little Nyonya (小娘惹), a period drama set against a backdrop of the colourful Peranakan<br />
culture and heritage, made TV history as the most-watched drama in Singapore in the last<br />
15 years. It has been sold to countries such as China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and<br />
Hong Kong.<br />
<strong>MDA</strong> also supported a range of minority-language radio stations such as Warna 94.2 FM,<br />
Ria 89.7 FM, Oli 96.8 FM, keeping communication going in the global media landscape.<br />
32<br />
Chapter 3: Licensed to Thrive<br />
> Little Nyonya made TV history as the most-watched drama in Singapore in the last 15 years.
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