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About BFM
BFM’s Positioning
BFM launched in September 2008, and is a 24‐hour independent radio station focused on business news and current affairs. Core programmes include the latest business news and stock market reports from Malaysia and other financial centres, interviews with business personalities, financial analysts, entrepreneurs, technologists and marketers.
BFM also offers business education programmes spanning areas like marketing, finance, technology and business productivity to raise the management proficiency of the Malaysian business and professional community.
BFM targets business executives, business owners, investors and people who aspire to personal and professional success. There is no specific age target as this audience spans all adult age groups. It is their interest in success that defines the listenership, not their age.
As part of its programming, BFM provides its listeners with a timeless music experience, which has rapidly gained a growing fan base. BFM is also embarking on meeting the lifestyle, as well as business, needs of its target group, including health, the arts and sports.
BFM can be received on frequency 89.9 in Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and parts of Melaka.
BFM has a positive bias towards supporting start-ups, new technology, ethical business practices and equal opportunities.
The BFM Team
The BFM team is made up of several cells of producer and presenter groups who make programming and content decisions based on the positioning of their cells. The programming cells are as follows:
The Morning Run (6am-10am)
David Chew, Khoo Hsu Chuang, Noelle Lim and Khoo Hsien Chun kick off the day's programming for BFM by producing and hosting The Morning Run. The Morning Run team's objective is to prepare working professionals for their business day, and the team strives to achieve this by having market previews by local and international analysts, commentary on overnight newsflow, as well as organising high-profile interviews on BFM"s Breakfast Grille programme (8am weekdays). Guests on the Breakfast Grille have included Martin Sorrell, Idris Jala, Tony Fernandes, Jack Trout, Robert Kiyosaki and Steve Forbes. Any enquiries on interview opportunities should be directed to morningrun@bfm.my.
Enterprise (10am to 2pm)
Enterprise aims to equip business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools to succeed in business. Freda Liu presents the show, and is supported by producer Azura Rahman. Open For Business (10am weekdays) publicises interesting start-ups, Raise Your Game (11am weekdays) offers personal development opportunities, Techtalk (weekday noons) helps to demystify technology and harness it for business owners and The Resource Centre (1pm weekdays) provides all kinds of valuable resources for businesses from marketing to HR. Interviews or offers of content contribution can be directed to enterprise@bfm.my.
The Bigger Picture (2pm-5pm)
The heart and soul of BFM is on the shoulders of Shazmin Shamsuddin,Meera Sivasothy and Leonie Fitzpatrick, presenters and producers of The Bigger Picture. All that money created from all that business will mean nought if we did not have a heart, or if we did not have a soul. The Bigger Picture firmly ensures that we do not lose sight of the bigger picture, and highlights issues that allow us to give back to our families and our community. The Bigger Picture cell can be contact at bigpicture@bfm.my.
The Evening Edition (5pm to 9pm)
Presenter Caroline Oh, supported by producer Annie Wong, aims to transition working professionals from the work place to the home with The Evening Edition, a variety programme that unwinds and destresses. It commences with Shifting Gears (5pm weekdays), showcasing 4 songs-in-a-row focus on particular artistes. The Evening Edition then proceeds to inform you of what happened in the world whilst you were at work (6pm-6.30pm), including an update on the day's sports happenings by Patrick Michael in The Sports Rap. Then a casual conversation with interesting Malaysian and international personalities on In Conversation (7pm weekdays). Zack Yusoff also looks at BFM's unique song playlist and tries to distill the culture, times and environment surrounding those songs on 33RPM (8pm weekdays).
The Evening Edition is also the place to get an off-the-wall review of the previous weekends action on the Barclays Premier League (Life's A Pitch 7.30pm Mondays) as well as a preview of upcoming weekends games (Thank Friday It's Football 7.30pm Fridays) with the help of our resident Londoner, Ross Yusoff and a panel of weird and wonderful guests.
For enquiries on programming or interview opportunities on The Evening Edition, please email eveningedition@bfm.my
The News Team
News half-hourly during peak driving hours (6am to 10am, 5pm to 9pm) and hourly at all other times, is provided by our tireless news team consisting of Sonia Zubeir, Fong Min Yuan and Nevash Nair. The news is delivered on air by newsreaders Jasmine Salay, David Chew, Karen Bahrin. Simon D'Cruz and James Wong. Press releases (and leaks) can be sent to editor@bfm.my.
The Barclays Premier League
In addition to Life's A Pitch and Thank Friday It's Football (see above), BFM broadcasts live BPL games over the weekends. The actual times depend on kick-off, but preview commentary commences half hour before kick off (usually 7pm Saturdays and 8pm Sundays). The BPL local commentary team is led by Ross Yusoff, who is supported by producers Andrew Whigham and Harbir Gill from Sporstsast International. The BPL team can be contacted at bpl@bfm.my.
In addition to the programming cells, the following also work across cells to ensure programming is consistent with BFM's overall programming direction as well as performing other functional roles:
Malek Ali
Malek is the founder of BFM. A common theme for Malek is his passion for bringing new media products to market. He was a key member of the pioneer team of JobStreet Corporation Bhd, Malaysia’s most successful internet company, which brought online recruitment to Malaysia and other regional markets. His theme of bringing new products to market continued with Maxis and Yahoo! as head of mobile content and head of mobile operations for South-East Asia respectively.
Malek has also significant corporate experience as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group and as a corporate lawyer with Allen & Overy. He is an MBA graduate of the Harvard Business School and a law graduate of Bristol University.
Diana Blackburn
Among many hats that Diana puts on at BFM, the one she is most known for is the one as music director. BFM's bold and unique playlist is due to her strong music convictions, which is consistent with BFM"s independent positioning. Diana also leads the training of presenters at BFM, and is the custodian of the overall station format,
Noelle Lim
BFM"s employee number 1, and now producer and presenter of the Morning Run programme. From an initial behind-the-scenes role at BFM, Noelle now is responsible for the content and delivery of BFM"s key morning show, together with fellow producers and presenters Caroline Oh, Khoo Hsu Chuang and Khoo Hsien Chun. A former auditor and Securities Commission analyst, Noelle is known for her subtle but penetrative questions on The Breakfast Grille programme.
Other Cells
The BFM team is also supported by other cells working behind the scenes.The tech ops team for example ensures that the programming goes on air without hitches, the production team ensures client radio ads are created with a dose of creativity, and the account management team manages BFM client relationships to ensure their marketing objectives are met. BFM's podcast and online operations are led by Jon Yap.
How It All Began
It was year 1983 and a young Malaysian arrived in London to pursue his further studies. That was where he first found great radio. Capital Radio 95.8, London's most popular contemporary hit station and LBC, UK's leading talk radio station, were leaders in their respective niches and provided rich inspiration.
Malek Ali kept track of the Malaysian radio scene ever since, watching the birth of Time Highway Radio in 1994, arguably Malaysia's first attempt at a contemporary hit station. The following year, MEASAT Broadcast Networks (now Astro) announced the launch of six brand new FM stations, bringing to our shores what is known as format radio or radio stations designed for specific demographics.
Fast forward to 2008. Malaysian listeners have responded enthusiastically to format radio, Astro achieved tremendous success through the strict application of format radio, its 8 stations then having 67% revenue market share. Media Prima is hot on Astro's heels with HotFM and Fly FM, whereas Star has made inroads in the radio market with RFM98.8, Red104.9 and Suria. Time Highway Radio, the format pioneer, was pummeled by Astro and retreated to the Indian-language format and is now itself owned by Astro.
But format radio, really now in its 14th year, has taken a toll on the quality of the radio conversation. Radio DJs commonly talk down to their audience and breakfast show topics are reduced to trivial, inconsequential topics. Even music programming retreats to the lowest common denominator of mass market music. Many mature listeners wish for the return of quality conversation and discerning music.
And this is where BFM steps in.