Singapore’s music scene suffered a huge blow today when Lush 99.5FM — the radio station strongly dedicated to local independent music — announced that they’ll cease transmission come midnight, Aug 31.
The unfortunate decision comes following the Mediacorp radio station’s decline in listenership ratings over the past year. Despite their loyal core of followers, Lush 99.5FM stated that they were unable to grow a big enough audience base to sustain the operating costs of the station.
Known for their diehard commitment to celebrating homegrown music and the arts, the station also plays cool music from abroad (ranging from indie to electronic genres) that other radio stations aren’t willing to.
But targeting a niche audience may have cost them listenership ratings, which Lush notes to have been “steadily declining over the years”. That, plus the general disinclination towards turning on the radio when you have music-streaming platforms like Spotify.
“Despite efforts to improve listenership, Lush continues to consistently garner the lowest audience among Mediacorp’s radio stations,” they wrote in a press release.
The Lush spirit will continue live on beyond August in the form of their Singapore Sounds project, which will feature local music, artists and gigs on other Mediacorp radio stations. To give their last hurrah after 13 years of solid tunes, Lush will be celebrating all things local come August.
Here’s how devastated their loyal fanbase is:
Reader Interactions