On Thursday last week, Juanita Melson — radio veteran and iconic voice announcer during the early days of the MRT — passed away.
Though not many may be familiar with her name (much less what she looks like), everyone undoubtably came to recognise the soothing timbre that rang through MRT cabins from 1994 till 2008.
Melson had also been the programme manager for Rediffusion — Singapore’s very first subscription-based radio station that ran from 1949 to 2012. She left her mark in influencing many current radio DJs throughout her career, and it shows.
Various radio DJs have paid their tributes, one of them being Kiss92 DJ John Klass who had described Mrs Melson as “a good friend and to some extent, like a mother I never had.” She had taken him in to be a DJ at the time when he had just ORD-ed from National Service.
Another FM DJ Mark van Cuylenburg (more popularly known as The Flying Dutchman) praised her for her tenacity and described her voice as ‘special’. As quoted from The New Paper, he said that “there is a clarity and a calmness to her voice. There is something about her voice that will calm you down as you hear her.”
Mrs Melson’s funeral mass will be held today at 11:30am at the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok, before her body will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium later at 1:30pm.
