Lite (radio station)

LITE
City	Kuala Lumpur
Broadcast area	Malaysia, Singapore
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Adult contemporary, Classic hits and Easy listening (2006 - present) Oldies (1997-2006)
Ownership
Owner	Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd, under Astro Radio
Sister stations	Era, Gegar, GoXuan, Hitz, Melody, Mix, MY, Raaga, Sinar and Zayan
History
First air date	January 1997; 24 years ago
Former names	Light & Easy (1997-2006) Lite FM (2006-2017)
Links
Webcast	listen.lite.my
Website	lite.my

LITE (as Lite FM on radio)^[1] is one of Malaysia's English-language radio stations managed by Astro Radio, a subsidiary of Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd. The station mostly plays adult contemporary as well as classic hit musics from the early 80s, 90s and today, targeting listeners between the age of 35 to 49.^[2] Unlike any other stations by Astro Radio, Lite have the lowest weekly listeners based on GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 1 in June 2019, Lite dropped by 0.24% to 831k weekly listeners.^[3]

History[]

LiteFM was launched into Malaysian FM airwaves in January 1997 after being one of Astro's audio-only channels since the launch of the satellite network in October the year before. It was formerly known as Light & Easy and was renamed "Lite FM" on 20 November 2006. Lite FM begins in 1997 as an oldies format focusing songs mainly from the 1950s to the 1970s targeting an older audience above 45 years old. However, since the change of the station's name and logo, Lite FM gradually changed into an easy listening adult contemporary music format, with more current tracks from the 1990s till now have been added into Lite FM's playlist as now the station wants to target a younger audience rather than the older ones. Since 2009, the station has focused on playing music mainly from the 1980s, which was previously held by Mix FM and now with less frequency on playing 1960s and 1970s music each hour. The primary focus on playing 1950s to 1970s music is now going on at Gold, one of the Astro satellite music channels. The focus on songs played changed again in 2013, with the station opted to concentrate on songs from the 1980s and beyond. In addition, it no longer plays 1960s music during the weekday and 1960s music is only heard during the weekends. With the focus of the station changed, several songs from the 1960s and 1970s were also dropped from the playlist.

In March 2013, Lite FM unveiled a new show called "Top 500 Countdown". This special show plays the top 500 easy listening hits as voted by listeners inside the station's official website. Since 2015, "Top 500 Countdown" becomes an annual show which holds around late February or March yearly. (Lite FM did not run this program in 2014) Apart from counting down listeners' voted songs, this show gives opportunities for listeners to win cash prizes. Some of the contests inside "Top 500 Countdown" program include guessing the countdown number for a countdown song (2013, 2018 season) and guessing the top 5 song titles (2020 season) and top 3 song titles in the countdown (2021 season).

On 3 March 2014, Lite FM introduced a brand new breakfast show with Steve & Shaz, promoting "real lives, real people, real stories" and focusing on inspiring stories from all over the world.

Since 2016, after Lite FM's acquire its new slogan "Relaxing Favourites" (which was also the former slogan, but also carries the word "Continuous"), its songs selections are non hip hop and mostly from the 1980s & 1990s with modern hits (2000s and 2010s) sandwiched in between. It also cultivates and encourages the love of classic hits among younger generations aged under 40.

On late March 2017, Lite FM introduced "Weekend Special" which showcased themed songs playlist such as Mum & Me (songs about Mother's Day), Weather (songs about weather), second in UK Single Chart and so on. It replaced the former slot "Lite FM's Classic Triple Play" that ran every weekends from 2011 to 2015, where it played 3 solid gold hits from 1960s to 1970s every hour. It ran every Saturday & Sunday from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. Each Weekend Special played only one song with short description about the story and facts behind the song before the song in question started playing. Lite FM's Weekend Special ran twice each hour. However, it was discontinued in November of the same year.

On 1 January 2018, the station (along with 10 other sister radio stations) dropped the suffix "FM" from its brand name as part of the Astro Radio's major rebranding project to focus on the digital platform.^[4] A new logo was also unveiled.^[1]

On 14 December 2018, Steve announced that it was his last show with Shaz on the Lite Breakfast after hosting the show together for four years. Following that announcement, Steve took on a managerial role at Lite and occasionally replaced announcers on the air. On 2 January 2019, Shaz went on air solo on The Lite Breakfast, the second time Lite has put a solo DJ on its breakfast show.

From mid-2019 onwards, 1960s and 1970s music are occasionally heard again on the station due to strong demand from listeners wanting more golden tracks. However, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s remains as the primary focus since Lite is an easy listening station and no longer oldies formatted radio.

Shaz left Lite in December 2019 citing health reasons after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer earlier in the year. Sham replaced Shaz on air until 20 January 2020, when Belinda Chee (Bel) & Jason Desmond Chin (JD) were named the new hosts of the Lite Breakfast.^[5]

Due the COVID-19 pandemic, the first Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia saw all Lite announcers broadcasting from home and showing their home setups on Lite's Facebook page.

On 15 January 2021, Bel shocked Malaysia as she announced that it would be her last show and introduced Asha Gill (formerly of Channel V fame) as her replacement on the air. The Lite Breakfast, following that announcement introduced a new breakfast show with Asha & JD starting 20 January 2021.^[6]

Beginning February 2021, Lite (along with sister station Mix) plays the selection of English songs made in Malaysia every hour known as "Lite Goes Local".

In June 2021, a new weekend segment known as "Lite Music Special" were reintroduced and played songs from a particular category or theme. It plays two songs back to back every hour on weekends. The first Music Special was "The Magic of Disney" to celebrate Malaysian Disney+ Hotstar launch, held on 5 and 6 June 2021. Among other Music Specials that followed by include "Fun with Names", "Father's Day", "Stage Name", and more. However, this segment was discontinued in July of the same year.

Beginning August 2021, Lite is now called "Lite FM" on its sweepers and a new station identification jingle were introduced.

Radio announcers[]

Main announcers[]

Asha Gill
Jason Desmond Chin
Soraya Kee
Hisham Hamzah

Weekend announcers[]

Hisham Hamzah
Soraya Kee

Former announcers[]

Belinda Chee
Steve
Shaz

Frequency[]

Frequencies	Broadcast area	Transmitter site
105.7 MHz	Kuala Lumpur	Kuala Lumpur Tower
104.4 MHz	Kedah, Perlis & Penang	Gunung Jerai
101.5 MHz	Ipoh, Perak	Gunung Kledang
104.6 MHz	Seremban, Negeri Sembilan	Gunung Telapak Buruk
92.2 MHz	Malacca & North Johor	Gunung Ledang
94.6 MHz	Johor Bahru, Johor & Singapore	Gunung Pulai
94.6 MHz	Batam, Indonesia	Gunung Pulai
89.3 MHz	Taiping, Perak	Bukit Larut
104.7 MHz	Kuantan, Pahang	Bukit Pelindung
105.9 MHz	Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu	Bukit Besar
104.3 MHz	Kota Bharu, Kelantan	Bukit Panau
100.1 MHz	Kuching, Sarawak	Bukit Djin
103.2 MHz	Kota Kinabalu, Sabah	Bukit Karatong