Radio-i

JOGW-FM
City of license Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
Broadcast area Aichi Prefecture
Branding Radio-I
Slogan Feel the waves, Soothe your mind.
Frequency 79.5 MHz
Translator(s) 79.9 FM in Hamamatsu and southern Shizuoka Prefecture
83.0 FM in the southern districts of Aichi Prefecture from Toyohashi
First air date April 1, 2000 (2000-04-01)
Format World ethnic, Top 40 and Album-oriented rock
Language Multiethnic
Power 1kW
HAAT 856 meters
Affiliations Megalopolis Radio Network
Owner Kowa Co., Ltd.
(Aichi International Broadcasting Co., Ltd.)
Website http://www.radio-i.co.jp/

Radio-i (JOGW-FM) was a Multilingual commercial radio station[1] based in central Japan in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, owned by the Kowa Company.

Nagoya University cited Radio-i FM (79.5 MHz) along with ZIP-FM (77.8 MHz) as sources[2][3] of multilingual information during emergencies. In times of disaster the station could broadcast vital information to listeners in Chinese, English, Simple Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Tagalog.[4]

Set up as Aichi International Broadcasting, Radio-i commenced operations on April 1, 2000 and was the third of a series of radio stations created to bring a more international scope to local regions across Japan (they form the MegaNet.)

The station broadcasted on three frequencies, 79.5 FM in Nagoya and across Aichi Prefecture, 79.9 FM in Hamamatsu and southern Shizuoka Prefecture, and on 83.0 FM in the southern districts of Aichi Prefecture from Toyohashi. Playing a mixture of Top 40 and Album-oriented rock formats, Radio-i featured a team of mostly bilingual radio DJ's handling the main programs.

Citing falling advertising revenue and ratings in the Aichi region, Radio-i ceased broadcasting operations on September 30, 2010 after 10 years and 5 months on the air. After a 17-hour live broadcast featuring current and past DJs, the last song played was ABBA - "Thank You For the Music", and broadcasting ceased at midnight after station ID. With the loss of carrier at 12:02 am, Radio-i became the first civilian radio station in the history of Japanese peacetime broadcasting to completely cease operations.

As of 2010 the DJ lineup featured Cocoro in the mornings with Canadian David Yanase and New Yorker, Mark Bailey alternating the mid mornings. Afternoons had Australian DJ Chris Glenn followed by Eri Sano, with evenings DJ'd by Yuko Takeda. Other main DJ's included Hana Shintani and Sudo Ryumi. The Sorensen Media Group[5] in Guam provided some of the original radio programming for both Radio-i Nagoya and InterFM Tokyo.

References

  1. ^ Sanae Tsuda (2005). "Japan's Experience of Language Contact: A Case Study of RADIO-i". Language and Intercultural Communication Vol. 5, Nos. 3 & 4, pp. 248–263 (ISSN 1470-8477). http://www.multilingual-matters.net/laic/005/laic0050248.htm. "This paper … isolates the rationale for the existence of a multilingual radio station, RADIO-i, and examines why its listeners prefer it to a monolingual alternative." 
  2. ^ "Guide for Earthquake Disaster Preparedness". Disaster Management Office of Nagoya University. http://anshin.seis.nagoya-u.ac.jp/taisaku/documents/pdf/bousaiguide06e.pdf. 
  3. ^ "Information for International Students". Nagoya University Education Center for International Students. http://www.ecis.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/info/life/clife.html. 
  4. ^ "In time of Disaster". Radio-i website. http://www.radio-i.co.jp/disaster.php. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  5. ^ "Asian radio programming". Sorensen Media Group. http://www.sorensenmediagroup.com/asianradio.htm. 

External links