Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Staying connected

I always feel this compelling need to stay connected with Singapore when I am over here.

So I call home often. I e-mail friends a lot. I read Today (used to be ST until you know what happened) religiously. I read a lot of blogs, but only those written by Singaporeans. And, I tune in to Singaporean radio stations via internet daily. Funny thing is, back home, I seldom listen to local stations.

When I first came over, I listened to Yes93.3 a lot. I don't really like the music they spin, but the need to stay connected to anything Singaporean is stronger! However, they had some server problem and I cannot get a connection from Sydney anymore. That started about a year ago and has persisted since. Heck, even their website is a little intermittent now.

Then at the beginning of this year, I found UFM100.3. I've been glued to it since. My current favourite segments are 衆議院 between 8-10 a.m. and 一切從問題開始 between 5-8p.m. The former consists of discussions of current affairs by various guests invited to the show. Very thought-provoking. Hot knife through butter at times. The latter is a more relaxed show relying on the banter of the two hosts to elicit laughs. Moreover, it is at just the right time for me over here (7-10p.m.) when I just want to relax and chill out a little.

Unfortunately for me, it seems like everyone starts tuning in at 9a.m. and I get cut off right on cue at 9 every day. *Sigh* And everyone starts tuning out at 5p.m. so that I get to listen to almost the whole of the latter program. I also like the music they play on their night program, 越夜越美麗 between 8p.m.-12a.m. But I usually go to bed way before it ends.

In the middle of last semester, I found 動力88.3. This station has very little DJ chatter. Mostly music. And what they spin agrees with me. So when I need music without chatter, I will tune to this station. However, it seems to suffer from the 9a.m.-5p.m. problem too.

So in a way, I like the weekends, because I get access to Singapore radio for the whole day. But my favourite programs are NOT on during the weekends.

Something has to give.

212 days to go.

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