City | Kuala Lumpur , Kota Kinabalu , Kuching |
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Broadcast area | Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei |
Slogan | Malaysia's Number #1 Hit Station |
Frequency | Varies depending on its region |
First air date | January 1997 |
Format | Talk, contemporary hit radio |
Language(s) | English |
Owner | Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd, under Astro Radio |
Sister stations | Mix FM, LiteFM, My FM, Melody FM, Era FM, Sinar FM, THR Gegar and THR Raaga |
Webcast | eAAC+ |
Website | www |
Hitz FM is a Malaysian national radio station managed by Astro Radio, a subsidiary of Astro Holdings Sdn Bhd. The radio station name was changed from Hitz.FM to Hitz FM in 2014. The radio has regional stations in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. On 2015, as according to Nielsen RAM Survey Wave #1, Hitz FM maintained its position as Malaysia's leading English-language station with over 1.2 million listeners.
January 1997 - HITZ FM 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.
2000 - the Malaysian Top 10 (later renamed Malaysian English Top 10) was introduced, airing every Sundays at 4pm to bring the limelight into local Malaysian music which would suit the tastes of hitz fm's listeners, especially indie acts.
April 2001: HITZ FM undergoes rebranding as Hitz.FM (with a dot), introduces new online features like webcasts of their on-air announcers in action and radio streaming.
In August 2003, a rift between Li'l Kev and the management of AMP (Airtime Management and Programming) over the contract between them caused him and FlyGuy to leave Hitz.FM abruptly. Jason Lo and Rudy Sufian were called up to fill in their places and eventually became the new Morning Crew. (Later, Lo switched time slots with JJ Fernandez for the drive-home slot). Later in the same year, Hitz.TV was launched as a complement to the radio channel.
2005: The introduction of The hitz fm Malaysian English Top 10 Awards to "honour the best of Malaysian English-singing musical talent and compositions".
2008: Rudy announced his decision to give up his morning show, confessing to having problems getting up in the mornings and needed to change his work pattern. Ean (real name Tengku Mohd Ean Nasrun) takes his place alongside JJ following the resignation.
September 2010: Hitz.FM was launched alongside its respective Malay and Chinese counterparts Era and My FM in East Malaysia - the three channels began broadcasting in Kuching on 25 October of that year followed by Kota Kinabalu on 1 December.