Gold 905 streams classic hits from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s across Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Batam on 90.5 FM, an English-language station owned by Mediacorp. You can listen live and free on Radio Shuffle from anywhere in the world.
A Call Sign From Singapore's First Broadcast
Gold 905 traces its lineage back further than almost any other station in Southeast Asia. It received its broadcasting license in 1935 and began transmitting on March 1, 1937, under the call sign ZHL, according to Wikipedia's history of the station. As Singapore's sole radio station at the time, ZHL carried block programming across English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil to serve the colony's diverse population, before dedicated language stations eventually took over the non-English blocks and left ZHL as the territory's English-language outlet.
From Radio 1 to a Dedicated Oldies Format
The station's identity shifted again on January 1, 1982, when the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation rebranded the English service as Radio 1, running a full-service mix of news and mellow, middle-of-the-road music. That format held until a genuine turning point on July 2, 1998, when the station relaunched as Gold 90.5 with a dedicated oldies format built around 1970s hits, golden oldies, and country, while all of its news programming moved over to the newly created NewsRadio 93.8. That split let Gold 905 focus entirely on music rather than juggling bulletins and playlists on the same frequency.
Eighty-Seven Years and Counting
Few English-language stations anywhere in Asia can trace an unbroken lineage back to 1937, but Gold 905 does exactly that, carrying nearly nine decades of Singapore broadcasting history under one continuous, if renamed, service. By 2016, the station had refreshed its weekend lineup with Saturday evening programming dedicated to classic rock and disco, keeping the oldies format current for listeners who grew up with different decades of hits.
A Full Weekday Lineup
Today's schedule runs The Breakfast Club with Gerald Koh and Sophie Gollifer from 6 to 10 a.m., followed by the Lunchtime Jukebox with Denise Tan and the Midday Fix hosted by Young through the afternoon. Evenings bring Nite Flite on weeknights, while Saturdays close the week with Rock Of Ages and Solid Gold, giving longtime Singapore listeners a schedule built specifically around eras of music rather than a single genre.
Tune In
From a 1937 sign-on as ZHL to today's classic hits format reaching Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Batam, Gold 905 carries one of the region's longest broadcasting histories into a station built entirely around decades of familiar music. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle to hear it live.