"No. There is no more Wa FM, we changed it to Hot FM."

This is the answer given by Media Prima's corporate communications officer Shaffique Ahmad Zehnun in an e-mail reply to malaysiakini regarding the fate of the popular radio station which was taken over by the former last month.

He said the new Malay-medium radio station, Media Prima's second, was launched last Wednesday with test transmissions starting on Jan 15 with national broadcast scheduled for Feb 6.

Press reports, however, had Media Prima CEO Abdul Rahman Ahmad telling reporters at Hot FM's launching ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre that the company would retain the brand of Wa FM and re-launch it once it gets a new broadcasting licence from the government.

Abdul Rahman said the government had so far not approve their application on the grounds that available broadcasting frequencies in the country were limited.

The complete conversion of the former Wa FM, meanwhile, has caught its loyal listeners by surprise.

"I'm very disappointed, we (supporters of Wa FM) are cheated," said Tan Chan Peng, a staunch supporter, pointing out that Wa FM's former owner, Synchrosound Studio Sdn Bhd, had never mentioned about converting the station to a Malay-medium one.

An outcry

One month before Media Prima bought over the ntv7 broadcasting concern in October last year, Synchrosound, a subsidiary of the latter, had announced that Wa FM would go off-air temporarily for one year from Oct 15 to make way for a 'restructuring and re-branding' exercise.

Rumours, however, were rife that the station would be converted into a Malay language one which is deemed to be more popular and profitable

Wa FM's suspension also raised an outcry from the Chinese community besides being criticised by several political personalities.

Soon after the suspension was announced, Tan had initiated and later submitted an online petition with 10,769 signatures to the Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik urging the ministry to call off the suspension.

Tan, when contacted, expressed surprise over Abdul Rahman's statement about applying for another new license for Wa FM.

"I'm very confused why Media Prima must transfer Wa FM's licence to a new radio station. The new station should apply for a new licence, not use Wa FM's licence," he said.

'Don't delay'

MCA Youth Secretary-General Wee Ka Siong said he was regretted the latest development adding that Media Prima now had an obligation to set up a new Mandarin station after converting Wa FM into a Malay station.

"MCA Youth urges Media Prima to strive for a new Mandarin station no matter how," he said.

"They should not delay it anymore, I hope his (Abdul Rahman Ahmad's) announcement (to apply a new broacasting license for Mandarin station) is not juts to drag the matter on," he told malaysiakini .

Asked on whether MCA's Youth wing would meet with Media Prima's management over the matter, Wee replied that they would follow-up on the issue.

Previously, when Wa FM's suspension was first announced, Wee had told malaysiakini that the Youth wing would monitor the issue until the station recommenced its operations.