Malaysia TV Online Streaming
Sarawak FM went on air in June 1954. Malaysia did not exist yet – it would be another nine years before Sarawak joined the Federation and the station found itself part of a national network.
Seven decades later it is still RTM’s main radio service for the state, broadcasting in Malay and Melanau around the clock. The live stream is playing on this page – free, with nothing to install and no account needed.
Older Than the Country
When the station started, Sarawak was still a British crown colony, and radio was the only medium capable of reaching a population spread across coast, rivers and deep interior.
Sarawak entered the Malaysian Federation in 1963, and the station joined the Radio Malaysia network along with it. That history makes it one of the longest-running broadcast services in the country – older than most of the stations it now sits beside on the dial.
Malay and Melanau
The output runs in Malay and in Melanau.
The Melanau are one of Sarawak’s indigenous peoples, concentrated along the central coast around Mukah and the districts nearby. Their language is quite separate from Malay, and carrying it on a statewide service gives it a public presence that a Malay-only schedule never could.
It is a small reminder of how different Sarawak’s makeup is from the peninsula’s. The state holds dozens of ethnic groups and languages, and its broadcasting has always had to account for that.
Covering a State That Size
Sarawak is Malaysia’s largest state by a wide margin, and a great deal of it is river country, forest and scattered settlement rather than connected towns.
That geography shows up plainly in the transmitter list. Sarawak FM runs on more than a dozen frequencies, spread roughly between 88 and 105 MHz, reaching Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Limbang and a long tail of smaller places in between. Some of those signals carry across the border into Brunei.
Very few stations in Malaysia need that many frequencies. Covering Sarawak from a single mast was never going to work.
What’s on the Schedule
The mix pairs talk programming with contemporary hits, drawing on Malaysian and international music through the day.
It runs 24 hours, so there is no sign-off to plan around and no shared slot to watch out for. The station also appears on myFreeview, on channel 709, for anyone who would rather have it running through a television.
For Sarawakians Away from Home
Radio is local by design, which is exactly the problem for anyone who has left.
Plenty of Sarawakians live and work in the peninsula, in Singapore, or much further afield – well outside the reach of any of those transmitters. The stream removes the limitation completely. No frequency, no receiver, no geography.
It plays in a browser on a phone, tablet or laptop, which makes it easy to keep a piece of home running quietly in the background, wherever the work happens to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who runs Sarawak FM?
RTM, Malaysia's public broadcaster.
When did the station start?
June 1954, nine years before Malaysia was formed.
What languages does it broadcast in?
Malay and Melanau.
Is it on 24 hours a day?
It is. The station broadcasts around the clock.
What frequency is Sarawak FM on?
That depends where you are. The station uses more than a dozen frequencies across the state, roughly between 88 and 105 MHz, covering Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Limbang and many smaller areas.
Can I pick it up outside Sarawak?
Some signals cross into Brunei, but beyond that you will want the stream, which works anywhere with an internet connection.
Is it available on television?
Yes - Sarawak FM is carried on myFreeview, channel 709.
Does listening cost anything?
Nothing at all. The stream is free, with no sign-up.
Conclusion
Sarawak has never sounded much like the rest of Malaysia, and a station on air since 1954 is part of why it still does not.
Leave it playing and you get the state on its own terms – its languages, its music and its conversations, with nothing translating in between.
