• The Mandarin term “波道” was a paraphrase of the English term “television channel”.

• Previously used to refer to television channels in Singapore. The term “波道” (wavelength channel) has been replaced by the term “频道” (frequency channel). For example, Channel 8 which used to be known as “第八波道” is now called “八频道”. 

• “波道” is derived from the word “波长” (wavelength) while “频道” is derived from “频率” (frequency). The two terms came into usage because television stations transmit and receive television signals at specific wavelengths and frequencies through wires or optical cables.

• Radio channels in Singapore, such as 95.8FM or 93.3FM, are all referred to as “频道”. When the television stations were first established in Singapore, the term “波道” was used to differentiate between television and radio channels.  

• Following the company’s media merger, from 1 Jan 2005, Mediacorp standardised the Chinese names of its television channels. To ensure consistency with Channel U (U 频道), Channel 5 and Channel 8 were renamed “5 频道” and “8 频道” respectively.

Singapore began broadcasting black and white television programmes in 1963. However, as the programmes were not available throughout the day, the Ministry of Education creatively made use of the free time slots on Channel 8 for educational programmes.

频道 (Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia)