WHEN Radio Television Hong Kong's English-language radio service sprang to staticky life just before 9pm on June 30, 1928, it was seen as a mass communications pioneer. It was a shoestring operation - a microphone, a record player and records loaned by local music shops - with a small but growing audience. By the end of 1928, 124 $4 radio licences had been sold, and that had risen to 476 by the following October. The British Broadcasting Service had been set up just six years before and the first colonial station had been launched in Kenya in 1927. Hong Kong was at the cutting edge - but is it still? Too expatriate-oriented, too BBC, too English, too old fashioned, - many Hong Kongers, listeners or not, are familiar with the criticisms that dog it these days. There are as many opinions as to what's wrong with it and what should be done as there are opinion givers, but these are common themes. With the appointment of RTHK Radio 3's new head, Martin Clarke, change is in the air - though just how much remains to be seen. Although he has been with the station more than a decade, Clarke is keen not to rush into changes, to consult and settle in first. Complaints about radio stations are surely as old as the stations themselves and on the basis that, inevitably, you can't please all of the listeners all of the time, Clarke says they have to go into 'the melting pot' with station policy, budgetary constraints and programming plans. But they can make a difference, he says, citing the introduction of Radio 3's 'what's on' feature and the expansion of sports coverage on its Hong Kong Today morning current affairs show. Both arose out of consultations with community leaders invited to two get-togethers with staff last year - 20 people selected as representative of the audience. Now Clarke is taking that notion a step further, by inviting all listeners to tell him what they think about the station at a coffee evening on Wednesday. He insists he wants to know and that 20 or 200 will be catered for - though he concedes 20 is a more realistic expectation. 'It's a good way of keeping in touch with public opinion,' he says. 'The idea originally came from the Government - all government departments such as police have panels or boards where the public are invited to express their opinion so this is our version of that.' The previous consultations - one in January, one in September last year - became bogged down: 'The second one was about half the same people and half new but the views and opinions were a bit repetitive. Over six months our programmes had not changed that much or people's views had not changed.' Hence an invitation to all-comers. Well, not quite all-comers. Legislative Councillor Christine Loh Kung-wai is disappointed that a Wednesday night has been chosen, ruling out attendance by Legco members, who have had plenty to say about the English language service lately. Radio 3's decision to drop live broadcasting of Legco prompted a January 4 debate by its Information Policy Panel on English language programming. Emily Lau Wai-hing, who chairs the panel, says: 'It was sparked off by Radio 3's decision to stop broadcasting Legco sittings and people have written to us expressing concern that this may be the thin edge of the wedge.' It isn't, Lau believes. As an international city there's a place for English language services, but they must better reflect the nature of the society they serve, she says. Lau is not an all-day Radio 3 listener, but tunes in to its early morning news which she believes is independent 'in the context of increasing self-censorship in Hong Kong'. 'The English language media have a bit more freedom, they don't talk directly to the Chinese communists. The Chinese communists feel they have a limited audience. The people have a different culture and different training.' But this relative freedom is tempered by the limitations imposed by broadcasting only in English and having mostly English-speaking staff when most of the people in the territory where you're based speak Cantonese. 'It would be nice if they can hire more bilingual people. I am not a racist but I cannot help thinking if you have a journalist who is bilingual they can talk to the people, get a better feel and use that to present it to people in English.' This need for greater bilingualism is a constant refrain when speaking to listeners and commentators about Radio 3. Many say they feel like outsiders, listening to a service heavily dependent on the BBC and prepared by people whose language means they aren't truly able to feel Hong Kong's pulse. Christine Loh says an English speaking audience covers a wide variety of people in Hong Kong these days - far more so than 10 or 20 years ago, yet Radio 3 doesn't seem tuned in to this. She advocates involving listeners in programming, with more local programmes giving the station a community feel: 'people who listen to the radio like to have a connection with the community,' she says. English-language services in non-English-speaking countries such as Japan and Singapore should be tapped for programmes and fluent English-speaking Chinese used as presenters. There's a resurgence of interest in radio internationally; English language broadcasting here isn't a dying business and those involved in it must realise that and the possibilities for a regional career, Loh says. Loh and Lau were among the few Chinese commentators willing to talk about Radio 3. Most said they didn't listen, those who did so occasionally didn't feel qualified to comment. DR John Herbert, senior lecturer in journalism at the Baptist University, has 61 Chinese broadcasting journalism students and is developing a separate broadcasting degree. He says: 'Of those who want to go into broadcasting journalism, I don't think any of them would want to go into English broadcasting.' That's natural - they want to work in the language of their friends and family, for the stations they listen to and in the language they feel most comfortable with. Nonetheless, it's a pity the English language services don't go all out to get more locals on their news and current affairs. Their English may not be Oxbridge, but we don't need that here, he says. 'It sometimes sounds like the BBC World Service 15 years ago when I used to work there, and the BBC World Service has moved on enormously. They [Radio 3] apply a public service mentality to their news and current affairs,' he says. Herbert, highly critical of Radio 3's music - a common complaint - says its current affairs can be hard-hitting, but news presentation needs to 'get with it. They tend to be in a bit of a time warp'. Presenters still speak as it was necessary to on the World Service in the days of shortwave transmission problems. These days the BBC is more natural and pacey - but RTHK isn't, he says. Priorities should be improved presentation - 'this requires training' - and RTHK's own foreign correspondents to reduce dependence on the BBC, Herbert says. Martin Clarke says a recent critic thought there was too much American music on Radio 3 at Christmas, while others says it's too English. Such conflicting opinions make it impossible to please everyone, but are taken into account, he says. In fact the 'too American' complaint is a novel one. But the view that Radio 3 doesn't reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Hong Kong's English speakers nor its base in a largely Chinese place and in Asia is commonly held. And its one borne out by the station's daily diet of English voices, often apparently not well-trained, and BBC correspondents. Radio 3 began its separate life in 1974, when RTHK's English service split into four channels, two catering to the Chinese-speaking community (Radios 1 and 2) and two to the English-speaking community (Radios 3 and 4). It began as a popular music channel - competition for Commercial Radio - but a new format was introduced in 1978 and since then emphasis has been on developing its news, current affairs and chat shows. This year Radio 3 turns 21. Let's hope it celebrates this milestone birthday with a greater recognition that Hong Kong has changed dramatically, its English speakers are multicultural and its role as a regional centre is vital to its existence. Failure to do so may ensure that post-1997 Radio 3 is as irrelevant to Hong Kong as Britain itself. Research source: Sixty Years of Broadcasting in Hong Kong Martin Clarke's coffee evening is at RTHK, 30 Broadcast Drive, Kowloon Tong, on Wednesday at 6pm. Call Helen Weeks on 2339 6419 if you plan to attend
