Radio revamps to compete for Hong Kong ears

When the British army left Hong Kong and took the British Forces Broadcasting Service with it, English-language radio suffered a major setback. This weekend, however, non-commercial English radio makes a collective attempt to get groovy and hurl off its middle-aged image.

There is a new weekend lineup on Radio 3 that includes two hours of dance music, mixed live on air, and an energetic, new, 2.5-hour youth programme on Radio 6 (re-broadcast version of the BBC World Service) on Saturday mornings.

On Monday, Radio 4 undergoes the biggest transformation of all and becomes the self-explanatory New Radio 4, with re-vamped schedules, new presenters, a new play list (or lack of it), and a new attitude.

Makeovers are not unprecedented at Radio 4. Hong Kong's bilingual classical music station was given a new look 5.5 years ago that was said at the time to be influenced by the then-new Classic FM in Britain. Hong Kong got a few new programmes, most of which were ploddy bilingual affairs, but the formal evening dress image remained.

In the intervening years, the then-head of Radio 4, Richard Tsang Yip-fat, left RTHK to work at Classic FM as a lowly producer for two years. He returned to Radio 4 last September and insiders say he is a new man. This time, perhaps, the channel may really be in for a shake-up.

His period out in the cold world of competitive commercial radio sharpened his instincts about what his listeners really want. Market research firm A C Nielsen tells him they are younger (48 per cent under 35), and more working class (three times as many blue-collar listeners than white) than previously thought, and the rest he has worked out for himself.