PUBLICATIONS, BROADCASTING AND FILMS
279
The Chinese Service. The Chinese service broadcasts from 7 a.m. to midnight on 640 kc/s medium wave and 94 mc/s VHF/FM. The principal language is Cantonese, but there are also daily broadcasts in Kuoyu, Swatow and Hakka. In addition to the head of service there is a staff of 10 producers and seven announcers, while many hundreds of contributors are employed as producers, writers and artistes. Unlike the English service, which is able to turn to Britain and other countries to supplement local productions, the Chinese service has to rely almost exclusively on Hong Kong artistes and locally-manufactured gramophone records. Despite this the same wide variety of programme content can be found in the schedules, and audience research has revealed that the vast majority of listeners are satisfied with the fare they receive. News, talks, classical opera, modern music of East and West, sports and magazine programmes, drama and documentaries are all available. The Chinese service has the additional responsibility of catering to certain specialized listening groups and programmes for fisher- men, farmers and industrial workers are broadcast regularly.
Considerable emphasis is placed on maintaining the high tradi- tions of Chinese culture, and broadcasts by local opera groups, the reading of Chinese verse, and serialization of classics in dramatized form take place regularly. Local events such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival are given the fullest possible coverage. Special arrangements are made so that Radio Hong Kong contributes as much as possible to the festivities of Chinese New Year, and in 1962 Radio Hong Kong's Chinese service mounted the largest outside broadcasting operation to date. Seven sites were chosen in various parts of the Colony and public variety shows staged by the service's artistes. Equip- ment, engineers and performers were leap-frogged from one venue to the next to maintain a continuous broadcast throughout the evening and until 2 a.m. the next day to add to the excitement of the occasion.
In the field of lighter entertainment Beginners Please is a show which never fails to attract a large audience. The opening of the City Hall, where the Concert Hall alone seats 1,500 people, has made these programmes available to a wider 'live' as well as listening audience, and applications for tickets invariably exceed the seating capacity by four or five times. Many programmes are