Tai Sin, the launching of the motor vessel 'Haldis', the arrival of the first Boeing 707, the shooting of 'The World of Suzie Wong', the Miss World Competition, the Arts Festival, World Refugee Year, Cary GRANT's press conference and the inauguration of the new vehicular ferries. Events overseas which had close links with Hong Kong includ- ed the Vienna Trade Fair, the Seattle Trade Fair, the West African Trade Mission and the Asian Film Festival and these were also given news coverage. An important pilot project involved the experimental production of a daily news programme; staffing difficulties made the broadcasting of this programme impracticable during the year under review but it was scheduled to take the air with the opening of all day broadcasting.
98. The British General Election was covered by an operation which brought the whole staff of Radio Hong Kong into action, broadcasting, administrative and clerical. A central operations room was set up through which all information was channelled and it was planned that we should stay on the air all day to bring the election news to listeners. The eager team were therefore somewhat deflated when Mr. Hugh GAITSKELL conceded the election at the early hour of 10 a.m..
Variety and Light Music
1
99. The BBC continued to be the main source of supply in the field of variety, local talent being sadly lacking in this art. However, 'Radio Clubhouse' attracted an audience of several hundred young people each week, featured several different bands in the same programme and introduced a number of visiting celebrities and per- sonalities from the world of show business.
100. The Hong Kong Tiger Standard's Fat Choy Drive was again a combined effort, this time Radio Hong Kong and Rediffusion were joined by the Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company in a fund-raising campaign which covered three complete evenings' broad- casting on all three stations.
101. The art of the disc jockey continued to attract its supporters and innovations included 'Knights at the Round Table' in which two of these gentlemen exchanged wit and music, 'Hong Kong Hit Parade' in which the Colony's best-selling music was propagated, ‘Announcer's Choice' which is self-explanatory, and 'You've Asked for It' in which a team of three went out and met people in various walks of life and persuaded them to request their own music. The popularity of request
17