Relay Reception
41.
The receiving station is situated at Mount Butler on Hong Kong Island and relays received there are passed down to Broadcasting House for re-broadcast or recording by lines. During the year under review a total of 3,977 English, principally BBC but also including Voice of America and Radio Australia, and 1,460 Chinese programmes were received for direct relay or recording by Radio Hong Kong. The number of English programmes received was similar to that for year 1972/73 but there was a 16.6% increase in the reception of Chinese programmes. The standard of reception of BBC direct was generally fair to good. During the winter months the direct route was inferior to the Singapore relay. For programmes from 2200-2215G, the BBC World News, was always taken via satellite because of its superb quality and the fact that this is the main news of the day.
Studios
42.
Recording of programmes continued at a very high level and all studios at Broadcasting House and the Sutherland House Island Studios were in constant use. The following table gives comparisons over the past three years:
Year
Programme Items
Recorded Programme
Hours
1971-1972
9698
4669
1972-1973
10319
4609
1973-1974
10450
4711
Portable tape recorders were in continuous use and were booked out more than 10,000 times during the year.
Outside Broadcasts
43.
The monthly average over the past three years was:
12