February 25, 1948
China Mail Wednesday Supplement
THIN STEEL TOWERS point skyward in where ZBW's transmitters. fed from the broadcasting studios in the Gloucester building, put Hong Kong on the radio map of the world.
Kowloon,
Page 1.
ZBW
t
ZB
THE ANNOUNCER (in this case David Keith Hardy) speaks, and listen- ers both in Hong Kong and all over the Far East, hear him my "This is ZBW Hong Kong calling.
Critics of ZBW, as well as those who know little more about broadcasting in Hong Kong than to find the Colony's radio station on the medium or short-wave radio bands of their receivers, will be interested in this series of photographs taken from the other end of their loudspeakers, as it were. From these pictures, they may get some idea of how the station operates and of the large and yaried crowd of people who are responsible for putting Hong Kong "On the Air."
Basically, a ZBW programme starts as an idea, or theme, in the minds of the programme selectors. This will probably involve a search to see if the appropriate records are available, for the record library, though extensive, is not an unlimited one. Having chosen the records and arranged them in appropriate order, the programme staff then have to time the pro- gramme, allowing so much for the records themselves and so much for the announcer's remarks.
If it is a special programme such as the. Sunday "Proms" someone has to write a script for the announcer and this may call for some hours of research. The programme has to be fitted into the daily schedules, which are generally drawn up a week in advance. Mean- while, the technical staff have been busy see- ing that the transmitters, etc. are all in order.
At last all is ready. The anhouncer, script in hand, seats himself before the microphone, the control-room staff stand by the "mixing" panel and the record turntables, a red light flashes and "This is ZBW, Hong Kong, call- ing!" Hong Kong is on the air.
THE CONTROL ROOM staff listen to the anamncer and when finishes speaking, gently edge a needle - onto a resplving turntable and another programme of music starts. The operator's left hand holds a knob on the control panel. fading out the announcer and switching over to the record, that is to be played.
.
}
LOCAL RECORDINGS are still in their infancy to far as Hong Kong adcasting is concerned, but the recording stafft (seen here) are keen and several good recorded features=notably the arrival of His Excel the Governor—are to their credit.