Radio_Hong_Kong_1964-1965 — Page 26

LIGHT MUSIC

54. Programmes of light music during the year continued to cater for a very wide variety of tastes. Apart from the more routine types of light music compilations, which are popular as background music in the mornings and late evenings, there were a considerable number of pro- grammes with distinct appeal to certain sections of the audience.

55. 'Do You Remember', 'Show Business' and Date With a 78' were designed to please the older members of the audience, whilst 'Top of the Pops' and 'The Hot Hundred' are programmes mainly for teenagers.

56. The younger listeners were also entertained daily from 4.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. with the specialized form of 'beat' music which is now so popular, and the request sessions were inundated with hundreds of letters each week.

57. Radio Hong Kong's light music producer made a speciality, during the year, of broadcasting interviews with beat groups; probably his most memorable day was when he talked to the four famous ‘Beatles' whose public performances in Hong Kong were the highlights of teenagers' year. Other international artists who appeared at Radio Hong Kong's microphones were 'Manfred Mann', 'The Kinks' and the personable young singer, Cilla BLACK.

58. A feature of the year was the visit, in February, of the interna- tionally renowned ‘University of Denver Jazz Band'. Their public per- formance at the City Hall was packed with enthusiastic jazz fans and those who could not attend personally were able to hear a broadcast of the concert. Included in the programme, as guest clarinetist, was the top American musician, Tony SCOTT, who seems to have made Hong Kong a second home.

59. Once again, the department organized its own charity drive 'Operation Santa Claus'. This was the fifth consecutive year in which Radio Hong Kong has broadcast record requests to raise funds for poor children at Christmas time. This year the English and Chinese Services joined together for the three evenings from 8.15 p.m. until midnight. The broadcasts, in which the pledges for records to be played were read in both languages, raised well over the $50,000 target. The money was distributed through the channels of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service.

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