Radio_Hong_Kong_1968-1969 — Page 10

later the Chinese Service increased to 17 hours a day and, in 1960, the English Service followed suit. These extra hours, naturally, brought extreme pressure to bear on studio and office accommodation and it was then that the first proposals to build a new studio centre were made. But there were problems ahead. A site in Garden Road was selected, then rejected because of the high land value. It was decided in 1962 to ease the overcrowding in Mercury House by converting the old Rodney Block of Wellington Barracks into a temporary studio centre. Conversion was well underway in 1964 when serious structural defects were found in the 110-year old building and the project was abandoned.

13. In June, the following year, the Canadian firm of N. J. Pappas & Associates, were appointed architects and engineers for the Broad- casting House project on a site in Pok Fu Lam. The summer of 1966, however, brought another complication. The three commercial broad- casting companies; Hong Kong Commercial Radio, Rediffusion and Hong Kong Television Broadcasts, all bought sites for studio centres in the Lung Cheung Road area of Kowloon. It was obviously opera- tional bad for Radio Hong Kong to be located too far from what was destined to become a radio and television 'city' so the Pok Fu Lam site was abandoned and a plot in Kowloon was chosen on the road now named 'Broadcast Drive'.

14. By now Cable and Wireless were facing serious accommodation problems of their own and it was agreed that Radio Hong Kong would vacate Mercury House by 1st April, 1969. This meant drawing up a building schedule that allowed virtually no latitude for delay. The Yeu Shing Construction Company, who were awarded the contract in 1968, had many difficulties to contend with, not the least of which was the requirement that several technical areas had to be completed by October 1968 so that Radio Hong Kong engineers could install wiring and equipment. This had to be done so that the move from Mercury House could be made without disrupting broadcasting services.

15. The removal itself was carefully phased, and on 3rd March, 1969, Broadcasting House went on the air at 7 a.m. Many areas were still unfinished and a small army of workmen were still busy with finishing touches. By 15th March all sections of Radio Hong Kong had transferred and that evening the Mercury House studios closed down, after being on the air for 19 years.

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