ENG-1968 — Page 283

PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA

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accommodates the studio centres of Rediffusion and Hong Kong Television Broadcasts.

This new building, of approximately 52,000 square feet, has 16 studios ranging from a music studio of some 3,000 square feet down to studios for self-recording of 150 square feet each. The building is scheduled for completion in March 1969, and Radio Hong Kong will then have its own accommodation incorporating all services together for the first time in its history.

The other important event of the year was the commissioning of the new Medium Wave Transmitting Station at Golden Hill in the New Territories. This station is comprised of two pairs of 10 KW transmitters fed into a single 300 feet mast radiator which gives a total power output of 20 KW into the two programme channels. -

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Radio Hong Kong is a government department financed from general revenue and the station carries no advertising. Both the English and the Chinese Services cover the full range of programmes expected of a public service broadcasting station. Considerable emphasis is placed on public affairs broadcasts, with information, comment and discussion programmes on the many issues which are of interest to Hong Kong listeners. Many serious and light music programmes are also included in the schedules. Transmission hours for both Chinese and English programme services are from 7 a.m. to midnight daily, and it is estimated that there are now well over 1,000,000 radio receivers in use in the Colony.

There are frequent bulletins of world and local news and both programme services broadcast news magazine programmes twice daily.

In January it was decided that Radio Hong Kong should also establish a Public Affairs Television Production Unit. This unit will also be accommodated in Kowloon and will produce documen- tary and other public affairs programmes for transmission by the authorized television companies of the Colony.

This year the English Programme of Commercial Radio completely reorganized its evening programmes to suit the requirements of a basically young community and to provide the strongest possible alternative to television. Taped programmes were cut down to approximately three hours a week to establish a 'live' image.