ENG-1975 — Page 212

THE MEDIA

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programme, 'Needlepoint', is transmitted live on TVB's Chinese channel while a simultaneous English translation is broadcast on an FM sound radio channel of Radio Hong Kong. The weekly 'Junior Police Call' programme continues to be popular and has a following of more than 100,000.

RHK TV's biggest success is the programme 'Below the Lion Rock'-a story of people living on a housing estate. It is seen by 2.7 million people weekly on the three Chinese channels-the largest viewer rating of any programme in Hong Kong. One episode of the show-on good neighbourliness-won a special award in the Asian Broadcasting Union's Shiraz Film Festival for young film makers.

Sound Broadcasting

Hong Kong's two sound broadcasting stations are Radio Hong Kong and Com- mercial Radio. Radio Hong Kong, which has two English and two Chinese channels, is financed from general revenue and carries no advertising. As the government radio station, it is charged with producing radio as well as television programmes which inform, educate and entertain. The station operates under its own management.

Although financial economies caused RHK to reduce its number of broadcast hours in 1975, there was increased in-depth coverage of news and public affairs on international and local levels. The Chinese service broadcasts 24 hours of news a day and the English service two hours-including BBC world services relays. English and Chinese services each give an average half an hour a day to public affairs programmes. Some outstanding outside broadcasts were made during the full coverage given to the Queen's visit in May. Other notable outside broadcasts covered the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. Throughout the year, Chinese and English services organised quiz programmes and debating competitions in schools, and the Chinese service held its first Footballer of the Year competition-which was so successful that it is now to be a permanent feature. RHK's drama and opera groups were featured in many open-air shows, which were seen by thousands and heard by many more listening at home.

The station's four channels continued to build up their individual identities, catering for minority interests in addition to the masses. Phone-in programmes attracted such attention that special equipment had to be installed in Broadcasting House to cope with the number of callers.

Commercial Radio broadcasts on three sound channels-two Chinese and one English. In 1975 the station adopted a more personalised form of presentation, with the emphasis on news and sport. The English channel offers news every 30 minutes throughout the 19 hours of its broadcast day, with three main 10-minute bulletins a day. During the year, broadcasts were made from Kuala Lumpur and Manila on the two world heavyweight boxing championship fights. In the studios, the accent was on audience participation-through the open-line programme, interviews, and daily competitions on general knowledge, with prizes for listeners.

The Chinese programme department maintained its high rate of involvement in public affairs by contributing to the Urban Council's entertainment programmes and by organising and presenting shows to raise money for charities. Following its