Radio Television Hong Kong
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) (香港電台); is a public corporation headed by Mr. Chu Pui Hing (朱培慶). RTHK provides different kinds of educational, entertainment and public affair programmes so that they can become the leading public broadcaster in the new media environment.In order to achieve such goals RTHK has five missions:
- To inform, educate and entertain our audiences through multimedia programming;
- To provide timely, impartial coverage of local and global events and issues;
- To deliver programming which contributes to the openness and cultural diversity of Hong Kong;
- To provide a platform for free and unfettered expression of views
- To serve a broad spectrum of audiences and cater to the needs of minority interest groups
RTHK provides a total of seven radio channels:
Radio Channels
Radio 1 focuses on current affairs, and features phone-in programmes.
Radio 2, is targeted more towards youngsters and emphasises infotainment to arouse the awareness of the new generation to various social phenomena.
HKALE Chinese and English examinations are broadcasted on Radio 2 as well.
Radio 3 is broadcasted in English, and is similar in genre to BBC Radio 4.
Radio 4 is a bilingual classical music channel. The HKCEE English Listening Examination is broadcasted on this channel during the examination.
Radio 5 broadcasts cultural and educational programmes. Radio 6 is a local relay for the BBC World Service.
The RTHK Putonghua station was set up during March 1997. It was the first Putonghua radio station in Hong Kong.
In 1994, RTHK launched its official website, RTHK ON INTERNET: http://www.rthk.org.hk/. It was the first broadcaster to put their radio and television programmes online in Hong Kong to facilitate access to its programmes both locally and internationally.
The website is presented in three languages: English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. By 2000, all seven of RTHK's radio channels were broadcasted live over the Internet. All RTHK news transcripts were also put online.
24-hour instant Chinese and English news, financial news, hourly updated news bulletins and current affairs program Hong Kong Today are available on the RTHK website. Chinese and English Online News is being delivered directly to subscribers for free via e-mail three times a day. A PDA-downloadable version is also provided.
On its website, RTHK provides e-Learning contents for literature, arts and languages, in a bid to arouse public interest in life-long learning through the Internet. Some of the e-Learning projects which have been launched include: "Chinese Literature on the Net" (文學相對論), "Inter-University Multimedia Special Online Project" (多媒體創意廊), "Speaking Better English Online", "Online Reading Projects" (網上讀書樂), "Web Thinking with Dr. LEE Tien-ming (李天命網上思考)", "Online with PAI Hsien-yung" (我和白先勇的網上約會), "Hong Kong Colloquial Expression" (俗語趣談) and "Distinguished Lecture Series" (傑出學人學術講座).
RTHK ON INTERNET is enriched by a number of special features, such as "Classics Channel" (經典重溫頻道), "25th Anniversary of Top Ten Gold Songs" (金曲廿五年), live video webcast of "Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award Presentation Concert" (十大中文金曲頒獎禮), online voting in "Sound Archive Polling 2001" (有聲為證︰聲音檔案選舉), "Broadcasters' Links" (世界廣播連線), "UN In Action", "Radio 2's 20th Anniversary" (二台二十周年) and "Y2K+01".
In 2001, RTHK jointly organized "The Global Chinese Pop Chart" (全球華語歌曲排行榜) with Chinese radio stations of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. It became the most coveted Chinese pop song indicator.
In 2001, the RTHK Service Hotline (香港電台服務熱線) was launched to provide instantaneous information to audiences all around the globe via telephone. The telephone number is +852 22720000.
RTHK also produces television programs on public affairs which are broadcasted by the three commercial television channels, TVB, ATV and Cable TV in Hong Kong. These programmes include Hong Kong Connection, A Week in Politics, Media Watch (傳媒春秋) and Police Magazine (警訊). RTHK does not have its own television channel.
"Hong Kong Connection" (鏗鏘集), a documentary series which addresses both local and international issues, also serves as a good example for the success of the RTHK in producing quality TV programmes for the members of the public.
The Police Report is a 5-minute long TV program that is shown weekly and it is jointly produced by Radio Television Hong Kong and Hong Kong Police Force.
Primarily it aims at appealing to the general public the recent crime trends, and giving crime prevention advice. Some episodes also ask the general public to help the police in providing more information to help solve crimes.
It is RTHK's oldest TV production. When its 30th Anniversary was celebrated, a theme song sung by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung was written to celebrate this memorable moment.
RTHK is also responsible for producing programs for Educational Television (ETV) (教育電視) for primary and secondary students. ETV was first broadcasted in 1971 for Primary 3 students and was extended to Primary 6 students in 1974. In 1978, it had been extended to cover Form 3 students.
While programs covering the topics of English, Chinese, Mathematics and Putonghua are provided to both primary and secondary students, Science and Humanities programs are only provided for secondary school students and General Studies programs are only designed for primary students.
As mentioned earlier, RTHK is a public corporation. Unlike some of the very well established and respected public broadcasters such as the BBC and NHK, which are primarily funded via a license fee system, RTHK is funded directly by an annual government allocation, and operates as a department of the SAR government. The controversial concern is that whether RTHK has enough editorial independence.
There was controversy in 2000 when Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa admitted in a public statement that he hoped RTHK would help in sending out the government's messages. Even though this dealt a blow to RTHK's credibility, it has managed to retain its image as an independent news organisation reporting purely in the public's interest.
On other hand, there has been argument in the society about whether RTHK should be privatised. Proponents of the idea argued for RTHK to become an independent corporation, separate from the government, so that it could achieve more flexibility, and more cost-efficiency in its operation.
The ultimate concern is whether RTHK has enough editorial independence for a public broadcaster. One of the examples was the suspected intervention of RTHK's press freedom in July 1999. After inviting Cheng On Kwok (鄭安國), the Taiwanese representative in Hong Kong, to discuss the issue of the separation of China and Taiwan, the RTHK was condemned by pro-China critics.
In October the same year, the Head of Radio Broadcasting, Ms. Cheung Man Yee (張敏儀) was transferred to Japan as the Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative in Tokyo for no prominent reason.
However, there are cases where the RTHK's editorial independence was fully exemplified. There was one episode of Letter to Hong Kong (香港家書) (a programme of which important government officials read letters on Hong Kong matters on air to the public) was rescheduled for another more timely and newsworthy one. The switch had been made possible by a prompt editorial decision.
Another case was a recent survey of the Hong Kong media conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Journalism and Communication, which placed the RTHK in first place amongst the electronic media in terms of credibility. RTHK achieved second place overall when all the local newspapers and magazines were included. [1]
In 1928, the Hong Kong Government had decided to take over the radio broadcasting and launched the first broadcasts in June under the call-sign of GOW. A year later, the call sign was changed from GOW to ZBW. While Mr. N. L. Smith, the then Postmaster General, was appointed as the first ever Head of Radio Broadcasting in Hong Kong. However, the first broadcast of news bulletin was not launched until 1934. During the same year, a Chinese channel was also established under the call sign of ZEK. Finally in 1948, the call-signs of ZBW and ZEK were abandoned and combined to form the name of "Radio Hong Kong" (RHK)(香港廣播電台)officially. The broadcasting operations were taken over by the Government Information Services in 1949. In the same year, it was moved to Electra House as headquarters and the broadcasting operations are taken over by the Government Information Services. But in 1954, it was separated from the Government Information Services and became independent. In 1960, RHK introduced the VHF/FM transmission for broadcasting in both Chinese and English channels. The headquarters of RHK was the Broadcasting House (廣播大廈)at Broadcast Drive in Kowloon in 1969.RHK established the Public Affairs Television Unit in 1970. Its own newsroom was set up in 1973. The Unit produced public affairs TV programmes that broadcasted on licensed commercial TV stations. In 1976, the name "Radio Television Hong Kong"(RTHK) was adopted to replace Radio Hong Kong to show its increasing productions in television programmes. In the same year, RTHK started to produce educational television programmes for schools after setting up the Educational Television Unit. In 1986, RTHK TV headquarters moved and renamed Television House. The first News and Financial News channel, Radio 7 was established in November, 1989. In 1994, the radio and television programmes were put online on the RTHK website.
This year RTHK is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Broadcasting in Hong Kong. In order to celebrate this important moment, RTHK launched a new channel on the Internet, 'the Classics Channel'. There are more than 150 programmes, including 78 radio programmes and 73 television programmes available for audience to review through the Internet. All of these programmes are chosen by producers or audience members. The Classics Channel is now asking audience who has recorded the old RTHK programmes to share their record with general public through the Channel. This has made up a good record for the last 45 years of RTHK radio and TV production. The Classics Channel website: http://www.rthk.org.hk/classicschannel/main.htm
Also to commemorate this special moment in RTHK's history, a special "RTHK Broadcast 75th Anniversary Jubilee Memorial" has been released to revive all of Hong Kong's favorite hits & special moments. The CD is packed with over 40 artists showcasing 45 golden hits from the different decades of Hong Kong's music history on 4 CDs. Idols such as Sandy Lam, William So, Leslie Cheung, Emil Cha, Gigi Leung, Sally Yeh & George Lam, Beyond + Candy Lo to name a few are featured in this collectors CD. Everlasting classics such as "Really Love You", "Can 't Sleep", "Still", "Stupid Girl", "Candle Flicker" & "Glory Days" plus an unending list of other hits are all available on a special edition CD. By listening to this CD, we can realise the long history and popularity of RTHK.
For more detail coverage of RTHK history, please visit http://www.rthk.org.hk/classicschannel/history.htm/Web site
E-learning
Special features
The Global Chinese Pop Chart
RTHK Service Hotline
Television Programs
Hong Kong Connection
Police Report
ETV
Awards
In 2003 alone, RTHK won 3 awards on its radio programmes and 5 awards on its TV programs, of which a program on the controversial Article 23 (《鏗鏘集》︰ 「基本法第23條」特輯) won the prestigious award for Broadcast Television at The 8th Annual Human Rights Press Awards. See [1]Public concern over the independence of the RTHK
History of RTHK