An insider's view of Free China's varied 'Voice', and of the ROC's surprisingly popular SW casts
"Testing. One... Two...Three... This is the Voice of...(Hold on. No voice is going anywhere until the heads are cleaned.)" The remedy, a bottle of alcohol, sits in the opposite studio where a Latin American beauty announces the Spanish show- "Buenos dias. Esta es la Voz de la China Libre." Talking nonstop, her attention departs from the script momentarily when she catches sight of me waiting outside the glass window. She brings down the microphone level control as her other hand deftly nicks on the turntable. The Red "ON AIR" light above the studio door turns off, and I enter. Chinese classical music fills the recording compartment. She hands me the bottle of alcohol, readies herself before the mike, and I slip out of the studio just in time.
An Arabian announcer dashes by me, murmering a terse "Marhaben" greeting. He is running against the clock to complete a show on time. To add to his frenzy, there is a newcomer waiting in the studio to be trained. In the little room, the two Arabians fiddle with tapes and knobs, and finally the nervous newcomer goes on the air, for the first time.
Before I make it back to my studio, a young woman from the Indonesian department asks me whether I have a spare large-size reel. I walk with her down the long hall lined with studios, to where she and her two colleagues are working on a program. A commentary is being copied onto two other reels. The combination of Director Chen's fragrant Indonesian cigarettes and Alice's lilting, soft Indonesian coming over the air, takes me on a momentary excursion to Bali.
Back in the studio, my 1100 GMT deadline looms. "Good evening. This is the news, brought to you by the Voice of Free China."
The Voice of Free China is delivered in fourteen different languages on 81 frequencies, with weekly programming exceeding 800 hours. Broadcasts are presented in five Chinese dialects-Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Amoy, and Chaochow-along with English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. At any given hour, VOFC programs are beamed to countries throughout the world, with North America as one of the major target areas.
In 1949, the government of the Republic of China contracted with the Broadcasting Corporation of China in Taipei to produce Voice of Free China overseas broadcasts. More than a hundred persons are now occupied putting VOFC programs on the air, including announcers, editors, translators, reporters, program directors, engineers, and public relations personnel. The VOFC budget of US$5.65 million for 1982 is only a fraction of the budgets enjoyed by such monsters of the shortwave world as Radio Moscow, at US$700 million; Voice of America, at US$197 million; Deutsche Welle of West Germany, at US$110 million; and the British Broadcasting Corporation, at US$105 million.
If listeners are to be calculated on the basis of incoming letters, VOFC's 120,000 annual letters represent, according to international broadcasting standards, indications of a considerable audience.
VOFC beams programs to North America and Western Europe introducing the rich intricasies of Chinese culture, especially those unknown to the average Westerner, as well as news and ROC government viewpoints.
Director of the Voice of Free China Tang Pan-pan notes that international understanding, friendship, and support for the ROC are the primary objectives of VOFC programming. Another major goal of the VOFC is the desire to build a bridge connecting overseas Chinese around the world with the citizens of the ROC, thus helping preserve Chinese culture abroad. Tang points out that the approximately 30 million overseas Chinese scattered around the world constitute the largest single racial group living out side their native country.
"Shortwave," says Tang, "is one way to reach out to these people" ... and the VOFC takes at least some of the credit for the tremendous influx of overseas Chinese into Taiwan to commemorate the momentous 70th Anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China. During the Double Tenth Day (October 10) celebrations in 1981, a record-breaking 60,000 overseas Chinese poured into the country for the occasion.
More than one-third of the VOFC's broadcasts are in five Chinese dialects. Mandarin announcer Su Wen-yen hears from many of his listeners that they tune in expressly to hear the motherland's major language. In comparison to the average Western, non-Chinese listener, who monitors VOFC out of interest or sheer curiosity, a mixture of emotion, nationalism, and concern prompts overseas Chinese to turn the SW dial to VOFC. Thus, there is a subtle difference between the Chinese and foreign language broadcasts. For one thing, it can be taken for granted that fundamental explanations of Chinese culture are unnecessary in programming for overseas Chinese. In fact, for these programs, there is greater demand for detail, and for current coverage of all developments in the ROC.
"I like SW broadcasting and wouldn't leave it for AM or FM. There are less restrictions and more room for creativity since advertisers and sponsors aren't involved," declares Su. Su, as with most Chinese, shares the dream that China will be reunited one day. This theme can be incorporated into his programs much more effectively than in programming designed for Western consumption.
The mail—Broadcaster's greatest joy
News, commentary, Chinese music and culture, and Chinese language instruction are basic program elements in every VOFC language schedule, and the English department is no exception. One of the two largest foreign language sections of the VOFC, the English department, broadcasts just under seven hours of programs daily to North America, Australia, and New Zealand, and also, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Generally speaking, nearby Japan and Korea receive the clearest VOFC signals, but since a little more than a year ago, when certain transmission problems were solved, improved North American reception has resulted in a dramatic increase in English program listeners.
Veritable proof of this development is English announcer Ms. Ruby Soong's desk-piled high with letters. Ruby answers letters between her popular Cultural Panorama and Chinese music shows. Keeping the rest of the department informed of listeners' comments, she announced that economic analyst Bill Marshak's weekly Economic Reports have received new notice, and that announcer David Shao's commentaries are the subject of listeners' comments.
One listener mailed in a cassette he had made of a VOFC program received in Edmonton, Canada; the tape left everyone marvelling at the clarity of the reception. VOFC normally depends on listeners' comments to determine reception quality around the world.
In January, a four-man mission from the VOFC went to the United States for a quick two-week sampling of VOFC reception in ten American cities. Heading the group was Chou Tu-tun, director of the engineering department, who for the first time heard from abroad the transmissions of programs from Taipei. The group visited several American radio stations and established contact with a number of VOFC listeners.
One listener, a California dentist and former song writer, received a phone call from announcer Daniel Tu in Minneapolis. The call was taped and included in a VOFC North American program the next day. The dentist, J.R. Greer, who had been tuning in to VOFC for three or four months, had submitted an entry for the Voice of Free China Song Contest. "No, I don't know very much about the Republic of China," admitted Dr. Greer in the interview. However, he was intrigued by the contest, wrote new words to the Plum Blossom March, and sent in an entry.
Behind all the voices—The maze of mechanisms
During the month of January, the singing of Thais, Japanese, and Spaniards, as well as English-speakers, could be heard drifting through the various language-section offices. Listeners' original lyrics for the Plum Blossom March were played regularly on all language programs during the contest period. At the same time, a speech contest, entitled "The Free China I Know," was promoted.
The entries did not pour in by the thousands, but those who did enter were creative and serious. A young American VOFC listener rounded up a group of friends and produced a multi-track original rendition, with Moog synthesizer as accompaniment. One Brownsville, Texas, disc jockey delivered a not only eloquent, but fervent speech, and as an added feature for the listening pleasure of his VOFC counterparts, included a few music selections recorded professionally in his studio, along with recorded excerpts of various SW programs he had received in Brownsville.
VOFC attempts to answer every letter arriving at its Taipei office. At the very least, a QSL (Qualified Shortwave Listener) card is mailed out verifying a listener's reception report. Other station paraphernalia sent to listers include VOFC stickers, pendants, pins, nags, 45 rpm records, and ROC-made souvenirs and trinkets. The radio station also acts as a ROC publications outlet, sending out weekly news bulletins and cultural magazines published by the Government Information Office, pamphlets from the Tourism Bureau, and the VOFC monthly plus the frequency/time tables for VOFC programs.
The Chinese language sections of VOFC have the greatest interaction with listeners due to the large number of overseas Chinese visitors to Taiwan. Personal contact with listeners is also heavy in the Japanese section. Directed by Cho Ching-hu, the Japanese section is perhaps the most organized and tightly coordinated VOFC section; their programs rank among the top Japanese-language shortwave shows in Southeast Asia, as reflected by the 700 to 1,000 letters received monthly. The Japanese are also the most numerous among incoming non-Chinese tourists to Taiwan, and for this reason, travel-tips and local weather reports are constantly highlighted on VOFC Japanese programs. Cho remarks that at least one visitor drops by the Japanese department a week, making possible routine use of interviews with these visitors, or with Japanese living in Taiwan, as regular program features. For that personal touch, letters are read over the air, and an annual VOFC fan meeting is held in Tokyo. The 1983 meeting attracted over a hundred loyal listeners.
News broadcasts are pivotal in all VOFC programming. Their focus is on national news, plus international news that involves the Republic of China. The BCC (Broadcasting Corporation 01 China) Central News Center in Taipei-starred by 14 reporters, 15 editors, und six translators-is the major VOFC news source. The news center subscribes to the major international news wires-AP, UPI, AFP, and Reuters, plus the ROC's own Central News Agency. Of course, the BCC, with radio stations located in all major cities on the island, is intensively occupied in providing constant, island-wide news coverage. Taipei's myriad Chinese and English-language newspapers are also used as news sources.
VOFC directly covers such major happenings as the Double Tenth celebrations and the fifth women softball championship tournament held last July in Taipei, to assure on-the-spot color. The ever-growing popularity of English as an international language has resulted in a growing range of direct reporting opportunities for the English department-participants at international conferences, visiting officials and dignitaries from many countries, and ROC government officials involved with foreign affairs are all prime interview material. Reporter Wynette Yao pinpoints her coverage on Taipei's cultural scene, interviewing local and visiting artists, probing new developments at the National Palace Museum and in Taipei architecture, and reporting such events as the Taipei Arts Festival.
"And that wraps up tonight's Voice of Free China news. Stay tuned next for commentary .... " Bill sees mc from the corner of his eye and waves good by, still announcing, from the studio next door, Laughter resounds down the corridor from a group rehearsing a Mandarin radio play-a pregnant actress is doing an incredible imitation of a little girl. Upstairs in the control room, the engineer looks happy-he has my tape in his hands on time; he fits it on the reels, threads it through in no time, and sets the dials ready for transmission. And the Voice goes on.