It is safe to say that most people above high-school age know Li Chi-chun (李季準). They may not recognize his face, but his deep, steady voice is familiar islandwide. After all, his discussion-and-music programs, "A Time for Reasoning" and "A Time for Sentiment," have accompanied commuters during the 7:00 PM rush hour and have kept students awake at midnight every weeknight for the past eighteen years.
Li got his start on the air in the early 1960s, while the industry was enjoying the golden days before television took hold on the island. Although he failed his college entrance exam three decades ago, his gift for public speaking and his excellent Mandarin-a main requirement for announcers at the time-were enough to attract the attention of radio stations managers. Though Taiwanese was his first language, Li had spent much of his childhood listening to the radio and imitating the announcers' flawless speech. After winning an islandwide speech contest as a high school senior, he was hired at Yishih Radio Station in Keelung in 1963.
"Because Yishih had a small staff, I had to handle everything—which was good training for a rookie like me," Li says. He quickly became a kind of renaissance man of the airwaves. "I have been trained as an all-around radio man. I am a producer, a reporter, a host, a deejay, and even an advertising executive." When he began, most local announcers simply reported news from the newspapers; Li researched, wrote, and delivered his own news stories.
After six years at Yishih, he moved to Taiwan's largest radio station, the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC). It was the heyday of local radio. In terms of media influence, radio ranked second only to newspapers and many people used it as their main source of information. The first television station, Taiwan Television Enterprise, had been established in 1962, but TV was not yet widespread enough to overshadow radio. "It was a big honor to be a reporter on BCC," says Li.
But the boom years didn't last long. China Television Co. was established in 1969 and the Chinese Television System began broadcasting two years later. The medium became popular fast. By 1976, 69 percent of Taiwan households had black and white TV and 23 percent had a color set. "In the face of the powerful television stations, some policy-makers at BCC felt that the future of radio should be limited to news and music programs," says Li. "I disagreed completely. I thought it would be a waste of a medium that can be used to promote social education and communication."
So Li developed two informational radio programs in the mid-1970s. In "Today's Economy" and "Time of Commerce," he used layman's language to introduce complicated economic and financial issues to the general public. The shows quickly gained a wide audience and some listeners came to depend heavily on Li's advice. After one program discussing trusts and investments, a minister working in a remote agricultural community on Mt. Li called on behalf of the area's fruit farmers. He asked Li to contact a trust company to help the farmers invest their savings. Until then, they had simply deposited their money in the local church, receiving no interest.
One strategy Li used to combat the growing popularity of television, was to increase two-way communication with listeners. He was one of the first hosts to have a call-in radio show. In producing his economic and financial shows, he regularly traveled around the island doing interviews, and frequently invited the public to call in to answer questions. "I made the audiences get more involved in my programs," he says. "The BCC'S ten phone lines were all busy. My assistants were constantly answering calls. Listeners were anxious to hear themselves on the air." Until the mid-1980s, all shows were taped because, Li explains, "the government was afraid that a caller might say rebellious or pro-communist slogans such as, 'Long-live Mao Tse-tung.'"
Li's current shows, "A Time for Reasoning" and "A Time for Sentiment," were also developed as a reaction to TV. When he began airing them in 1973, he explains, "people were inundated with ridiculous soap operas every night. I produced these two programs to give listeners something substantial as an alternative." The daily shows are now produced by Li' s own company, staffed by ten employees. "A Time for Reasoning" features music, news reports collected by three reporters who travel around the island, and Li's human-interest interviews with small town folk or people involved in traditional occupations such as Chinese puppetry or straw hat-making. The late-night "Time for Sentiment" offers celebrity interviews with local artists and personalities, music, and bits of Li's homespun advice. Many shows have a nostalgic air.
Today, listeners tune to Li's shows for a soothing bit of reflection in a fast changing society. Wu Yun-ping (吳雲平), a teaching assistant at National Taiwan University, says: "I stay up late at night. When I read at midnight, I like to listen to 'A Time for Sentiment' in the background." Others find the slow-paced shows dull compared with newer, livlier programs. In fact, some advertising clients have asked the veteran radio host to change his style to target younger listeners. But Li disagrees. "I told my clients there are already programs for teenagers," he says. "To differentiate myself from the others, I don't think I should change my style."