Commercial Radio Hong Kong

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Commercial Radio Hong Kong

Type	Private
Founded	1959
Headquarters	Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Industry	Radio broadcasting webcasting
Website	http://www.crhk.com.hk

The Commercial Radio House on Broadcasting Drive

Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK, traditional Chinese: 香港商業電台; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Shāngyè Diàntái), aka Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited is one of the only two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong along with Metro Radio Hong Kong. It contains a balanced array of entertainment including informative, educational, arts and cultural programmes. CRHK is well known for providing updates on current affairs as well as news and weather reports. These programmes are particularly popular amongst .

CRHK was founded by George Ho Ho-Chi on 26 August 1959, when he inherited HK$50,000 from Ho Tung^[1]. The 10-year franchise of Radio Rediffusion ended its radio operation in 1959. CRHK joined Radio Rediffusion and Radio Television Hong Kong to make what was called the "Three kingdoms of local radio stations". It was one of the most flourishing times in Hong Kong radio broadcasting history, since more competition yielded better productions. However, Radio Rediffusion closed down at the end of September 1973.

At the very beginning, Commercial Radio was situated in Lai Chi Kok, near what is today's Mei Foo Sun Chuen. It only obtained the present site at 3, Broadcast Drive in Kowloon Tong on 25 July 1966, nine years after it had started broadcasting in Hong Kong. While the new five-floor building was under refurbishment, the station was temporarily housed in Yau Yat Chuen, until the brand new complex came into use on 26 August 1971.

Although CRHK has its own news broadcasts nowadays and provides the latest news on major events around the world, the news division of CRHK was only formed in 1974. At first, news broadcasts were provided by the Information Services Department of the Hong Kong government and later from RTHK. The establishment of its own news division marked a new era in the company's history, since it finally became an independent organisations.

G.J. Ho, son of George Ho, is now the chairman of CRHK. The licence of CRHK was renewed on 22 July 2003 and will last for another 12 years until 26 August 2016. The statutory body Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority continue to regulate Hong Kong broadcasters.

Currently CRHK broadcasts through two Cantonese Channels on the FM band and an English one on the AM band. All of the channels are 24-hour broadcast and each of them has its distinct programme formats and audience.

CR1 FM 881 has the widest audience base in Hong Kong. It is a talk-based channel which broadcasts current affairs, traffic and financial information. There are also many talk shows and interactive phone-in shows. It also offers some cultural dramas programmes. Its target audience are 25- to 40-year-old professionals.

Its current slogan is "聲為民開" (Pinyin: shēng wéi mín kāi), which literally means "[Our] voice is sung for the public", where the word "voice" apparently alludes to broadcasting at large, thus, it means "[We] broadcast for the public"

CR2 FM 903 is a music-based channel targeted at the younger generation and audience who are feverish with pop music. The programmes are more about the latest news in pop music, including Cantonese, Japanese and English songs. This channel is famous for organising one of the four Hong Kong annual music awards, in which the prizes are awarded to the singers according to how often their songs are plugged, as they call it in Hong Kong, by the DJs.

Its present slogan is "叱咤 MY 903", which the literal meaning is "Ultimate - MY 903". This slogan also promote the channel's dedicated website MY903.com

AM 864(AM) is an English channel. It used to offer a diversity of music, from the latest international hits to hip-hop, R&B, jazz, rock and roll, grunge music. It was intended to cater toward audiences all around the world.

Audiences could keep up with the latest news, especially with global issues, through CRHK. News are broadcasted every hour throughout the day, with weather forecast and traffic reports. In addition, it regularly produce news reports and public affairs programmes.

From 2000-2003, AM864 was partnered with HMV and was called HMV 864. Amongst other name, Quote 864 was also used as an on-air name.

When last heard in 2005, the station appeared to be a stripped-down non-stop jukebox station, i.e. without presenters, and only breaking for the news. There also appeared to be no recent hits on the playlist, merely with tracks from the Top 40 from a few years past. AM864 is CRHK's obligatory English-language channel, which may explain the channel's existence today.

Among all 881 Programmes, there are two programmes that actively discuss contemporary Hong Kong political, social and economic issues every day.

<> airs during the weekdays, from Monday to Friday, from 7am to 10am. This three-hour programme is hosted by Wong Wai Min, Sze Nam Shen, Cheung Chor Yung, Lee Wai Ling and Pun Siu To. The hosts make the programme more interactive by inviting some of the audience and sometimes guests to participate in the discussion of current issues. The programme has a session called voice column in which some Commercial Radio DJs participate as columnists, sharing their own viewpoints on certain issues, e.g. the column "陶言無忌" by To Kit, who has worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation for 8 years.

<> airs from Monday to Friday from 6:30pm to 8pm. This programme is hosted by Lee Wai Ling, Pun Siu To and Kwok Chi Yan. It is a more critical programme which focuses on the discussion of the current news in Hong Kong. It also features an interactive phone-in programme. The programme claims that the guests invited to the discussion every day are related to the news on that day.

Two new foreign language radio programmes - "Hong Kong-Pak This Evening" in Urdu and "Nepal Darshan" in Nepali - were launched jointly by Commercial Radio and the Home Affairs Bureau from 18 June 2005, to promote multi-culturalism in Hong Kong. It aims at strengthening the sense of belonging of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, but at the same time retaining their cultural identities and differences. Another program is Good Evening Kabayan. It is for the Filipino community in Hong Kong.

The programmes broadcasted for 26 consecutive Saturdays on Commercial Radio Channel 1 (AM864) until 10 December 2005. "Hong Kong-Pak This Evening" and "Nepal Darshan" were on air from 08:00pm to 08:30pm and from 08:30pm to 09:00pm respectively. The Urdu programme was hosted by Abid Ali Baig, who is a poet and writer, who had been working in the broadcasting industry for 30 years in Pakistan; whereas the Nepali one was hosted by Pushpa Kumar Rai, who had worked in the former British Forces Broadcasting Service for almost 20 years and he is familiar to many Nepalese ears in Hong Kong. The programmes comprise mainly music, news, sport, current affairs and community services related to the respective ethnic groups; local celebrities from the ethnic groups were also invited to talk about their own cultures and their assimilation into the community.

In the middle of 2004, three of the programme hosts were all well-known for their out-spoken hosting style over social and political matters. Suddenly, all three announced they would stop. Albert Cheng Jing Han announced a hiatus from hosting his programme in April 2004 and claimed to be due to pressure from the Chinese government, and announced resignation by the end of July. Another famous political programme host Raymond Wong Yuk Man announced his decision to quit his own programme on the 13 May claiming there was threat to his family's safety. However, he decided to rejoin CRHK to host a brand new programme for the station in October 2004. Allen Lee Peng Fei replaced Cheng Jing Han announced to quit on the 19 May also for political reasons. Freedom of speech has been a concern in Hong Kong since the 1997 Handover. The sudden resignation of the hosts certainly raised doubts about the issue.

Commercial Radio Production Co. Ltd. (CRP) was established in 1997 to produce radio commercials themselves for their partners, but it has also become a brand of its own now. It aims at providing faster and more updated information and an entertainment platform to the public in the future. It also keeps on providing market-promotion service to its customers.

CRP organises different kinds of concerts and outdoor activities, such as "Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation", "903 id club Music is Life Concert" , "Famine 30" . Also, CRP holds different forms of gathering for the audience of CRHK, such as "903id club"; these activities thus provide a platform and more chances for both the DJs and the audience to communicate with each other. In addition, CRP has been issuing their company products, including books and stationery, in order to promote its own brand.

While producing and organising different kinds of activities, a large number of art products are needed, such as pamphlets, posters and even the stage design of the <>. It fosters creativity and the production of aesthetic artwork.

There has always been keen competition amongst Hong Kong radio stations. Recently, CRP launches video production services and issues <<903 Music On The Move>>. In this programme, music and pictures are combined and it creates a new definition for radio production. This combination is then moved on to mobile phone service, creating another new medium for radio and music and hence for the users.

CRHK has launched 881903.com in 1995 as the official website of Commercial Radio Hong Kong. CRP is the administrative organization of 881903.com. The signal is retransmitted through the internet and anyone can listen to it online. Although only the Cantonese version is available, it acts as a platform for the radio station to promote its programmes and related products. In fact, internet users can find updated news and financial information, programme schedule, programme synopsis and even personal pages of the DJs. By logging onto the page, people from all over the world can listen to Radio 1 and 2. Members of 881903.com can have access to past radio programmes as well. An open forum can also be found on 881903.com which allows the audience to leave comments on the radio programmes or the DJs. Because of its rising popularity, a multimedia marketing platform is formed which enables CRP to target a larger audience, especially from overseas countries. Extra revenue is gained from its advertisers such as Netvigator, ICQ and Motorola.

By having an online radio station, the audience can enjoy greater convenience and more flexibility in listening to the radio and it also helps globalise their programmes, hence the radio station.

In 2006, CRHK has lunched a dedicated website MY903.com(formerly [1] and [2]) for its CR2 channel. This website uses an interactive and eye-catching layout to make closer connection between progrmme audiences and hosts. Thus creating a promotion platform for special features in prime promgrammes. In 2007, MY 903 FOURM launched its beta version. This enables instant discussion on programmes between hosts and audiences and an alternative platform for channel opinions.

"903id Club" is an organisation established by Radio 2, CRHK, where "id" stands for "I Dream", "I Discover", "I Dare" and "I Decide". 903id club aims at promoting local music and is a trend setter for local teenagers. For example, it is one of the organisers of <>, which attracts thousands of audience every year. It also promotes new movies and introduces the latest trend to the public. Besides, 903id club creates a channel for music and movie lovers to share their thoughts and interests. This once again shows CRP's emphasis on audience's involvement.

Moreover, 903id club is linked to several radio programmes, such as <> [3] and some of the DJs of those programmes work on projects supported by the club. One of the very successful examples is the annual drama performance[4] done by Sammy Leung Chi-Kin and Kitty Yuen Siu-Yee. Another success story is the boy group "I love you boyz" formed by popular DJs Jim Yan and Donald. The group is known for their exaggerating and eerie comedic image. High-profile DJ Jan Lamb has also hosted a series of stand-up comedy shows produced by CR Productions.

Also, members of 903id club can have discounts in various shops e.g Laneige and join activities organised by the club. This reinforces the audience's sense of belonging to the channels.

Address: 3, Broadcast Drive, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
E-mail Address: crbd@crhk.com.hk
Telephone number: (852) 2336 5111
Facsimile number: (852) 2338 4247

Honorary Chairman: George Ho*
Chairman: George Joseph Ho*
Deputy Chairman: Winnie Yu*
CEO: Rita Ching-han Chan
Non Executive Director: Kwok-kit Leung*
Non Executive Director: Richard Yat-sun Tang*
Non Executive Director: Michael Chi-hung Tse*
Non Executive Director: Chin-kung Kwok*
Non Executive Director: Amy Mei-yan Miao*

*: board of directors of the H.C.B.C. Enterprises Limited.

Chen, Y.J. (2000). A history of Chinese radio broadcasting in Hong Kong 1928-1997. Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong.
Lok, H., Yam, T., Ting, T. (2002). Broadcasting services survey 2002 : report. Hong Kong : Broadcasting Authority.
Radio Television Hong Kong (1999). 70 years of broadcasting in Hong Kong, 1928-1998. Hong Kong : Radio Television Hong Kong.
韋佩文 ... [等」(2004). 從一九二八年說起 : 香港廣播七十五年專輯. 香港: 香港電台.
Pinyin translated by Cozy Website.

^ www.crhk.com.hk Click 商業電台

v • d • e Radio stations broadcasting in the Chinese language
The following channels offer at least some programming in Chinese
Canada	CHMB (Vancouver) • Fairchild Radio (Toronto/Vancouver/Calgary) • CFMB (Montreal)
PRC (Mainland China)	China Radio International (National) • China National Radio (National) • Radio Beijing Corporation • Fujian Radio • Radio Guangdong • Hubei Radio • Heilongjiang Radio • Lanzhou Radio • Nanjing Radio • Shaanxi Radio • Shanghai Media Group • Shenzhen Media Group • Tianjin People's Broadcasting Station • Urumqi People's Broadcasting Station
Hong Kong	Radio Television Hong Kong • Commercial Radio Hong Kong • Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited
Macau	Teledifusão de Macau • Radio Vilaverde Lda
ROC (Taiwan)	Broadcasting Corporation of China • Radio Taiwan International • Hit FM • KISS Radio
USA	Chinese Radio New York • KAZN (Los Angeles) • KCHN (Houston) • KMRB (Los Angeles) • WNWR (Philadelphia) • WYFR (Florida) • WZRC (New York)
Singapore	883JIA FM • Y.E.S. 933 FM • Capital Radio 95.8 FM • Love 97.2 FM • Radio 1003