Hong Kong radio
The government has a point in its case against the operators of Citizen’s Radio: an environment where anyone can broadcast without regulation is a recipe for chaos. Broadcasters and listeners benefit from the transparent management of frequency allocations and transmitter output.
But suggesting that a flea-powered transmitter broadcasting on an unoccupied frequency in the middle of the commercial FM band could interfere with emergency services is simply wrong.
What’s also apparent is the retarded state of the radio market in “Asia’s World City.”
With a population of 7 million, we have 13 radio stations, six operated by government department RTHK, three each by a commercial duopoly, and a BBC World Service repeater.
- Sydney, population 4.1 million, has 58 radio stations
- Manila, population 14 million, has 51
- New York City, population 8.2 million, has 36
- Vancouver, population 2.2 million, has 32
In fact, about the only city we compare favorably with is Singapore, which has 19 FM stations, all but one of which is directly or indirectly government controlled.
Does anyone really expect democracy here if we can’t be trusted with a deregulated radio market?
P.S. If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air, try KEXP or KCRW, both of which stream over the Internet.
Posted: January 10th, 2008 under Media, Politics.
Comments: 3
Comments
Comment from 567
Time: January 11, 2008, 9:52 pm
RTHK, CR and Metro are all way overstaffed.
They have too many people on air, and too many people working behind the scenes.
But, radio is not a licence to print money. If it was, they would be making a lot more than they are now.
Metro isn’t really being run to make a profit anyway.
But there are not many spare frequencies available.
Because of the hilly terrain, each station now needs many FM frequencies to get proper coverage.
Don’t forget, there are many stations just across the border, so the dial is quite full.
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