FM95.8

According to them, they are the only Cantonese radio channel available in New Zealand. Oh well, we always have problems associated with monopolies due to lack of competitions, and apparently this is no exception for FM95.8, and they can be quite bad sometimes.

Around 3/4 of their programs are imported copies from various radio channels in Hong Kong, which is actually a good feature of them. On the other hand they are responsible for composing the news, ads and more importantly the morning program which I listen to during traffic jam in the motorway. There were a period of time when at least one of the hosts in that show was more experienced and relatively maturer (my guess is early thirties). But after a few change of hands at the current moment the show is occupied with three teenager-like twenty-something hosts, who are clearly having some hard time speaking, whatever the language is. I guess I am too harsh if I am summarizing my experience for the first week; but it has been a couple of months and there is no sign of improvement or anything.

Their main job is to report the headlines of the newspaper, and of course they try to translate whatever they read from the NZ Herald into Cantonese. This part I would have thought that they could prepare for it and so it shouldn't be too bad after all. But from what I hear, it is quite evidential that they improvise most of the time. Quite often they say a particular phrase in English, and a long pause occurs because they couldn't translate, then the other hosts jump in with an indefinite "arrrrrrrr" before someone finally spells out a wrong word which they sort of have to agree on that instantly in order to continue. This is constantly happening every 5 minutes, but still not the most painful part.

The stuff that really hits me to turn off the radio immediately is when they start to discuss and express their opinions, whether it is on any political issues or economic matters. I guess it is important for hosts to talk about their point of views, otherwise they become merely news reporters. But come on, do a bit of homework before opening your mouth. For example this morning (13/07/09 9:20am) they were discussing about the riot in Xinjiang, then Host A starts to say the audiences should read about the historical background between Uyghur and Han, and how this whole Xinjiang incident was related to Dalai Lama in order to appreciate what is going on now. Host B agrees and says this riot is related to the last one also in Xinjiang and it was about Dalai Lama as well. Host C comments that the US is attacking the Chinese government by exposing all these riots in their major news channels and so we should really stop all the riots.

Now, if you were me, how could you not turning off your radio?

This is bad not because the hosts mix up between Xinjiang and Tibet, or they have some radical concerns about some conspiracy of the US media; this is bad because they can get away with it. We all make mistakes and I believe it is okay as long as those mistakes are acknowledged and someone learns some lessons on the way. But a live show like this with no editorial or what-so-ever, ill-experienced hosts can speak freely with no fact checks or practically no knowledge of what they are talking about, and at the end no one or any agency is responsible, this is really not acceptable at all. I urge whoever runs the company that employs these yahoo to be more accountable here.

One thing the hosts always like to say before they actually talk about something in the show is - "I really don't know how to say/put this." My advice - if you really don't know how to say, then perhaps you shouldn't say it at all.