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Love Love Me Do.. 76.1
(By Nick May)
Fukuoka's 1st International Radio Station, "Love FM"
takes to the air April 1st 1997
It takes a moments thought to come up
with a tackier name for an international radio station than "Love FM"* , - (the name actually won a competition!)
but that's what's opening in Fukuoka on April 1st. Started with 3 million dollars
seed money from the city, the prefecture, central government and 50 private companies
it will test the hypothesis that enough Japanese listeners will tune in to a station
broadcasting 90% in non Japanese languages to interest Japanese advertisers. It will
begin with 24 gaijin DJ.s including 3 Koreans; a Thai, a Brazilian and a couple of
Chinese. Although heavily music oriented it will provide local, national and international
news reports in English and near simultaneous translation of traffic reports.
Chris Flynn, regular Gleaner contributor,
will be in the prime time Saturday 7am to midday slot, which puts him up against
Tom Dufrae on Cross FM. Chris believes most foreigners will listen to Vole FM by
default, the news and information will just be too good. He feels confident that
foreigners will have sufficient creative input into their programs to make their
participation worthwhile. The Gleaner can only hope so, the "gaijin pet"
phenomenon in which otherwise perfectly intelligent foreigners spout inane opinions
in order to ingratiate themselves with their producers and keep their media jobs
is a pervasive and distasteful element of Japanese broadcasting.
The station hasn't offered sponsorship
to its DJ's - though we gather that Fukuoka Immigration have been "very understanding".
DJ's will each have a Japanese assistant and are on slightly less an hour than they
would get for teaching English. It will broadcast its own programmes from 6am to
2am - with the remainder on a live feed from a third party source. The station's
transmitters will have the widest range of any station in Kyushu - and it will use
the most up-to-date technology, a DVD system in which tracks can be called up at
the touch of a button on a computer screen.
So why create such a station, which at
first blush appears to be of limited economic viability? Brownie points for Fukuoka
is one clear motivation: the Asian development Bank is holding its meeting here soon,
Fukuoka sees itself as an international city, and international cities have English
language radio stations. That's a familiar enough refrain - the ill fated "Radar"
magazine was probably started for similar reasons. A second reason is that it provides
information for foreigners in the event of disaster.
Whatever the motives, foreigners in the
city will benefit enormously from Vole FM If past history is anything to go by, they
will also utterly fail to appreciate what they have. "Radar", for example,
offered an excellent listings service in addition to other content, but few foreigners
were prepared to pay the modest sum requested off them or even to be vaguely nice
about the mag..
Test broadcasting starts from the 20th March on FM 76.1
Good luck to all involved.
(Sorry
- no more "Love FM" - it is just too tacky - "Vole FM" henceforth..)
Issue 49
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