i love lucy

"I LOVE LUCY
I Love Lucy debuted on CBS in October 1951 and was an immediate sensation. It spent four of its six prime-time seasons as the highest-rated series on television and never finished lower than third place. Eisenhower's presidential inauguration in January 1953 drew twenty-nine million viewers, but when Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky in an episode broadcast the next day forty-four million viewers (72% of all U.S. homes with TV) tuned in to I Love Lucy. When it ceased production as a weekly series in 1957, I Love Lucy was still the number one series in the country. And its remarkable popularity has barely waned in the subsequent decades. Since passing into the electronic museum of reruns, I Love Lucy has become the Mona Lisa of television, a work of art whose fame transcends its origins and its medium."

The above is gleaned from the web. I Love Lucy an American television sitcom, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley was my favourite comedy TV show during the late sixties and seventies when the re-runs were shown on TV Singapore in B & W. Lucy never failed to make me laugh. I watched it on a 27 inch Setron set . Setron was a local TV set manufacturer located at Tanglin Halt industrial estate.

And what were the other acquired shows I tuned in those days? I remember All in the Family, Bonanza, 77 Sunset Strip, the Lone Ranger, Hawaii 5-0 and many more. In the early 80s I remember Dallas, Magnum and Charlie Angels, MASH, The Incredible Hulk...... I loved to watch TV after my school home work ,of course.

Dawn of Chinese Dramas

In my view 1 Feb 1980 was the turning point for local productions especially Chinese Dramas. On this day RTS became a statutory board Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. The late Ong Teng Cheong was appointed Chairman Cheng Tong Fatt General Manager and the late Wong-Lee Siok Tin the Deputy General Mnager. According to Chairman Ong “ Western values and standards alien to our society are being introduced all the time. We must therefore produce our own programmes with standards and values suited to our society.” With this direction local entertainment productions increased and the Chinese Drama Production Division was set-up. It was not easy for our locals to meet the challenges of this venture. Production experts from Hongkong were recruited and on-the-job training started. The first drama produced with the HK producers was a film titled the Seletar Robbery – a true story about three men robbing a construction site. This was followed by the Army series in 6 parts telecast in March 83. Viewership climbed steadily. And the best series I ever watched was the 26-episode The Awakening – the story about Singapore immigrants from the 1920s. I could identify it with my father’s early days when he came to Singapore in a tongkang from Swatow. Then came Flying Fish a 8-part series on swimmers. After that there were many more successful ones. Please refer to Wikipedia for a full list.
I remember some of the incidents that happened during early stage of Chinese drama productions. I was the engineer-in charge of TV Studios and Outside Broadcasts. There were incessant complaints from the HK experts that our locals were not creative, our talents were dumb-dumb for example. In one of the post mortem on Seletar Robbery the producer pointed out the actor just took the money under his arms and ran and his facial expression did not appear that he has robbed someone. In another incident, a bird in a cage used as an extra flew out and could not be retrieved. The producer had to change the script to a cat instead. In another incident in TV Studio 4 the producer banged the production panel and shouted to an actress (she is with us till this day) “Cry , Cry damned it cry..” No tears came out. There were many retakes. After the recording the actress went behind a backdrop and cried this time for real! And there was this diligent HK producer who could not work without smoking in the TV Studio...........

Please email me tay.philip@gmail.com if have any interesting memories of the early days of Chinese drama productions.

Seah Hong Gim and F1

Seah Hong Gim ,a TV lighting expert in this region , helped to light more buildings along the F1 route again. This year STB asked him to light up three more buildings. The new areas included the Pit, Sheares Bridge, and the Merlion area. According to him the lights used this year doubled to 3,000. This would give the buildings greater contrast, a 3-dimensional effects and with an overall night-glow. With this the whole City skyline gave an impressive sparkle to the whole event.

Hong Gim worked for MediaCorp for more than 30 years. He was responsible for lighting up some of spectacular outdoor shows. And most memorable must be the 1986 NDP when for the first time the night entertainment displays segment was introduced. It remains a hallmark of NDP shows till this day. He is now a free-lance lighting consultant after his retirement. For F1 he worked through Showtec the show contractor.

At 65 Hong Gim is till active in work and enjoying his passion for TV lighting. He gives lectures frequently to TV production people in the region.

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union(ABU) is a non-profit, non-government, professional association of broadcasting organisations, formed in 1964 to facilitate the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region. it provides a forum for promoting the collective interests of television and radio broadcasters, and engages in activities to encourage regional and international cooperation between broadcasters. It currently has 199 members in 58 countries, with its broadcaster members reaching a cpotential audience of about 3 billion people.

I have been associated with the ABU for more than 30 years, having attending its technical meetings and contributed to its deliberations. It is a platform where one makes the contacts for business and career. Over the years I met many broadcasters from all over the world. It was through these contacts I could contribute more to the growth of my company in knowledge and skills of new broadcast developments. Many producers and management attended ABU meetings as well.

It was with great pride and honour that I received the award of the ABU Engineering Industry Excellence this year at the annual meeting in Ulaan Baatar Mongolia. It is for my work in introducing digital television in Singapore and promoting common digital TV standards in the ASEAN region. I am especially pleased to share this honour with engineers from the MDA , MediaCorp and RTB Brunei who are part of a team to promote common digital television standards in the region.

i remember Ian Hope

I joined the Department of Broadcasting in 1958 as a BroadcastingAssistant and worked closely with all radio producers from the fourdifferent sections including Mr. Ian Hope. He was then a radioproducer for the English Programme Section. He produced mainly talkshows, eg. Radio Forums on current topics, Youth Programme "Youth AtThe Helm" and he also read the news. Over the years, we got alongvery well. I understand from him that in 1954 he was a EnglishLiterature teacher at Bartley Secondary School. In 1956, he joinedthe Broadcasting Service, organised as "Radio Malaya, Singapore andthe Federation of Malaya" headquarters in Singapore. When TV wasintroduced in 1963, there was the News and Newsreel Programme. Theannouncer who read the News would appear on TV while the Newsreelannouncer would be seen off screen.I attached the following photographs which I took of Mr. Hope beforehe left for Australia in 1973.Caption for Photo No 1 taken on 23 November 1961Mr Hope and his 4 children taken at the Mount Emily Swimming Pool inSophia Road.Photo No 2 taken on 7 November 1962Mr. Hope chaired the programme "Youth At The Helm" in "B" Studio Radio Malaya.Photo No 3 taken on 26 March 1963.Mr. Hope and Mr. David Prior from Australia during a last minuteinclusion for the Newsreel portion at the TV studio.

Regards Mun Chor Seng

In Memoriam - Ian Hope

In Memoriam - Ian Hope

Ian Hope, a former broadcaster, passed away in Melbourne on 2 Sept 09 at the age of 87. His body was cremated on 9th Sept.Ian was born on 6 March 1922. He retired from RTS in 1972 at the age of 50.He was a producer on radio on the English channel and did many programmes. When TV came on, he also read the news on TV.Maureen, Lucy and others fond memories of him

Above is a photograph of him and his wife Anita taken in his home in 2003 with Simplicius Cheong and his wife. (Simplicius was also a producer during RTS days doing mainly classical and jazz msuic recordings. Simplicius emigrated to Australia, I think also in the 70's).

Above info contributed by Norman

Sad to hear about Ian's passing.When I first joined Radio - RTS in 1968, he was like a mentor to me. He taught me how to read news and share market report. He was a good trainer, with patience and persistency, and I learned a lot from him as a broadcaster. He left RTS in 1973 and not 1972, I think. -Belinda Sunshine

Thanks for the news on the passing of our old colleague IAN HOPE. I remember him well - ever prim and proper and always helpful and willing to help out anyone in need. I recall the many moments when Stephen Lee and I shared long discussions with Ian in the old Canteen at Radio Singapore, sometimes over a few bottles of Tiger Beer.
May he rest in peace - George Favacho

MRT in Singapore - The First Dig....

MRT in Singapore – The First Dig….

Do you know the place where the first hole was dug to start the MRT project? Answer: It is at a site in Shan Road (off Balestier Road).. I know because I was there with the Outside Broadcast team to cover the ground-breaking ceremony on 22 October 1983. It flagged off Singapore's largest single largest construction project with a capital outlay of $5,000million.
The event was opened by a Member of Parliament.. And there was a Shinto ceremony followed by some wine drinking, a lion dance and more celebrations. Apparently the company doing this construction midway between the Toa Payoh and Novena Station, believed in the blessings that such ceremony would bring. Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit system has now more 7o stations running through densely-populated housing estates of the island. A world-class system it is still expanding its services to other parts of Singapore.......