Hong Kong’s RTHK sees a bright future for English radio.

While its competitors have scaled down English programming, the public broadcaster remains true to its mission to inform, educate and entertain in both official languages.

RTHK runs one English channel Radio 3 (music/talk) and the bilingual classical/jazz station Radio 4 (which broadcasts in English and Cantonese).

It also rebroadcasts the BBC World Service across the territory.

Bryan Curtis, RTHK’s Head of English Programme Service has worked in Asia for nearly three decades.

He told Asia Radio Today how he ended up in Hong Kong and how he sees the radio industry developing.

First off, tell us more about your background and what brought you to Asia?

I arrived in Asia (from the US) in 1984. I came here because all my friends were going to Europe and I wanted to do something different. I started at the radio station ICRT in Taipei. The 80s were an exciting time to be a journalist in Taiwan.

Interestingly, the station manager there wanted to bid for three new Hong Kong radio channels.  He promoted me to be News Director of the news channel Metro News.

The idea was to make the station a pan-Asian radio news network (a bit like CNN). But it didn’t really come off. The station eventually changed formats and I moved to RTHK.

I’ve been here 14 years, initially as a financial editor, becoming Head of Radio 3 in 2002 and then three years later, Head of the English Programme Service.

Hong Kong is primarily a Cantonese speaking territory. But how come your competitors have scaled down their English radio services and the new DAB operators haven’t prioritised it?

The other two broadcasters here are commercial operators. They found that English wasn’t profitable enough, they they’re essentially just running enough English content to meet their licence requirements. They’re not attempting to make money from these services and they don’t pour a lot of money into them.

We’re able to do more because we get government funding. We have captured a much larger market share – it’s quadruple what the other English channels get.

While English remains an official language of Hong Kong, I think we can expect RTHK’s English radio services to remain important.

For us I think English will always been the most important non-local language. Mandarin is also popular and we have an AM station in Mandarin whose numbers are higher than ours.

How would you describe the format of the main English channel Radio 3?

It’s a nice balance between music, news and current affairs. We have a talk programme in the morning followed by a range of music and chat shows during the day.

We obviously have a duty as a public service broadcaster to inform, educate and entertain.

We’re also primarily an AM station – because of Hong Kong’s topgraphy – and course non-stop music formats don’t work as well on AM. Speech sits much better on AM.

Bear in mind because Hong Kong is such a hilly place, we need seven hilltop transmitters for each of our seven stations to cover the whole territory. So we need 49 frequencies in total.

We pull about a four percent market share reaching about 280,000 listeners per week.

You also simulcast on digital radio DAB. Do you envisage more programming made just for that platform?

We recognised that digital would be very slow to pick up and it was a strategic decision to simulcast initially. Also in English, we have a smaller audience still so do we want to invest extra money if it’s not reaching large numbers of people yet?

In time we will introduce more original programmes on DAB only. But I imagine it will take five to eight years before we get more momentum on digital radio.

Do you think RTHK will eventually become a commercial operator?

As you probably know, RTHK did make a bid for statutory independence and a separate board of directors but after a three year review, the government decided not to go that route. So we are still almost exclusively supported by a government grant.

We’re allowed to get sponsorship for some programmes from the likes of NGOs and some government departments. There might be a change at some point in the amount of sponsorship we can accept. But I’d say it’s extremely unlikely that we will run advertising.

So if you haven’t got commercial pressures, what keeps you up at night?

Certainly radio – along with all other traditional media – is facing many many challenges from new media. We’re trying to use our website, multimedia and social media to keep our listeners engaged. What also keeps me up at night is how to attract young people to listen to our services.

With our classical station Radio 4, we have quite a strong interest from young people who are learning to play musical instruments. But with Radio 3, our audience has grown up over many years. Our median age listener is probably 35 to 40. Trying to attract young people who are more attracted to their mobile devices and the internet is a challenge.

So I’m always balancing how we can stay true to the basic tenets of public broadcasting while at the same time putting together a mix that will attract a younger audience.

If that is so important, will you launch a new youth channel?

We don’t have any room for a new channel. Well we do have some room for a new digital channel. Whether it is aimed at young people, no decision has been taken at this time.

We already have a programme called Teen Time on Radio 3, which is directed at teens and young adults. But I think the more we come up with apps that allow listeners to hear us on the go, the more successful we will be at reaching younger people.

But we’re now also competing with stations not just in Hong Kong but all around the world.

What are your programming plans for the next few months?

We’re launching a new show for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community called The Gaybourhood. Another show, the Lowdown, will target newcomers to Hong Kong. We also have our Asian Threads series which features original stories from around Asia.

Last year our Operation Santa Claus charity appeal raised HK19 million, so we’ll be hoping to beat that this Christmas.