[quote=“Goose Egg”]I’m hoping someone can translate the petition text we plan to use into Mandarin (pls click HERE to see) so we can launch this puppy later this month.[/url][/quote]The puppy is launched
- Hey what happened to my post about the cough alternative radio station that perhaps could be launched on a small scale. ala… Pump Up the Volume.
[Moderator’s reply: it’s in the other ICRT (part 2) - #180 by grayson Thread, Not sure why we have 2 threads, but merging 2 active conversations might be confusing. If can’t find your post, you can click on “View my posts” on the main forum page to see them]
- I’d sign but there are acquaintances there that prevent it.
If they are native speakers, it might be the only way to save their jobs. 
The thing that bothers me the most about ICRT is that in all their programming wisdom, they cut out the one slot that was the most valuable/important for the INTERNATIONAL community and that was the 7:00-7:30 am Morning News. For what it
We foreigners don’t matter anymore. No one has called their bluff on the tax-free status regarding serving the international community, and maybe that’s history anyway.
The bottom line is, ICRT was never even a pale imitation of a quality radio station’s programming. I have to agree with whomever said, in this Internet age, get your music and news elsewhere.
The Chinese management will not listen to a few, or even a covey, of foreigners.
ICRT has always been far behind the curve. They still play music 10 to 30 years out of date – they always have.
ICRT is a fine example of what happens when you give idiots a mircophone and an audience.
Changing format? Does this mean ICRT will suck even more than before?
Wolf, that’s what the petition is about. :s
in my opinion ICRT is a big payola taker! they’re in the record companies’ back pocket just like every other radio station here. i thought i could get away from du deh wei’s sucky song by turning to ICRT but i couldn’t. of course, it’s part of the agenda that i mentioned which got ERASED!!! if what i said is not true, why erase it? makes me wonder about the REAL PURPOSE OF FORUMOSA! GOTTA KEEP AN EYE ON US FOREIGNERS ,huh?
Maoman wrote:
Is a petition necessary? Has anyone read the ICRT charter to see what it says? My point being that there ought to be some cut and dried sections on what the station must do or not do. Is there a section on petitions?
I laud your fury, but have you used laser-guided ordinance first?
Does the charter state that if a petition is filed (how many signatures? Verification of names, etc.) you get the keys to the programing city?
Accept my humblest apologies if you have already examined the charter and have determined that a petition will force the management at ICRT to capitulate to the music/news/language/advertising/personalities that you desire. Please publish the findings. Torches and pitchforks are on me!
Know thy enemy.
and that’s my last word…
Ah, yes…the title fits. 
I don’t think internet petitions are worth ANYTHING.
I signed anyway.
icrt used to be cool about 7 years ago. i don’t listen to radio anymore cause it’s all the same it seems.
Why erase it? Because it was stupid.
[quote]rantheman wrote:
of course, it’s part of the agenda that i mentioned which got ERASED!!! if what I said is not true, why erase it? makes me wonder about the REAL PURPOSE OF FORUMOSA! GOTTA KEEP AN EYE ON US FOREIGNERS ,huh?
Why erase it? Because it was stupid.
[/quote]
This sort of thing has been brought up before.
formosa.org/~taiwanpg/chap07.htm
This sort of paranoid behavoir simply can’t exist in a free and democratic society like today’s modern Taiwan.
I suspect that the original charter was rewritten when it came under new ownership.
[quote]ICRT officially began broadcasting at midnight on April 16, 1979. The station was formerly the Armed Forces Network Taiwan (AFNT). When the United States announced termination of official diplomatic relations with the R.O.C. in 1978, AFNT, the only all-English radio in Taiwan, prepared to leave the airwaves. This caused grave concern among the foreign community in Taiwan. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Robert P. Parker, announced the establishment of a group of community and business leaders formed for the purpose of saving the station. Its function included fund-raising and negotiating the transfer of equipment so that the station could continue to operate. At the time, then President Chiang Ching Kuo and Executive Premier Sun Yun-Hsuan were keenly interested in this cause. They instructed the Government Information Office to actively provide guidance and assistance in this endeavor. In the end, International Community Radio Taipei took over the broadcast functions of the Armed Forces Network without a break in transmission.
[/quote]
icrt.com.tw/modules/tinycont … x.php?id=1
Well the juiciest part of that quote has been left out.
They quite plainly state their supposed mandate:
(bold added)
I agree with everyone about the crappy programming. Signing the petition mostly to categorically state that ICRT do NOT indeed do anything for me, other than make me cringe.
HOw exactly is ICRT suppose to serve us? I like R&B, night moods(R&B love songs), 80’s flashbacks, disco music, and good NPR reporting. What are we striving for and how will we know it when ‘we’ see it?
As far as pay-to-play goes, I’d say you’re spot on.
Thing is though, this goes on everywhere, even despite the laws against it in America, Canada and other Western nations.
Somehow, in Taiwan the ‘manufactured celebrity’ phenomenon seems more obvious but that may just be due to a combination of my own age and that most of the celebs here don’t seem in any way “cool” to me so I’m automatically more skeptical.
I think English programming and announcing is a good start. Community announcements, lots of news coverage in English, both western news stories and local news stories. Music is a different matter. Just as there is no one station that can represent American or Canadian or European listeners in their own countries, there is even less of a chance that every listener would get their preferred style of music played with any regularity. I think the one thing we can agree on is that playing the latest Mando-fluff isn’t serving the foreign community. Once we’ve agreed on what ICRT shouldn’t be, we can focus on what it could be. That’s another petition, and one that will probably come soon.
ICRT understands that people are discontent. POTS will be doing a story on them in the next couple of weeks - I believe the interviews with ICRT managers have already taken place. Some representatives of ex-pat community groups have been meeting with ICRT people, and are pushing for change. Internally ICRT has taken notice - even their own forums have been mentioning the Forumosa petition. Today the posts were being deleted as fast as they were being put up, but last time I looked, one of ICRT’s regular forum posters, one Mira Cruz, had reposted a page worth of deleted comments.
This is an incredibly positive thing that is happening. 
Thanks for your support, NH! 
[quote="[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/icrt-part-2/2424/184 in another thread[/url],"]Okay I want to be fair to ICRT. Here’s what I propose:
Go back to mostly English programming.
Make a playlist based on customer demand.
Have a smash or trash hour once a week for songs by either signed or unsigned artists. Yes, play anybody’s record especially those phoney pop stars, so they can lose against bedroom studio warriors who actually have talent. Are you listening ICRT?[/quote]
They are a business not a Community service. They don’t care about you as you are outnumbered by the masses of Taiwan people that can speak some English and want to learn more. You as a native speaker and a foreigner are a minority and as a minority, not worth the expense and as a business, it is not necessary to please you.
Don’t you guys get it? You think ICRT is some kind of service paid for by the tax dollars of foreigners? It is not ICRT’s duty to please you.
Be thankful, you have any station here that speaks even smidgen of English!
Now discuss that guys.
Maybe the people that want English radio are willing to pony up the dollars to create a station…I didn’t think so.