ICRT? Is it a non profit to serve the community? Who owns it? Do we have a stake?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Before I came here. My Taiwanese friends kept telling me about a great community radio station that spoke English all the time. Ex Taiwanese girlfriend even brought me back copies of their News Letter she picked up on visits home. XEROXED COPIES, looked like a church news letter.

Lost the girl but came here years later. It was not as home towny but they had DJ’s 24-7 When the weather looked bad, the guys told us things not to do, like go outside during a Typhoon and especially stand under signs. Yeah, my first earth quake, my first Typhoon. The DJ’s were talking to me! After my firststorm, I went out and saw the fallen signs and other things they talked about.

There were cultural shows, advertisements in English and Chinese and they even apologized for speaking too much Chinese!

Now, I’m lucky that I can actually understand Chinese enough to see if there are any interesting products or concerts being advertised! They chose to ditch English altogether for most advertisements! Even products foreigners would want to buy. Oh, and the live interviews with Joseph interviewing companies like HP and the like. Suck… … 20 minutes in Chinese, then only a one minute summary in English. What good is it.

There is no one on air to help us through natural or man made disasters either. Kaohsiung in flames! You’d think a real community radio station would get even an English Speaking Janitor to man the mike and just parrot the Chinese news! Worthless!

I now listen to a local Chinese station that serves my area. The music is better. And I must rely on the BBC world service for Emergency Taiwan news. Pathetic.
Who owns ICRT? If they are property of the community, they are not honoring their charter! The only thing good on it is AFFU.

2

ICRT came into being after AFNT (The US ARmed Forces Network) ended its run on Taiwan when the US military withdrew.

At first it was pretty good. Now I guess its a semblance of its former self. Yes, one should question who owns it? Where is the money going?

Should it even exist anymore if it is not speaking English?

3

[quote=“tommy525”]ICRT came into being after AFNT (The US ARmed Forces Network) ended its run on Taiwan when the US military withdrew.

At first it was pretty good. Now I guess its a semblance of its former self. Yes, one should question who owns it? Where is the money going?

Should it even exist anymore if it is not speaking English?[/quote]

It’s owned by the KMT through an other company probably.

4

[quote=“Belgian Pie”][quote=“tommy525”]ICRT came into being after AFNT (The US ARmed Forces Network) ended its run on Taiwan when the US military withdrew.

At first it was pretty good. Now I guess its a semblance of its former self. Yes, one should question who owns it? Where is the money going?

Should it even exist anymore if it is not speaking English?[/quote]

It’s owned by the KMT through an other company probably.[/quote]

It’s officially owned by a foundation… I believe. Even if it is a KMT front, it was great, when KMT had “full control” of things. I really want to know more about who actually owns it and who it serves. They really shirked their duty during the Kaohsiung incident!

You had foreigners fearing for their safety on Facebook! Say something happened to the internet infrastructure … Before… I would have said… We have ICRT!
Really it was a great station! They were helpful.

5

I think now it mostly serves its core audience, which their ads target. One group would be the rich elites who have the money to pay for one of the many Taipei housing projects that seems to dominate ad time. The other would be the average, wish to learn English to improve social/career status type, which gives us the learn English and immigrate to the US ads.

According to an article online, ICRT is owned (or was) by some Taiwanese board members of TICCF. They were originally only trusted with the management, but somehow gained ownership over it. It eventually went to Jeffrey Koo Sr. (辜濂松), think ChinaTrust, who was a KMT member.

businessweekly.com.tw/KArticle.aspx?id=1433

the article is seriously dated though, that was from 2004.

6

Please do note the KMT news site in English is pretty decent… language wise, that is.

7

There simply aren’t enough English speakers in Taiwan to make money running ads in English. That’s the sad truth. It’s also the reason bars and restaurants catering exclusively towards “expats” tend to go belly-up unless they start adding red bean and tapioca balls to everything.

8

Ha, too true! The only ones I’ve ever heard with anything good to say about ICRT are locals. Mmm, red beans…

9

Most of them studied abroad in an English speaking country! :astonished:

10

Most of them studied abroad in an English speaking country! :astonished:[/quote]
And have U.S. passports or Green Cards. Oops! Shhhhhhh…

11

[quote=“hansioux”]I think now it mostly serves its core audience, which their ads target. One group would be the rich elites who have the money to pay for one of the many Taipei housing projects that seems to dominate ad time. The other would be the average, wish to learn English to improve social/career status type, which gives us the learn English and immigrate to the US ads.

According to an article online, ICRT is owned (or was) by some Taiwanese board members of TICCF. They were originally only trusted with the management, but somehow gained ownership over it. It eventually went to Jeffrey Koo Sr. (辜濂松), think ChinaTrust, who was a KMT member.

businessweekly.com.tw/KArticle.aspx?id=1433

the article is seriously dated though, that was from 2004.[/quote]

And taksi drivers to improve their Mandarin … English? Delivering a service to foreigners while sightseeing. :smiley:

12

[quote=“Belgian Pie”][quote=“hansioux”]I think now it mostly serves its core audience, which their ads target. One group would be the rich elites who have the money to pay for one of the many Taipei housing projects that seems to dominate ad time. The other would be the average, wish to learn English to improve social/career status type, which gives us the learn English and immigrate to the US ads.

According to an article online, ICRT is owned (or was) by some Taiwanese board members of TICCF. They were originally only trusted with the management, but somehow gained ownership over it. It eventually went to Jeffrey Koo Sr. (辜濂松), think ChinaTrust, who was a KMT member.

businessweekly.com.tw/KArticle.aspx?id=1433

the article is seriously dated though, that was from 2004.[/quote]

And taksi drivers to improve their Mandarin … English? Delivering a service to foreigners while sightseeing. :smiley:[/quote]

Ahhh, Taiwan. The land where the only English you hear in the cram school classroom is “No Chinese”. An International Community Radio Station that really only searve the English Learning Market.
Except for AFU. I really like Afu.

You say it’s now aiming to serve its core audience now and leave us in a lerch . They were a more than first class radio station not too long ago. Did they not make money then? We really should strip them of the name. The army should reposes the equipment. Or demand payment for failing to live up to the trust.

One of the managers, called "Doc something gave a talked about this issue that made me yank the faceplate of my radio right off and throw it to the floor.

He said something like… Did you ever notice how everywhere you see people studying English on ICRT. Then he goes about telling us that we are only X percent of the actually audience and we should be grateful that we even have a radio station. He also then said that the next time we see someone listen to ICRT we must give them a hug and thank them.

Don’t let me get started on the music. I may be a prude. OK, I am. I want my adult entertainment to be shown after 11:00 PM! I want family radio fare when I’m in the car.
I’m driving down the road taking my own children and a couple of students to the cram school. The song comes on "I want to see you PEACKOCK, PPPP PEACOCK. "
Now my kids decide they want to repeat English They repeat. “Peacock! I want to see your Peacock!” I switch to KISS RADIO Kaohsiung which has a more family friendly choice of music. The most raciest song I remember growing up was “Afternoon Delight!” My mom would not let me buy it. I don’t mind Junk inside my trunk, or Anacondas in buns… But … Should kids listen to that? Chinese music programming sensibility says no.After hours local radio program is pretty bizarre too. And I like it. Hopefully, soon, I will get all my news from local radio.

13

ICRT is in one word awful. A few years ago we were at a radio awards ceremony in Melbourne. They were awarded the Rotten Microphone for being the worst English Language Station in Asia/Pacific.

The last time I listened to them must have been over 5 years ago. My impression was the presenting staff was nothing more than English teachers. ICK!

A few years ago I met their general manager Tim Berge. What a twit. This guy really weaseled himself into the job. Mind you none of the presenters at ICRT would never be hired in radio anywhere else except for Taiwan.

Over the past few years, we’ve had a few who applied to work in our newsroom. Not one was accepted.

14

It was a great station at one time. Not too long ago. They were really strict, even anal on how much Chinese should be used, almost none. Were they not making money then?

15

are there any other english radio stations out here in tw?

16

Taiwan… not many countries in the region have less English availability on radio, TV, newspapers, or in general on the streets and shops.

I get so much more news and information when traveling outside of Taiwan in the region than inside Taiwan… and that includes news about Taiwan.

17

If I had a like button, I’d like you right now. I’m stuck in Taiwan and hardly travel to the outside world. I had to call Singapore to complain about a Television technical problem on my favorite station. I could not get the local reps in Taiwan to understand me, or even care with the help of a translator. When I called Singapore, the lady answered the phone in Chinese. I asked, “Do you Speak English”. In a Chinese accent, yet perfect English pronunciation, she said “Of, course, this is Singapore!”
People are proud of not speaking English here, and if something works, they get rid of it. ICRT before the big earthquake was fantastic. I heard it was better before my time on the island, but it was great then.
After the big earthquake when it really proved itself, they cut back on almost all live English programming after business hours. I can’t believe it has been that long, already.
During the K-town explosions, I felt really alone. Thank goodness I did not live in K-Town. There was no English news service at all. In the old time, ICRT would have told us where to go, where to stay and kept us calm, 24/7.

18

I see so many problems with ICRT. I have a love-hate relationship with it.

I actually think the news does well. Gavin seems like a really good news guy. I think it sucks about the khh explosion and news overall. But from just experience, it has always been a case of if it does not directly harm Taipei, the news is not going to cover it well. Every time I talk to someone who has only lived in Taipei about Taiwan, I get the sense that they think Taiwan = Taipei and maybe Taichung. Other places like Hsinchu, Changhua, Kaohsiung, Hualien, etc. are cool foreign countries to visit over a long weekend. To be fair, to me, it is the exact opposite.

I like Terry in the morning. He at least likes good music and some music that is not my taste, but do not listen to and cry. That is before work.
After work, I cry as Joseph Lin plays the most horrible music ever and fails to make phone calls to people to offer a marriage proposal via ICRT over the phone on the air. I swear. He was that kid in high school that nobody liked and even the teachers just smiled politely at. If you never heard him, imagine this:
“Someone wrote to us to request a song for you. Here’s a cheesy letter they wrote. I will speak it in a voice that makes it sound like I have never even kissed a girl.”
“Um. My english is bad.”
“中文東西。”
“Uh. I was kidding. I do speak english. This is still awkward.”
“Do you want to say something back on the air?”
“Um. I like her too.”
“That is soooo sweet. Have you thought about marriage?”
“Um. What are you? My mother? F*** off. Wait. Be polite…She is very sweet.”
“Oh. I hope you guys get married and have lots of kids.”
“Um. Thanks.”
“Here is a song for you. It is almost finished since we talked through the whole thing. I will play it for 3 seconds then cut it out early for a commercial break.”
“What the hell? You cannot play my dedication?”
“No way, dude. I have to make time for a techno Madonna Tupac mix that has a verse from Nirvana set to the background of the Pokemon theme song. Screw your dedication. I am happy you two have found eternal love.”

Or…like today…
“Let’s keep calling this guy until he answers. Three times might work. Oh no. He is not answering. This is shit radio. Here’s Bruno Mars, which I will interrupt.”

I am paraphrasing in the quotes, by the way.

I hate that guy.

19

Thank god for TuneIn Radio and a VPN’d Spotify I have, otherwise I’d lose it if I had to listen to ICRT for anything.

I am forced to hear it once a year when I am in a Taxi, the last time they were trying to teach useless phrases in English to people, where they spent 90% of the time yammering away in Chinese and only 10% using English.

20

It’s so sweet when the taxi drivers change the radio to ICRT for my benefit - that seems to happen to me maybe 20% of my taxi rides. I don’t have the heart to tell them that ICRT’s usually significantly worse than the station they’d just been on.

Long long long ago I enjoyed their evening news. Wasn’t it 6pm to 6:30pm of some international feed, and then 6:30 to 7pm of Taiwan news? But that’s going back to around 2000-2001.

In ICRT’s defence, I can’t usually last long with terrestrial radio in North America either.