Việt Nam: OVERVIEW: Radio

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OVERVIEW:

Introduction

Radio

The first radio station in Việt Nam was Radio Sài Gòn, established by the French colonial government during the late 1920s. This was followed by the establishment of a radio station in Hà Nội. Although prior to 1945 Vietnamese people were banned from owning radio receivers, revolutionary activists found various ways to listen to news broadcasts in secret, keeping up to date with the progress of the war with a view to seizing the right opportunity to achieve independence.

The forerunner of today’s national radio station Voice of Việt Nam (Đại tiếng nói Việt Nam, VOV) was established in Hà Nội just a week after the Declaration of Independence; a rival broadcasting network was set up in Sài Gòn after 1955 by the government of Ngô Đình Diệm. During the 1960s relay transmitters were established in many outlying areas by both regimes and regional radio stations set up at Hải Phòng and Vinh in the north and Huế, Đà Nẵng, Nha Trang, Quy Nhơn, Phan Thiết, Buôn Ma Thuột, Pleiku and Cần Thơ in the south.

During the American War radio correspondents worked at the front line in conditions of great hardship. Hundreds of journalists lost their life in the conflict.

Following Reunification in 1975 all of the radio stations around the country were combined into a single network under Voice of Việt Nam. Three years later Voice of Việt Nam became the national radio station, responsible (until 2003) for managing and supervising all radio stations nationwide and for the strategic development of the sector. Since that time it has undergone numerous institutional changes and increases in both signal coverage and the number of its channels and programmes. It has also sought to strengthen international co-operation, particularly with sister institutions in neighbouring countries of South East Asia.

Today VOV seeks to offer diverse and high-quality programming using the latest technology. It broadcasts simultaneously in five channels on the Domestic Service; VOV 1 (MW and SW) offers news, current affairs and music; VOV 2 (MW and SW) offers cultural and artistic programmes; VOV 3 (FM) is the ethnic minority language programming station which broadcasts in the Thái, H'mông, Ê-đê, Gia-rai, Ba-na, Cơ-ho, Xtiêng and Chăm languages; VOV 4 (MW) offers programmes broadcast from Hồ Chí Minh City; and VOV 5 (FM) broadcasts news and music programmes. VOV’s Overseas Service channel VOV 6 (SW) broadcasts in 11 foreign languages (English, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Indonesian, Thai, Lao, Khmer) and in Vietnamese for overseas Vietnamese. In 2004 it was reported that VOV’s programmes had reached more than 90 per cent of all households throughout the country.

Voice of Việt Nam Radio (VOV) is a full member of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and a member of the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD). It is also active in a variety of other international and regional organisations, including the Asian Institute for International Communication Exchange, the International Council for Francophone Radio and Television (CIRTEFF), UNICEF and UNESCO.

VOV has signed co-operation agreements with broadcasting organisations in many countries around the world and has entered into co-operative arrangements with 30 national broadcasters including those from Japan, Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany and France in such areas as programme exchange, co-production, economic co-operation in programme supply, services and advertising and staff training. It also takes part in major international broadcasting conferences, festivals, exhibitions and fairs.

Since 1975 the majority of Việt Nam’s cities and provinces have been given their own radio stations; 53 of these take the form of combined radio and television stations.

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