Hong Kong Radio Network

Hong Kong's popular way of disseminating the news, important information or announcements, advertisements, and/or entertainment gossip is through the radio.

Hong Kong radio network effectively does this through its three main broadcasting companies which have wide network coverage both inside and outside Hong Kong.

The Radio industry basically has three primary broadcasting corporations - Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK) which is also known as Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited, and Metro Broadcasting Corporation Limited.

Radio Television Hong Kong or RTHK

The first Radio corporation is Radio Television Hong Kong or RTHK. It is a public organization in Hong Kong that is part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government and operated as an independent department in the government, under the Broadcasting Authority.

RTHK operates seven radio channels, and produces television programs that are then broadcast through the local television stations in Hong Kong and in neighboring countries. Radio Television Hong Kong produces and broadcasts educational, entertainment and public affairs programs in the Hong Kong radio.

Politically RTHK is important, currently, the head of RTHK is the Director of Broadcasting. There are constant debates and arguments regarding the transformation of RTHK into a public Radio corporation.

Commercial Radio Hong Kong or CRHK

Coming second in the Hong Kong radio corporations is the Commercial Radio Hong Kong or CRHK. It is one of the two commercial radio broadcasting companies in the Radio corporations. CRHK is intended to report and to give unbiased, entertaining, informative, and more importantly, educational programs to its listeners.

CRHK also broadcasts arts and cultural programs, a different and special topic among the Hong Kong radio corporations. There are also reports and updates on current affairs, news, and weather reports.

CRHK is famous for acting as a platform for discussion of current news and issues. These programs are particularly popular among the educated and the senior citizens of Hong Kong, who are considered more concerned about the political and social issues of the territory as compared to their younger counterparts.

Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited

The third broadcasting company in Hong Kong radio is the Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited. Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited was founded in July in the year 1991, under the Hong Kong-listed Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited now.

Hong Kong radio's Metro Radio Hong Kong currently has 3 radio channels in operation: Metro Finance (FM104), Metro Showbiz (FM99.7) and Metro Plus (AM 1044). These services provide audiences with instantaneous online audio and visual programming.

Metro Radio Hong Kong also cooperates with a prominent and popular mobile phone services provider, 3 Mobile, to offer multimedia broadcasting service through mobile phones. And just for a fast trivia, in 2003, Metro was granted a 12-year radio broadcasting license by the HKSAR government in accordance with the Telecommunication Ordinance. This is due to expire in 2016.

Indeed, Hong Kong radio has surpassed other radios in the world in terms of reach, content, and technology. Even in such a small but wide medium such as the radio, the importance of financial business in Hong Kong is very evident. For this reason, major companies are taking advantage of reaching through the public and potential clients through all sorts of media, especially the radio since almost everybody, young and old, businesspersons or couch potatoes, listen to the radio.

Truly, Hong Kong radio serves its purpose of delivering the most recent and urgent news to the listening public.