Chung Wai-ming (),

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(17 July 1931 – 27 November 2009) was an experienced

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

broadcaster. He was dubbed by his fellows as 'Big Brother Chung' and earned the title 'the King of Broadcasting' by his performance. Chung started his career as a broadcaster in 1947. Throughout his career, he had worked for

Rediffusion Television Rediffusion Television (RTV) was the first television station in Hong Kong, making it both the first British colony and the first predominantly ethnically Chinese city to have television.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). Television, Regulation and ...

, the

United States Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...

(USIS) and

Radio Television Hong Kong Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

(RTHK). In 1992, Chung became the first ethnic Chinese broadcaster to be appointed as an

; in 1998, he was presented The Life Time Achievement in Broadcasting Award by the RTHK.

Family

Chung Chi-ming, one of his younger brothers, is also a broadcaster in Hong Kong.

Biography

Chung left school at the age of 11. He first worked for the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company; he then started learning to be a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

at San Yuet Pictures in

. In 1947, he participated in the production of a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

for the first time in the

Radio Hong Kong Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

's ''The Resurrected Rose''. In 1952, he joined

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (commercia ...

and became a programme director; he was mainly responsible for film production. At the same time, he was also an amateur participant for the recording of radio dramas. Later, he decided to focus on radio drama because his heavy workload made him unable to participate in both film production and radio drama. He participated in the production of various radio dramas of different

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s and earned the title of 'the King of Broadcasting'. Chung wanted to resign from

and join the USIS, but

objected to that. Finally, after discussions between the USIS and Rediffusion, the USIS allowed him to work for Rediffusion, the

(as RTHK was then known) and

Commercial Radio Hong Kong Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK, , aka Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited is one of the two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong along with Metro Radio Hong Kong. CRHK provides an array of entertainment, includ ...

outside work time. In 1970, Chung joined the

Hong Kong Civil Service The Hong Kong Civil Service is managed by 13 policy bureaux in the Government Secretariat (Hong Kong), Government Secretariat, and 67 departments and agencies, mostly staffed by civil servants. The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS) is one of t ...

as a programme officer at Radio Hong Kong. In the late 1980s, Hong Kong saw the huge influx of

Vietnamese refugees Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

. The

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...

implemented the policy of 'Comprehensive Plan of Action' on 16 June 1988 and the RTHK started to broadcast the famous '

Bắt đầu từ nay Bat lau dung laai ( or ; ) is a Hong Kong Cantonese corruption of the Vietnamese phrase ''bắt đầu từ nay'', meaning "from now on" (' = begin, start; ' = "from", ' = "now", ). The phrase was made famous in the 1980s and 1990s in Hong Kon ...

' announcement. Chung was the broadcaster reading out the

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

part of the announcement. Chung retired in 1991. Yet, he continued to be a programme host in the RTHK. He became the first ethnic Chinese broadcaster to be awarded the

medal in 1992; in 1998, he was awarded The Life Time Achievement in Broadcasting Award by the RTHK for his contribution to broadcasting. In the morning of 27 November 2009, Chung fainted in

Prince Edward station Prince Edward is a station of the MTR rapid transit system in Hong Kong. It is located in Mong Kok, Kowloon, under the intersection of Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road West. The station is named after this road. History As Prince Edward wa ...

of the

Hong Kong MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

. He was rushed to

Kwong Wah Hospital Kwong Wah Hospital is a 1,141-bed Charitable district general hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong. Located on 25 Waterloo Road, the hospital was founded by the Tung Wah Group in 1911, and managed by the Hospital Authority since 1991. It provide ...

and was certified dead in the same morning at 11:36. Before his death, he was a host for the RTHK's programmes targeted at elderly audience.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Wai Ming Hong Kong television presenters Hong Kong radio presenters 1931 births 2009 deaths RTHK