Chung Wai-ming (), MBE (17 July 1931 – 27 November 2009) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 a defunct television station in Hong Kong. It was the city's first broadcaster and the first in any British colony or majority-Chinese city.Kitley, Philip. 003(2003). ''Television, Regulation and Civil Soci ...

, the

United States Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999. Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...

(USIS) and

Radio Television Hong Kong Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of 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 Economic ...

(RTHK). In 1992, Chung became the first ethnic Chinese broadcaster to be appointed as an MBE; 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 or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

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, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

for the first time in the Radio Hong Kong'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 (TV network ...

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 style or form 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 fo ...

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 Radio Hong Kong (as RTHK was then known) and

Commercial Radio Hong Kong Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK, , also known as Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited, is one of the two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong, alongside Metro Radio Hong Kong. CRHK offers a variety of radio prog ...

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, and 67 departments and agencies, mostly staffed by civil servants. The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS) is one of the Principal Officials appointed ...

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

Vietnamese refugees Vietnamese boat people () were 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 highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

. The

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the ...

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 () 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 Kong, d ...

' announcement. Chung was the broadcaster reading out the

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

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 MBE 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 MTR station on the Tsuen Wan line. It is located under the intersection of Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road West, after which it is named. History Prince Edward was primarily designed as a cross-platform interchange be ...

of the Hong Kong MTR. He was rushed to

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

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 Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire