In the past few year, the development if multi-media has been a subject of great interest either in some reports in media development or in some international media conferences. Traditional electronic media include the development, radio and other audiovisual media. But with the rapid development of science and technology(which includes the development of satellite, light guide, computer software and the Internet), different media in different places have been interrelated and interacted with each other. The contents and the daily processes of information and entertainment have changed considerably. The amount and transmitting speed of information has been much larger and quicker than it was ten years ago. Mono-media broadcasting has been affected greatly. In the process of information collecting and broadcasting, there has been a strong media competition in speed, which is both interrelated and interactive. Therefore, people may get whatever information they need through different media at any given time. These media may include, apart from the traditional television and radio, satellite television, cable television, telephone, Internet and even beeper. All of them provide a tremendous amount of information - simply too much for the ear to listen to or the eye to take in. How should the traditional media respond to such a situation? How can they move forward and avoid falling behind? If they want to survive and develop in this information age, what should they do to get themselves in a proper position? We should all give our attention to questions like these.

In Hong Kong, `tremendous' is by no means a suitable word to describe the development of electronic media. Media development simply undergoes myriad changes in the twinkling of an eye. Traditional TV, Satellite TV, Cable TV and others have reached up to over 30 channels. And people are now expecting self-selecting channel service. Above all, at the top of the list we can add the internet. High technology ensures a cheap but efficient means to transmit information to every corner of the world. In some developed countries, people no longer rely on traditional means for a better broadcasting system. In a word, broadcasting media has entered into a world of interaction. But this, in my opinion, does not mean a lack of space for traditional media to develop.

In 1990, Hong Kong implemented its radio stations' transmitting service. Since then, radio channels have reached up to 13, seven of which are owned by Radio Hong Kong,and the rest are evenly shared by Commercial Station and New City Station. Obviously, the radio service in HK pales when put beside some other places, such as the main provinces of Mainland China or the metropolises of USA. But market investigation indicates a very large space for the development of local radio services. In HK, the auxiliary channel of ultra short wave hasn't been utilized to the full, and each of the seven ultra short wave stations occupy only the 2 MHz frequency spectrum. While in Mainland China and some foreign countries, the auxiliary channel has often been used to serve more than one purpose in broadcasting. This is indeed a cheap and efficient way to use information. If these auxiliary channels could be used to implement broadcasting quality or other transmitting services in a specific place, their its economic performance would be greatly improved. In Guangzhou and Beijing, it is rather common to link a radio station to a wire broadcasting net. In HK, we don't have this service yet. Nor do we utilize the transmitting means of a television channel or develop satellite broadcasting. due attention,however,has been paid to the utilization of telephone and computer network. In April 1996, Channel 1 at Radio HK and its News Channel were linked to the telephone network. As a result, local people and those overseas could listen to the programmer of Radio HK and its news reports in any given place and at any given time. People call this "PROGRAMME LINE" and "NEWS LINE". Calculation indicates that, from April to the end of July, "PROGRAMME LINE" was utilized over 76,000 times in HK and 170,000 times in Canada; and "NEWS LINE" was utilized 113,586 times in HK and 33,000 times overseas. The total number came to nearly 400,000 within the three months. And the number is increasing. Meanwhile, Radio HK has served more than twenty million people through the Internet.

In the past few years, Internet has been widely used by various media to enlarge their surviving space. Many newspaper, magazine, film and music magnates of the world have recently been linked to the Net. The list includes Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Chicago Daily Tribune, Times, Warner Brothers, PolyGram Records, Music TV, the Voice of America, ESPN, ABC and CBS. Moreover, eight media organizations in America announced that they would set up a network of their own, the New Century Network. All of them know well how to give wide publicity to themselves on Internet. In fact, how to make a full use of Internet become a new fashion in the media world, in the USA. HK, however, is still in its beginning stages in this respect. In late 1994, Radio HK set up "RTHK ON INTERNET", through which Chinese in all parts of the world could get the information provided by Radio HK. They could `listen' to the most recent news. This information highway makes our broadcasting reach corner of the world very easily. At present, broadcasting transmitters have been set up in Stanford University in the USA and the University of Sunderland in Britain. These transmitters provide a more efficient means for Chinese people to get information. Every day "RTHK IN INTERNET" serves people more than 120,000 times. The information provided includes live news broadcast (both in English and in Chinese), public affairs programmes ("News Ra-Ma, "HK Today", "Talk About", etc.) and pop programmes ("Chinese Pop Chart", etc. ) and others. As for its utilizers, 40% of them are local people, and the rest are people in America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Portugal, Singapore and Taiwan etc.

Radio has a long his tory. It is a media for transmitting information at any given time. Now, Internet also has this function. That's why many international news organizations and record companies have been on the Net. By doing so, they hope to increase their coverage. The "REAL AUD-10 SYSTEM" made by "PROGRESSIVE NETWORK" in the USA is a product with such an aim and function. It can transmit signals with a band width of frequency modulation or ultra short wave. abut I don't think broadcasting technology will give way to that of the computerization easily. Digital broadcasting and satellite broadcasting will be a key development in the next few years. America has recently decided to spent one billion to develop a global broadcasting system "World Space". Its aim is to broadcast to the whole world through high-tech means, such as digits and satellites. after its completion, a digital radio can pick up station from different parts of the world. By then, what we need to do is just to give a light press to the button.

With regard to the developing trend, the network has considerably changed traditional broadcasting. Different media organizations, through day-to-day changes on the Net, are having strong competition on this information highway. Meanwhile, they are providing an extremely powerful information network for the world's people. Today, different media interrelate and interact with each other. And what can be done in order to make the media develop virtuously? I believe that many people are concerned with this question. As a matter of fact, although the media world has developed form traditional printing and broadcasting to today's close link to Internet, our `listeners' expectations of us remain almost the same as in the past decades.

What they want is to be informed and entertained, so that they will not isolate themselves from society and history. "Efficiency, reliability and Quality" is always an unchangeable principle for a radio programme. What our `listeners' care about is whether they can get information through the media at the earliest possible time. They don't care much whether they get it from radio, television, computer, telephone or a beeper. Accordingly, professional media people should not care too much, what kind of media a we can provide them. What we need to do is to increase our coverage areas and influence our `listeners'. And we must always remember this. Because of the interacting phenomenon in the media world, we should focus on establishing a prominent image for ourselves. We must try our utmost best to push ourselves forward. Otherwise, our efforts, no matter how painstaking they are, will come to no avail. This is largely a competition of strategy and high technology, in which our ultimate aim to let as many people as possible select us, watch us and listen to us.

Based on what we have said, broadcast media are interrelating and interacting to a great extent. The newest development of science and technology have made the pace of the media world quicker, and its scope wider. Being confronted with certain newly-emerged problems and having economic performance in their minds, some media may specialize their way of broadcasting; while some others, instead of doing this, may widen their scope by linking their broadcast to the information network. All in all, the digital technology and optics seem to have provided the media with a wide and wild world. Those who are interested in broadcast can display their prowess to the full here. As for the listeners/audience, they either hesitate before so many selections or can't stand them at all. Some people say that the traditional media is coming to end. And I don't think so. Far from that, the current complex situation provides those experienced and capable media people the best chance to develop and display themselves. There is absolutely no need to worry about these changes. So for, no media can others. Although Internet is said to be well-known for its compatibility, human being still need to move forward by step. That's why I say there's no need to worry. The world is changing all the time. So is the media. As for as Radio HK is concerned, it has been there for over 70 years. Up to now, it's been moving forward step by step.

Reform is inevitable. Many world media magnates are confronted with the same problem - financial reduction. In order to adapt themselves to the new development of the 21st century, they have to change or modulate their structure, resource allocation, editing system and information transmission. At the same time, we must pay enough attention to our listeners/audience. We should do whatever we can to impress them with a powerful and vigorous image, so that they know what they need selection decisions. Of course, we don't need to ingratiate ourselves with them. But we must be clear about our aim and target group. We must display our talent to the full. And we must try to make the best performance. I don't think I'm standing in a proper position to anticipate the future development in the media world. But my 30 years' experience in the media world makes me come to a better understanding of an old Chinese saving - `change ten thousand times without leaving the original stand/aim'. Before I began to write this essay, I had already managed to get over 100 essays about the development of media and media technology. But I wrote the essay without referring to any of them. My reason is simple: When I'm beset with information, I must make a very careful choice. Only by doing this can I expect to have a clear idea of the orientation.