Interviews

Date：November 2^th 2011

Destinations：Minsyong Broadcast Center

Participants：Teacher,Lai Jian Zhang、Teacher, Li Jin Hang、Teacher, Chen Jian Yu、Jian Guo Sheng、Liu Heng Qian、Lai Bo En、Jian Yan Da、Hsu Yu Jie、Chen Guan Xuan、Huag Xiao Qi、Liu Jin Jing

Radio staff：Jian You、Wen Xin

【Wen Xin】The broadcasting under the colonial time was aimed to create propagandas in China and South East Asia. The signals could even reach Japan. This is the first radio in Taiwan to broadcast internationally and therefore it is attributed with great significance and historic value.

【Wen Xin】We are mostly engaged in international broadcasting and thus the languages spoken in programs are determined by the target areas. During the Colonial era, the signals were mainly sent to South-East Asia, and in the early years of ROC, they were instead sent to China as psychology operations. Now we are Radio Taiwan International Corp., and we broadcast to places around South-East Asia and China. As a result, we need to speak the languages spoken there.

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【Jian You】The pump, built by Toshiba of Japan in 1937, was mainly used to pump water from the reservoir outside.

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【Jian You】And let’s take a look at the simulated antennas left from the past. As it requires a great deal of power for transmitters to send out signals of high frequencies, simulated antennas test for us if signals could be transmitted with the power provided. All signals go through the test before they are sent.

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【Wen Xin】The manual drilling machine of early times was shipped from Japan. The engineers use it to produce components that are not on sale in the market for the steel towers.

It still functions well. Unlike the gadgets made by automatic machines of these days, those made by this machine are of great quality and subtlety.

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【Teacher, Li Jin Hang】Had the building ever been targeted by the bombers during WWII.

【Jian You】It is rumored that the U.S. had once planned to take over Taiwan, and thus they preferred to leave it intact, so they could use it without having to fork out money to build another one as soon as the time came.

【Wen Xin】It is also said that the U.S. only bombed the object which they knew its position definitely, so they always sent a surveillance plane first to locate the targets. However, the plane could detect the radio only on the condition that the radio wave was very strong. As the radio had held operation then, the plane couldn’t find it. Besides, the building is painted with light and plain colors, which makes it really difficult to see it from high above, and as a result survived the bombings.

Cooling system

【Jian You】We just mentioned the cooling system. Water will be sent to the cooler first before it goes up to cool the transmitter. What kind of water would be desired? It’s distilled water. And where does it come? Here is a water distilling machine. The Japanese produced distilled water out of the water underground. Water distilled is reserved in a small bucket and a big one. The big bucket collects water that overflows from the small one and then sends it up to the transmitter. Distilled water may come in high temperature, so we have to cool it first. This is what the cooling system for. Cool how? The pump we see minutes ago is to bring cold water from the reservoir outside to cool the water distilled. The thermometer tells the temperature of water, which will be pumped up as the degree drops to a desirable level.

【Jian You】As vacuum tubes consume a lot of electricity to work, the pipes that send water must be made of insulating materials like ceramics in case of power failure. Why are the red pipes winding? Because if water gushes right up to the vacuum tube, it will break them by the tremendous water pressure that accompanies. Hence they are made winding so as to lower the pressure.

MB15-A 100kw
【Jian You】Have you heard of NEC? It’s a Japanese electric company. NEC only built five transmitters then, and this is the only one that remains to this day. You can see two sets vacuum tube inside, but why two sets? Both of them work and one of them is for backup. It’s possible that any machines break down, but we must keep the program going. So, when the first set goes out of order, we can replace it with the second immediately.
【Wen Xin】Every vacuum tube has one air outlet. A vacuum tube amplifies signals pretty much in the same way as a microphone makes one’s voice louder and clearer. Just think of vacuum tubes as microphones. The reason we always have them in pairs is that we can replace one with another if any problems occur during broadcasting, which is always 24-hour a day. This transmitter is, as Jian You just illustrated, the precious of our radio. There used to be five in the whole world, but now this is the only one that remains and in fact it can still function very well.

【Jian You】You can operate such a huge machine by the console table, on which you can see a lot of buttons. Have you seen this kind of telephone? Just shake the lever and hold for a few seconds, the operator will connect you to the person that you want to talk to.


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【Wen Xin】Radio Taiwan International and Broadcasting Corporation of China had been an entity Before 1999. Now BCC NEWS NETWORK and BCC iRadio are property under Broadcasting Corporation of China, whereas Radio Taiwan International is in charge of international broadcasting.
【Jian You】The giant vacuum tube, which was shipped from Fangliao, has a greater amplification, but it also costs five million dollars or so, very expensive. We use it only when we need to broadcast to places faraway like the U.S. You can’t amplify weak signals to a great level at once. Instead, you have to do it step by step through small, medium, and large vacuum tubes.
【Wen Xin】This is the most enormous vacuum tube you can get in Taiwan. It’s shipped from Fangliao after going out of order. Fangliao Radio can transmit signals so far as to South America. We always pay meticulous attention to maintain our vacuum tubes because they are so crucial in broadcasting and not products you can purchase easily on the market. This explains why we place so much emphasis on maintenance of vacuum tubes. At times, our engineers make components for replacement by themselves.


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【Wen Xin】This is a five-tube super heterodyne receiver, deriving the name for its five vacuum tubes inside. The picture aside shows the interior anatomy. Although it can’t function anymore, it still bears considerable value as it exhibits radio of primitive form. It has two buttons only, one for volume and the other for channels. The sound comes out from the slot. We have two radios of this kind. One stays in this exhibition room and the other is going on exibition tour right now.
【Wen Xin】How are we supposed to know the receiving quality far away in Vietnam? We do it by inquiring the local people. Radios worldwide have their specific audience in many countries. We transmit signals to the world by short wave (SW) broadcasting. In our target countries, there is specific audience who will notify us if the programs or signal quality are good enough. In return, we send them some postcards with pictures about Taiwan, which helps increase the profile of Taiwan at the same time. 【Teacher, Li Jin Hang】Would you tell us about the frequency of international broadcasting of RTI? 【Wen Xin】Radio waves are like trains, which only run in their own rails. Every international radio has an exclusive channel, which is applied from an international organization, and thus signals won’t overlap. In the past, when we broadcast to China at a maximum power of 150kW to create propagandas, the government of China would generate signals at an even stronger power to block ours so that their people would not be able to receive our programs.
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【Teacher, Li Jin Hang】Is Minsyong Broadcast Center the most aged radio in Taiwan?
【Wen Xin】Yes it is. Radio Taiwan International has several branches and Minsyong Broadcast Center being the first radio that broadcast to the whole wide world. In the case of Taiwan during Japanese Colonial period, Taipei, Taichung and Tainan Broadcast Centers were engaged in domestic broadcasting, while Minsyong Broadcast Center in broadcasting to South-East Asia to spread propagandas.

backup studio



【Wen Xin】Since a vacuum tube always works with a pump, we have two pumps on hand as well. The other one is put on standby in case of emergency. Due to the fact that the reservoir is 1.5 meters in height, it is required cleanups on a regular basis. The pipes that carry underground water into the cooling pool were buried beneath the earth during construction. This is why you don’t see them around.