Monday, January 08, 2024

China AM ID Database soon to be released

 


 Within the next week, barring any unforeseen catastrophes, I should be releasing my China AM ID Database, a project I began in May 2021 and is all but complete now and will be posted here when officially finished.

With a final total of 52 hours of audio and 1,512 station ID clips including 95.6% of the Chinese AM band, 95.6% of the Taiwanese band, and 100% of the Hong Kong band, I find that these two audio compilations of interesting IDs would probably get lost in the extensive lists of stations and content if posted all at once. Therefore, I wish to share them both beforehand as a preview and just as something of interest for those who are curious about the state of Chinese radio nowadays. They are perhaps the most Western-friendly of all audio clips in the project.

I've got two compilations here, totaling 1hr 14min of audio that I have put together:

First, there is the English ID compilation with English IDs of 60 stations in China. English isn't the norm on Chinese radio, so when you hear it - especially if you understand no Chinese - it truly stands out. I think people abroad would enjoy it most of all, being able to understand something, anything at all. This is 29 minutes of audio.


Second is the non-standard time pips compilation. Time pip patterns differ across all stations; even stations owned by the same broadcasting companies often use different pip patterns. While the standard is 5 short + 1 long, only 27% of all stations actually use this pattern. 33% of stations utilize no pips at all. Yes, I did the math myself. 17% of stations use abnormal (non-standard) pip patterns and/or combine them with music or jingles, use clock ticks, doorbells, and all sorts of little oddities. This compilation includes those stations, with 45 minutes of audio spanning 89 stations.


I truly hope these can provide someone with a little education and/or entertainment. It's literally less than 2% of all the audio I have on this upcoming webpage.
(Chris Kadlec /RalDX)