Nearly 40 years of dedication to the "career" of a broadcaster

(Baonghean) -Just arrived at Hung Tan - Hung Nguyen commune, before I could ask where the commune radio station was located, I heard the loudspeaker announcing "Tomorrow, please come and receive your pension at the commune cultural house, hello, hello". Right at that moment, Mr. Phan Dang Minh - a cultural officer - ran out to greet us warmly and pointed to the loudspeaker cluster at the gate of the People's Committee: Mr. Vu Van Laing is reading the announcement - the person who has spent nearly 40 years struggling with the profession of bringing information to the people that I have introduced to you.

He was a man of few words, not wanting to talk much about himself. However, with the enthusiastic encouragement of Mr. Minh, Uncle Bieng also said what he wanted to say: In December 1968, following the sacred call of the Fatherland, Uncle Bieng joined the army, his unit was stationed in Thanh Tan - Thanh Chuong. Here, he learned the trade of repairing radios and wired wires. After a while, he was transferred to Regiment 271 in Dien Chau, then to 271 in Nghi Loc. In 1971, Uncle Bieng participated in the battle on the Cambodian battlefield and was 31% disabled. In 1975, due to poor health, he did not change his career but returned to live locally.

Mr. Vu Van Laing read the announcement on the loudspeaker.

At that time, the commune radio station was identified as playing an important role in the propaganda work of bringing information to the grassroots. With the repair skills he learned in the army, combined with his passion for writing, Mr. Laeng was invited by the government to be the head of the radio station. It is impossible to tell all the difficulties of the head of the commune radio station at that time: there was no physical facility, the equipment serving the task was only an amplifier, a microphone, an old, sluggish receiver, sometimes working, sometimes not. The worst thing was the power lines, all made of bare wires so they were always broken, the electric poles were made entirely of bamboo, xoan wood, not hastily cut in the garden...

At that time, to bring timely information to the people, especially during the rainy and stormy season, Mr. Laeng assigned his team (consisting of 3 people) to each be in charge of 3 hamlets, with the task of checking the power lines and checking the loudspeaker clusters to see if there were any problems so that they could be repaired in time. Especially on days of heavy rain and strong winds, when the wires broke and the poles fell, Mr. Laeng and his team struggled for hours in the rain to repair them, promptly and smoothly updating information to the people of all 9 hamlets.

In addition to regularly and promptly announcing the policies of the Party and the State, of the Cooperative such as disease prevention, planting schedule... every morning from 4:30 to 7:00, afternoon from 5:00 to 7:30, continuing to broadcast on district radio, provincial radio, and central radio, Mr. Laeng also directly built a number of local programs interwoven such as propaganda about good people, good deeds, good economic models, good and obedient children from poor families... in the commune, both for people to know and for people to learn. Although it is so hard, the regime for him is only to receive 2 quintals of rice at a time every 6 months, then increased to 50 thousand, 100 thousand and now 800 thousand VND/month.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong (resident of Hamlet 6) said: "It must be admitted that since the day the Commune Radio Station was put into operation, we, the people, do not need an alarm clock, rain or shine, at exactly 5am we hear Uncle Laeng's voice "hello, hello..." Adults wake up to cook rice, children wake up to study. The best thing is that we are always aware of the policies of the commune, district, province and even the Central Government. Every day without hearing Uncle Laeng's voice, without listening to the Commune Radio Station, we feel missed, feel something is missing...".

Over time, in recent years, with the attention of the local government, the commune radio station has had its own office, and its working equipment has been upgraded to meet new requirements and tasks. The station currently has 1 FM transmitter, 1 receiver, 1 digital code head, 1 cassette deck... Bamboo electric poles have been replaced with concrete and steel with a guaranteed power line system. The whole commune currently has 30 loudspeakers covering 9 hamlets. The station's editorial board consists of 9 people (the Party member is the head of the board, the members are key cadres of organizations such as the women's union, the youth union, the farmers' union... and the commune's cultural officer is the person primarily responsible for approving propaganda content). The content has also been changed to suit the new situation.

In addition to proactively building rich local programs such as good people and good deeds; propagating good practices of individuals and groups; guiding the conversion of crop and livestock structures (according to each season); appropriate planting techniques; announcing diseases for people and livestock... The station also directly broadcasts meetings of the People's Council of the commune, disseminating laws propagated by provincial and district officials; mobile courts; congresses of mass organizations... down to hamlets and residential areas.

Mr. Phan Dang Minh - a cultural officer of the commune and editor of the station said: “Hung Tan commune radio station is one of the earliest established grassroots radio stations in the whole province. And Mr. Bieng is also the first and longest-serving person with the commune radio station since 1975. Currently, Mr. Bieng is no longer the station chief, but is still a member of the station with the task of repairing machinery, wiring, directly reading news, articles, announcements... on the loudspeaker. Hardworking, diligent, responsible for work... are the virtues of Mr. Bieng that the younger generation like us need to learn.

From the concerns of a soldier of Uncle Ho who went through life and death of Uncle Ben, combined with the quickness and dynamism of today's youth, have contributed to the certain achievements of the Station: For many consecutive years, Hung Tan Radio Station has been awarded a certificate of merit by Hung Nguyen District Radio Station, and a certificate of merit by the Provincial Chairman for its good propaganda work. It is one of the grassroots radio stations that has won the most first prizes at the annual grassroots radio festivals. For example, in 2010, Hung Tan Radio Station won first prize with two works "Old Party Member" and "The Dream of a Student" in response to the propaganda campaign "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh"...

In the general trend when the mass media is increasingly developing, the commune radio station also faces certain difficulties. Therefore, each member of the station must be responsible for researching and struggling to build programs and local news topics that are close and practical to the people of their commune. Because in fact, the readers are none other than their parents, wives, children, family members and neighbors. That is also a "pressure" for those working at the grassroots radio station.

Article and photos: Thanh Thuy