Hub4 Mandarin program availability

SCOLA

SCOLA's Chinese programs (of Mainland China) are from two TV stations, CCTV (Central China TV Station) and CYRTV (China Yellow River TV Station). On some of the program schedules at SCOLA's homepage, the first station is also known as "Beijing" and the second as "Taiyuan" (the provincial capital of Shanxi). When CCTV's program is on, you can see the Chinese word for "Eastern Satellite TV" on the screen, but you may also see the CCTV logo.

The program schedule on the two SCOLA channels is as follows.
Time Channel I Channel II
M-F 20:00-21:00 News & Documentaries (CYRTV)
M-F 21:00-22:00 News & Documentaries (CYRTV)* Variety Features (CYRTV)
M-F 22:00-22:30 China News (CCTV) Educational (CYRTV)
S-S 15:00-16:00 News & Documentaries (CCTV)
S-S 16:30-17:30 News & Documentaries (CYRTV)**
S-S 20:00-21:30 News & Documentaries (CYRTV)

*repeats the 20:00-21:00's slot on Channel II.

**Broadcast from 01:00-02:00 on Sunday.

Program Details:

1. China News (CCTV)
Scola carries a half-hour news program everyday from CCTV International. It is mostly based on CCTV's daily news domestically broadcast every evening from 7:00 to 7:30pm Bejing Time. It has about 25 minute domestic news, a few minutes on Asia, and a weather forecast. The original international news is left out (this part is not from Xinhua, but from international news agencies such as CNN, Reuters, etc.) Each time there is only one anchor. Three different anchors - one male and two females - have appeared so far. The format of the news broadcasting is slightly different from that of most US news. The anchorperson speaks, or rather, reads much of the time. The weekend broadcasting has additional half-hour programming and it's usually a documentary. There are also a few Chinese commercials in between.

2. News & Documentaries (CYRTV)
The news part is very brief - about 5 minutes or so. It highlights a few pieces of important news that can also be found on CCTV's news broadcast. The anchor doesn't appear on the screen. The news program is followed by two or three documentaries. These programs are often from local stations, focusing on a particular region and people living there. The topics may include social changes, family issues, daily life, history, etc. These programs are similar to those found on PBS. Some of them may be good for transcribing, but some may not (for instance, when people speak their regional dialect, though captions are sometimes provided).

3. Variety Features (CYRTV)
It usually features an episode of a TV drama serial with some pieces of entertainment programs filling the rest of the hour.

4. Educational Programming (CYRTV)
A half-hour Chinese teaching program. SCOLA's Insta-Class Service has some transcripts. But each week has only a one-page long transcription and is almost useless for our purposes. It's meant for language learning/teaching.

VOICE OF AMERICA

The program schedule for original VOA news programs is as follows:

Time Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
5:00-5:05 news news news news news news news
6:00-6:10 news news news news news news news
7:00-7:10 news news news news news news news
7:10-7:55 All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show
8:00-8:10 news news news news news news news
9:00-9:05 news news news news news news news
9:05-9:30 China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus
9:55-10:00 news news news news news news news
16:00-16:10 news news news news news news news
16:10-16:50 All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show All News Show
17:00-17:05 news news news news news news news
17:05-17:30 China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus China Focus
19:00-19:10 news news news news news news news
19:10-19:30 Economic Horizons Market Place
20:00-20:10 news news news news news news news
20:10-20:50 Dateline Dateline Dateline Dateline Dateline Dateline

Breakdown of the individual news programs

All News Show

Something like NPR's Morning Addition, stories of global interest. 1 anchor with correspondents. 5-10 speakers per program; 8-15 speakers over the course of a week. This show includes"voice overs" in interview and related spots when the speaker does not speak Mandarin.

China Focus

News stories related to China; in-depth analysis of various issues 2 anchors, with a total of roughly 15 speakers per week.

Note: the staff for "All News Show" and "China Focus" overlap to a extent.

5/10 min news slots

1 reader if 5 min. long, 2 if 10 min. long.

Market Place

Something like NPR's Marketplace covering current issues. 1 host, sometimes 2. Each show has between 0-2 other participants.

Economic Horizons

This show covers more general economic issues (as opposed to current issues). 1 or 2 hosts, with 1-2 other participants.

Dateline

This show goes in depth into a specific issue. There is 1 host, and sometimes there is 1 correspondent.

For the "China News" and "All News Show" I understand that once could expect to hear from about 25 different people over the course of a (that is their total staff). The other shows may add a few more people. The total Mandarin staff at VOA is around 55 people, of whom 25 individuals speak on the radio.

KAZN 1030 AM Radio

KAZN 1030 AM is a Los Angeles based Mandarin radio station. It is an all-news radio station, with the news being read by native speakers. The news programming is often interrupted by commercials. In the 45 minute sample that we have listened to, we found 6 programs or reports, with 1 anchor each. Of these, 2 were men, 4 were women. All anchors except one spoke Mainland Mandarin (Putongua). The exception was a Taiwanese female.