 Thank you Amir Jameel for listening to VOV over the years. |
B: Oh, I think we should leave the city life outside for a while. Here we have a number of letters, emails, and New Year’s postcards from listeners.
A: Richard King of the UK sent us a letter to say: “The last few years have proved to be very difficult for people around the world, although as we enter 2024 there is hope that things might start to return to normal. The one thing that has been a shining light during these times is the fact that radio stations have continued to broadcast, especially on shortwave. Your programs have helped to bring news to the isolated and to update us on how things are progressing in your country.”
B: Richard went on: “I thought I should drop you a short letter to thank you for your shortwave broadcasts during the last few years. Don’t believe all the hype about the new modern media such as internet and satellite broadcasting. There is still an active shortwave audience. Make sure that you tell your paymasters that there are still people like me listening to your broadcasts.”
A: He continued: “As a keen shortwave radio listener for over 50 years, I continue to listen to my radio every day. It’s a great pleasure to listen to broadcasts from stations and countries that are very rarely mentioned in our domestic press. I wish all the staff past and present at the station good luck and hope that I may continue to hear them in the future.”
B: Thank you very much, Richard and other listeners, for listening to VOV for such a long time and trusting in VOV. You are the reason radio stations like VOV keep on broadcasting on shortwave.
 Murshidabad Betar Shrota Paribar (Murshidabad Radio Listeners’ Family) organizes a Radio DX Stall last December 9-15, 2023 at the Murshidabad District Book Fair at Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. (photo: Shivendu Paul, Secretary of
Murshidabad Betar Shrota Poribar
|
A: We received a letter dated January 10th from Fumito Hokamura of Japan, who said: “I enjoy listening to VOV’s program in Japanese and English every day. I’m very happy to send reception reports to VOV. Happy New Year to the Vietnamese! I and listeners of many countries hope that VOV will continue its shortwave broadcasts.”
B: Kamal Hossain of the Independent Radio Listeners Club of Bangladesh wished that 2024 will be a good year for everybody, bringing peace and blessings to all people in the world.
A: We intend to keep on broadcasting to every continent in 13 languages. Vice President of the Voice of Vietnam Ngo Minh Hien said on World Radio Day on February 13th that VOV keeps improving its programs to meet listeners' needs, and affirming its position and role in national development.
“Reporters and editors need to try harder to come up with creative ideas and produce programs that give listeners what they want. We must make radio more familiar, modern, and interactive to deliver information to listeners in the fastest, easiest-to-understand, and most effective manner. We are very confident about the future of radio and the Voice of Vietnam which, throughout 80 years of development, has been and will continue to be a bridge between the Party and the people," said Mr. Hien.
 Thank you Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh for the New Year greetings |
B: Bidhan Chandra Sanyal of India shared his passion for listening to shortwave radio. “Many radio stations these days do Internet broadcasting in addition to radio broadcasting. But DXers prefer listening to the radio.”
A: “Over the past few years my relationship with Voice of Vietnam has deepened considerably. I can't go a day without listening to Voice of Vietnam. Voice of Vietnam has become my soul mate,” said Sanyal.
B: Sanil Deep of India sent us these encouraging words: “I’m really enjoying the songs on the ‘Saturday music section’ and ‘Sunday Show’, which were well presented by the hosts. It is good to note that you have so many listeners from all corners of the world, listening and writing to the “Letter Box”, a popular segment among listeners. You have many interesting programs, like ‘Discovery Vietnam’, ‘Village Life’, ‘Society’, and ‘Personality of the Week’, which I listen to regularly. These programs give listeners a good picture of your country, people, and traditional music.”
A: Thank you for listening to VOV and writing to us regularly. We hope to receive more feedback and recommendations from you to help us improve our program.
B: Eugene Kormykhin, a shortwave listener in Moscow, told us that he mostly listens to VOV’s program in Russian, but when he listened to the English program, he found it full of interesting cultural programs. “I'm 39 years old and have been an active shortwave listener for the last 3 years. I started during the pandemic in 2020. I realize that radio, especially shortwave, is a way to connect with the whole world, real voices, real cultures, real country positions.”
A: “I have wonderful time with radio. My equipment is simple. I live in a heavily urban area of the city and can't install a full-length long wire antenna. Instead I go to the park with my portable receiver and try to find the place with the best reception conditions for my telescopic antenna. Your show was broadcast to the Far East at 12020 kHz. And it was a challenge for me to copy the transmission, but it is really DX.”
B: Yes the challenge of tuning in to the best shortwave band is an interesting part of DXing. Now enjoy a song about spring, the most beautiful and joyous season of the year. We hope our signal is loud and clear where you are.
A: After telling us about their DXing hobby, our listeners also ask many questions about Vietnam. This week Sanil Deep of India asked about the the longest highway in Vietnam.
B: Vietnam’s national road network development plan is to have 5,000 km of expressways by 2030 and twice that by 2050. Under the plan, the 2,000-kilometer eastern North-South Expressway from Lang Son to Ca Mau province, and the 1,200-kilometer western North-South Expressway linking Tuyen Quang and Kien Giang province will be completed by 2050.
A: The plan also calls for 14 new highway sections in the north, 10 in the central region, and 10 in the southern region. as well as three ring roads –a 420-kilometer ring road in Hanoi and two 300-kilometer ring roads in Ho Chi Minh City.
B: The road network will link to local roads, disadvantaged areas, and international transportation hubs.
 The Hanoi-Lao Cai highway (photo: vgpipe.com.vn) |
A: The longest highway in Vietnam right now is the one connecting Lao Cai-Yen Bai-Hanoi-Hai Phong-Ha Long-Van Don-Mong Cai, with a total length of 570 kilometers. This route and the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Lang Son highway connect with the three most important international border gates in the northern region – Lao Cai, Huu Nghi, and Mong Cai.
B: The highway makes Quang Ninh province a strategic transit point in the East Asia-Southeast Asia region, the ASEAN-China region, the Vietnam-China “two corridors, one economic belt” cooperation area, and the inter-regional cooperation area in the Gulf of Tonkin.
A: Each week we receive a lot of questions from listeners. We either answer them in the Letter Box or create a special report on the issue, so please tune in to our programs daily for answers to your questions about Vietnam.
B: This week we acknowledge emails and letters from Deimantas Nalivaika of Lithuania, Harshit Joshi of India, Kenji Takahashi of
Japan, Pablo Urbina Capó of Spain, Tarana Tinni and Adiba Ava of Bangladesh, and Malik Allah Bachaya Khokhar of Pakistan.
A: Thank you all for your interest in VOV. We welcome your feedback at English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at englishsection@vov.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Once again, thank you all for listening. Goodbye!