Citizens' Radio


Citizens' Radio is a radio station in Hong Kong established by pro-democracy camp figure Tsang Kin Shing. The station is run as a non-profit organization. It started trial broadcasting on 3 October 2005 on 102.8 MHz FM. The regular broadcasting hours are 7:00 pm–12:00 pm from Monday to Friday. The programmes can be heard in parts of Hong Kong Island, most of Kowloon, and on the Internet.

Purpose

The principle of the station is "Be open and bravely speak out", so the main type of programming is a speech-based "phone-in" format. Sometimes Hong Kong legislators are invited as special guests. The station has also made live broadcasts of the Hong Kong 1 July marches and Vindicate 4 June and Relay Torch in the past.
Tsang has submitted an application for a sound broadcasting licence to the Broadcasting Authority, but the application is still pending. So technically speaking Citizens Radio's broadcasts are illegal. On 29 August 2006 with the court search warrant, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority forced the station to close down. But the station resumed broadcasting on 4 October 2006. The station has been repeatedly raided by the Telecommunications Authority since but it kept on broadcasting as a form of civil disobedience.

Citizens' Radio broadcast incident

Event

On 25 May 2007 Szeto Wah was speaking in a Mong Kok pedestrianised street hosted by Citizen's Radio. The topic of the programme involved the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Charges

Eight people including Szeto Wah were prosecuted. According to the summons, Szeto was using unlicensed radio equipment when delivering the political message. Only the chief executive or the director general of the Telecommunications Authority have the power to approve licences for such equipment.

Selective prosecution

Szeto said he was discriminated against for this event, and had appeared on the same station before without being charged. Other members who have spoken on the radio station included Anthony Cheung Bing Leung and legislator Choy So-yuk of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong. They were not charged. Leung Kwok-hung added that this is "selective prosecution". Mak Yin-ting, general secretary of the Hong Kong Journalists Association have said "Everything is subject to government discretion. The government can grant or deny you a license as long as it wishes. It is not in accordance with the rule of law."

Others

After the prosecution, Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung slumped to a six-month low in public confidence.
The latest case follows an ongoing lawsuit in which Tsang and Leung are arguing that the Telecommunications Ordinance, specifically the granting of broadcasting licences, was unconstitutional.

Post charges broadcasts

English name
Chinese nameRepresenting
Lee Cheuk-yanHong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
Emily Lau Wai-hingThe Frontier
Lee Wing-tatDemocratic party
Fernando CheungCivic Party
Albert ChanLeague of Social Democrats
Leung Kwok-hungLeague of Social Democrats
Tsang Kin-shingActivists, founder of station
Lo Hom-chauActivists
Yang KuangActivists
Ko Wah-bingActivists
Poon Tat-keungActivists

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority mounted an enforcement operation against Citizens' Radio and raided the radio equipment on 19 December 2008. Activist Tsang Kin-shing said the equipment was worth HK$20,000 to HK$30,000.