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Phnom
Penh (Ah!)
Travel
Tips
-- CTN
Cambodian Television Network Jumps On Philippine's
ABS-CBN Bandwagon
- September
2007
DJ Ken National Radio Text Service - Friday September 7, 2007
Cambodian Television Network Steals a Page From Philippine Reality Show Big Brother - No Cash Advance Charge - What To Do In Phnom Penh??? - Cambodia's Top 3 Stories on NR - - IT'S ON!!! GLORY ROAD
THE WENDY WARS AREN'T OVER - Cambodia's CTN Network Jump On Philippines ABS-CBN's Bandwagon Believe it or not television programming in Phnom Penh is the best I've ever seen. The reason being that channels from, Italy, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Singapore and more are telecast on Phnom Penh's cable television. The Cambodian produced programming is sometimes painful to watch. The talent shows are amusing more so because most of the performers have very little talent but win in the willingness to try department. Just trying how to figure out how they do programming on Southeast Asian television is enough to make one dizzy. Scheduling problems are a major obstacle that must be dealt with. The most pressing problem is coming up with good positive ideas for a television show. The Philippines ABS-CBN Network came up with a novel idea when they brought back Wendy Valdez who was evicted from Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 series. Though she was popular prior to her departure her return to the show drew a lot of controversy that resulted in tension between her and the remaining contestants on the show. It was to the point where they wouldn't speak to each other. At that time we deemed it THE WENDY WARS. Her return came almost two months before the show finished giving the drama build up plenty of time to rankle the viewers and contestants. The result being Valdez finished in 3rd place amidst boo's from the audience when the announcement was made on the final show. Valdez has talent and after her disappointment landed on her feet by securing the lead in the current running TV serial Margarita as well as a layout in a men's magazine. BUT THERE'S MORE... The CTN television network in Cambodia has been trying their hand at producing reality television. At this point they have produced two with restaurant themes Coffee Shop and Pizza House a show that was to end last week on September 2nd. While visiting the Pizza House shop for some news gathering two weeks prior to the end of the show I discussed the Wendy Wars saga with CTN producer Aaron Leverton. Discussed was the unprecedented way the ABS-CBN brought back to the show a contestant who had been eliminated. Was it fair or not was the focus. As they say what goes around comes around and apparently CTN chose to do just that as they employed the Pinoy Big Brother way of doing things by inviting a previously eliminated contestant from the Pizza House show to return. All of the eliminated contestants were eligible to return based on viewer voting via SMS messages on Cambodia's Cell Card phone service. The Royal Group who own CTN also own Cell Card. Pinoy Big Brother invited only four eliminated contestants back to the PBB house and three were eliminated via SMS voting until only Valdez remained. The final for the Pizza House show will now scheduled take place on Wednesday September 12th only 13 days after the reinstatement of the contestant. Again the question of is it fair pops up. After her return Valdez had almost two months to be booted off the show for the second time but wasn't. She had enough of a fan base to survive for a lengthy period of time. Fair or not CTN's decision will be made within a 13 day time frame on a special 1 ½ HR telecast this Wednesday night at 5:00 PM Cambodia time at the CTN studios according to Leverton. The winner will win a motorbike and a percentage of the gross profits from the sales at the Pizza House. Maria Beatriz Saw (aka Bea) who was a long shot to win the Pinoy Big Brother title but walked off with the crown, one million pesos (US $20,000), a house, car, water business and a trip for two to several cities throughout Europe. The three runners-up won cash prizes and trips of various lengths and stops according to their order of finish. The Cambodian Pizza House runners-up will win nothing. As some Pizza House contestants expressed... all they want is, "A JOB." CTN has also produced a beauty/talent show that the network's General Manager Glen Felgate said was intended to find and develop talent for the network. That contest is somewhat a copy of the popular long running Freshie Boy & Girl Contest. The CTN version uses Boy & Girl in its title. They are currently searching for contestants for the show. CTN then followed the beauty and talent show with two singing competitions Girl Band and the currently televised Boy Band. Like the Philippine's ABS-CBN Network CTN is marketing their programming in the USA on a pay TV basis. After the Ronan press conference in May at the Cambodiana Hotel we asked Leverton what was the employment benefit for the contestants that participated on the Coffee Shop show. Did CTN give anyone a job? His reply was we trained them and they can go find a job. When they apply they can say they were on the CTN Coffee Shop TV show. The question is…. Who, what where, when and why received jobs after their participation on any CTN reality show? What are the results??? Stay tuned… IT'S ON!!! GLORY ROAD This is a must watch. As recently as the 1960's there were university athletic teams in the USA that didn't have black players on their squads. Texas Western (now the University of Texas El Paso aka. UTEP) was one of those teams in 1966. Their new coach got the job and inherited a losing program. He couldn't recruit top white players because of the losing reputation. With very little money (closer to NO MONEY) he went on the road and recruited quality black players that were ignored by the major universities. He searched the inner-city cities of Detroit, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; New York City and Houston Texas. The recruits had a hard time adjusting to the desert sand and sun but more so the racist attitudes that existed at that time in Texas. That team lost only one game that season and won the NCAA TITLE by defeating the Adolph Rupp Kentucky team in the championship game. What's notable about this game and film is the star of the Kentucky squad was Pat Riley the current head coach of the NBA's Miami Heat. He is seen at the end of the film giving footnotes. Angelina Jolie's father Jon Voight plays Rupp. This is a MUST WATCH…. on the Star Movie channel in Southeast Asia. UCB BANK VISA CASH ADVANCE WITH NO CHARGES They say nothing in life is free. With that said, believe it or not the Union Commercial Bank (UCB) makes Visa cash withdraw transactions with no surcharge. You are charged by your bank for their fees. The bank has branches in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Battambang. Phnom Penh Branch and Head Office UCB Building No. 61 Street 130 - Tel: 023-214-159 & 023-427-995 Email: cardcenter@ucb.com.kh web site: www.ucb.com.kh WHAT TO DO IN PHNOM PENH??? BOXING Kick boxing events are held at television stations CTN, TV 5 and TV 3. Admission is free.
CAMBODIAN ALL-TIME TOP 3 NR STORIES April 2007 marked the 10th anniversary since our launch of the National Radio web site in April 1997. This followed 10 years of supplying radio programming that has aired on seven networks on more than 1000 radio station in the USA. Since the NR web site launch we have posted over 1000 stories with 650 stories currently on the site that are listed by the Yahoo.. Surprisingly three Cambodian oriented stories made the NR All-time Top 10 list that indicated worldwide readers interests. The results varied with a travel story topping the list. The story on the Cambodian Royal Palace ranked second overall. That was followed by a Human Interest story/Feature about Dr Beat Richner who founded the Kuntha Bopha Hospital's in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Sports rounded off the worlds Cambodian selections with a feature story on Hok Sochetra the former star of the Cambodian national football team. While thinking back about all of the stories that we have done regarding Cambodian subjects we have our pick as our all-time favorite. It's a sports and human-interest story that turned into a comedy. We're referring to the reopening of Olympic Stadium after years and years of closure due to renovations. The event featured a boxing match of Cambodian vs. International fighters. What resulted was due to the fans displeasure with their local hero they indicated that they were NO HAPPY (as they say in Asia) and threw plastic water bottles (full and otherwise) to the ring. That sent the fighters and their supporting staff scurrying for cover that they found by ducking under the boxing ring for safety. That created a stampede of fans rushing for the exits. As I was holding on to my camera taking pictures the onrush was like being in Pamplona with the raging bulls coming to trample me. I wasn't afraid for myself my primary concern was to save my camera. After a few minutes the disturbance settled down and those that were left near the arena returned inside. At that point the arena was virtually empty when the fights resumed. This event was televised and is worth of being televised on believe it or not. So why is this my favorite story. As a friend of mine that was the one of the largest high school English departments in the USA said, "I can't imagine people smiling in Cambodia." Well this event made and still does make me smile. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen in sports. As for the Khmer's they are smiling more than when I first landed on Cambodian soil in 1998. It's event's like this that bring a smile to one's face particularly when one considers that the year before in 1997 Cambodian's were throwing hand grenades and not water bottles. Nuff said…
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