A: Dear listeners, may you be blessed with every happiness throughout the New Year. I hope this edition of the Letter Box finds you well.
B: We wish you and yours much joy, luck, and good health in the New Year. This week we received a lot of New Year’s Greeting cards, e-cards, and reception reports from listeners around the world. Thank you all for your warm wishes. I love to see colorful postcards of Christmas images – Christmas trees, Santa Claus, snowmen, Jesus’ birth place, and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kalkota, India.
A: It’s great to know that many of you kept listening to our program over the week while you were on Christmas and New Year’s holiday. In addition to our regular listeners, we received reception reports from new listeners in China, Indonesia, and Germany. Here are some emails from Indian listeners. Debakamal Hazarika listened to VOV’s special broadcast on the very first day of 2013. He said the content was great with a New Year’s Greetings from VOV’s General Director which he found “energetic”.
B: Miss Karobi Hazarika received VOV’s transmission of December 24 on 9550 khz and rated SINPO at all 4s. She was interested in the Land segment which described a scenic spot 120 km south of Hanoi. The Phat Diem cathedral, which was built more than 100 years ago, is one of the most beautiful stone structures in Vietnam. We hope we can find some souvenirs of this area to send you, as you requested.
A: Dr. Devakamal of Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam in the northeastern part of India tuned in our program on December 27 and 30 on 7280 khz and 9550khz respectively. He said the Sunday show about agricultural developments in Vietnam was indeed very informative and enjoyable. The Discovery Vietnam segment on Thursday about Cao Bang province in the northeastern region was also enjoyable. He said the content was clear and helpful to listeners who are interested in visiting Vietnam.
B: Prithwiraj Purkayastha also of Assam said he hopes the new year will bring lots of happiness and joy to the VOV staff. In addition to his report on the program of December 28, he attached some reports for which he hasn’t yet received QSL cards. We acknowledge your reports on a weekly basis and we are sure we sent you QSL cards, as well as some gifts as a token of thanks. We’re sorry to learn that you didn’t receive all of them. The latest package we sent you contains a 2013 calendar. We hope you receive it soon.
A: Here are some letters from listeners in other countries. Jack Wachtershauser of Australia sent a series of reports for programs in December on the frequency of 12020 khz and 9840 khz. Your technical comments for each program are helpful to our engineers.
B: Martin Smith of the UK thanked us for sending him a New Year’s Greeting card featuring a follower vendor with a huge basket of flowers balanced on her bicycle. Martin wrote: “I used to deliver newspapers on a bicycle and remember having to carry a large bag of papers to deliver to the houses of my customers.”
A: From Bangladesh, Dewan Rafiqul Islam, President of the Friends Radio Club, thanked VOV for sending gifts to this Club. Dewan said VOV is one of the best stations for radio enthusiasts and that the presenters have a kind of soft and charming voice which calms listeners while pleasantly informing them about the world. His club members have introduced our station to many other people in Naogaon province. They are now regular listeners of our station and some have established their own clubs. Thank you very much for your compliment and for helping to popularize our station in your community. We pledge to continue making informative and interesting programs for you.
B: Gerry Neumann of England informed us that he received VOV’s 2013 calendar. He heard several programs in December and gave us detailed feedback. Gerry said the signal strength of the broadcast beamed to Western Europe on 5955 khz is unsteady, fluctuating from S5 down to S1. This makes it difficult to follow stories even though he uses a dedicated shortwave JRC NRD 345 receiver with a 30-meter antenna. On December 24th our Current Affairs segment was about the contribution of Catholics to the State since 1975 and our Land and People item was about the Ninh Binh Catholic cathedral. Gerry commented: “I’m sure that many western listeners are surprised that there are many Catholics and catholic churches in Vietnam.”
A: In December, VOV aired a series about the Hanoi – Dien Bien Phu aerial victory of 1972 and Gerry found the report on December 30th informative and interesting. It was a report on a 65-year-old American navigation officer who was in a B52 bomber shot down during the 12-day carpet bombing of Hanoi in December, 1972. He ejected and was captured. After spending 100 days in the Hanoi Hilton prison, he was exchanged under the Paris Accord of 1973. Back in the US, he went to college to study religion and became a priest to perform penance.
B: Welcome to VOV’s international community of Dx’ers. We hope to have regular contacts with you in the future. From China, Jonathan reported listening to our program on October 31 and November 4 on a frequency of 9840 khz with a SIO rating of all 5s. He said the signal was as good as from a local station, and it was a pleasure to enjoy folk songs from Vietnam’s central region, featuring the region’s natural beauty.
B: Last but not least on our show today, we acknowledge a letter from Joseph Mulvihill of Ireland. He asks us to send Vietnamese army badge with a star to put on his collar or jacket or cap. Joseph wrote: “My late father told me that the bravest soldiers in the world were the Vietnamese men and women. I know that Vietnamese people are kindhearted and Vietnam is a great country for tourists.”
A: Thank you very much, Joseph. We’ll try not to let you down. We hope we can send you the item you want soon. Now it’s time to say goodbye. We promise we’ll confirm all the reception reports we got this week. We welcome your feedback at:
English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. If you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by visiting our website at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.