A: Welcome to VOV’s regular Wednesday feature, Letter Box. This week, we would like to begin with a letter from Rumen Pankov of Bulgaria, who has two questions for us. The first question is: with how many countries has Vietnam established diplomatic ties? The second: does Hanoi have any private FM radio stations?
B: Thank you, Rumen, for your interesting questions. We’re happy to report that, according to the website of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, as of February 2012, Vietnam had established diplomatic relations with 180 countries and territories around the globe. For the first time in history, it is now maintaining normal relations with all major powers including the UN Security Council’s Permanent Members.
A: In recent years, Vietnam’s status in SE Asia and the world has greatly improved, due to the efforts of our diplomatic sector and our Government’s new foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation, development, openness, diversification, and multilateralization of international relations.
B: Vietnam has proactively engaged in international economic integration while expanding its international ties in every aspect. The country is a friend and partner of all countries in the international community, and takes part in international and regional forums and processes. Dear Rumen, you can learn more about Vietnamese diplomacy by logging onto Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s website at www.mofa.gov.vn.
A: Regarding Rumen’s second question about private radio stations, we want to confirm that Vietnam and of course, Hanoi, don’t have private radio stations. During the American war, Vietnam had Radio Hanoi and the South Vietnam radio network. Following the country’s reunification, all the radio stations were combined to spawn Radio Voice of Vietnam in 1978 becoming the only national radio station. As of 2004, it was estimated that VOV’s broadcasts reached more than 90% of all households in Vietnam. In addition, most cities and provinces nơ have their own radio stations.
B: We hope that, with all this information, Rumen can get an overview of Vietnam’s radio network and its diplomatic ties to date. Rumen Pankov is a more than just a special listener for VOV as he listens to our VOV broadcasts regularly, not only in English but also in the Russian and German languages. That’s truly great encouragement for broadcasters like us and we’re sure our colleagues from the other two sections are as glad as us. We promise we will forward them your letter and send you something such as a QSL as recognition.
A: Over the past few weeks, we have received quite a lot of letters and emails from listeners including Fumito Hokamura from Fukuoka-ken in Japan, Carilie Forsythe from Madison, in the US state of Wisconsin, Dr. Georg Bostrom from Hagersten, Sweden, Bill Eckart from Oklahoma, USA, and many more. We’re very pleased that every listener who sent either a letter or an email to the English program wrote carefully detailed reports on what they had heard in terms of frequency, broadcasting time, and type of receiver. Most important is their remarks on the professional and technical quality of our programs.
B: What you wrote to us means our programs are responded to positively and we highly appreciate all your comments and suggestions. Ed McCorry from Willow Spring in the US is such a listener.
A: In last week’s Letter Box, we answered listeners’ concerns over the closure of Sackville relay station in Canada. This week, we still received quite a lot of letters and emails on the issue. Ed McCorry is a good example. He listened to the English program on June 20th from 0230 to 0257 UTC on the frequency 6175 kHz via Sackville. He said ‘I always enjoy listening to your broadcasts. I try to listen as often as I can, however, I’m not sure what will happen at the end of the month when the Sackville relay you use becomes defunct with the demise of Radio Canada.’
B: Dear Ed and other listeners from North America, we would like to thank you for praise for VOV’s programs. We understand that as you like VOV’s broadcasts so much, you will be wondering about Sackville. We must say that the relay station in Sackville is closed, however you can continue catching our programs direct from Vietnam on the frequency 9840 kHz. So don’t worry! OK, we’re half way into this week’s Letter Box but before continuing with more letters, sit back and enjoy a song.
A: You just heard Mai Khoi singing a song in praise of Vietnam ……Another email from Bablor Rashid from Naogaon in Bangladesh, says he’d like to have a program and frequency schedule. Dear Bablor, as of 1st January 2012, all 12 services at VOV Overseas Service were posted on the internet. Major news and popular stories were also transcribed into text format to meet listeners’ demands and stimulates immediate feedback from our audiences on all 5 continents. So if you want to read or hear a story again, please log onto www.vovworld.vn.
B: Regarding the frequency schedule, we have done our utmost to send it to all our listeners by post, but in case, you still haven’t received yours yet, just spend just a few munities on our website again at www.vovworld.vn. I’m sure you will find more than what you want, as we constantly update it.
A: From Rimouski in Canada’s Quebec province, Yanic Tremblay sent us a card showing on one side a print of a sunset near his location in Quebec, and on the other side a photo of him sitting surrounded by all his radio equipment. It’s a very nice card!
B: Yanic wrote that his son comes from Vung Tau province in the south of Vietnam. So we guess that this is one of the reasons why he loves VOV programs.
A: We’re glad to know that you have fostered a Vietnamese child. It means there’s one more child that will have the chance to feel the security of family life. After reading your letter, we hope you can share a bit more with your family, especially your son. How long has he lived in Quebec and how is he getting on in the local community? We hope he’s doing great!
B: Time is up on today’s letter box. If your names haven’t been mentioned this week, don’t be sad, we promise to acknowledge you the next time. Please keep in touch with us and we look forward to receiving more comments and suggestions from you all. Our contact address is:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
A: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. And in case you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can either listen live or listen to recorded programs.
A&B: Bye!!!!!!