She drives me crazy
"In the past the traffic reports were where the cub reporters cut their teeth. But as the number of drivers in Taiwan has increased, the traffic reports have gotten more and more attention. Now Li Yayuan and Yao Ai-chen, who do the traffic reports at BCC, are more famous than a lot of senior reporters and news anchors," says Li Tsung-kuei, general manager of the News Department at BCC. For this reason they have been choosing their personnel more carefully, looking for just the right person for this job.
Chen Hsun-ying has made her mark with her lively personality and quick wit. For example, recently she took a call from an older gent, who asked her to repeat for him the offhand comment just made during her road report.
She reiterated for the old man, before she had a chance to forget it, "If you drink, don't drive/if you drive, don't drink/this is such a cliche/I don't know what to think."
"I listen to your road reports every day, and they always make me very happy. Tell me, what's your background?" the old man inquired. It seems that he was very interested in trying to arrange a marriage for her.
On another occasion she went to the Police College to attend a seminar. When the moderator introduced her as the Chen Hsun-ying who did the traffic reports, a senior officer, right in front of his subordinates seated at rigid attention, said to her warmly: "I always listen to you when I drive. Your reports are fantastic."
Of course it's not only now that traffic reports have been celebrated.
"In the early days, when the hosts got off work a taxi driver would come and meet them. And when they went out to do a program, some taxi driver would follow along giving them watermelon to eat," says Lin Lin, an assistant section chief at PRS' traffic station.
Sentimental journeys
In those days the reporters didn't have as strict a grasp of the traffic situation as today. The hosts were themselves "on the road," broadcasting whatever they came across from the mobile truck. Often they would just drive to some place where there had been an accident, and interview the driver about how the accident occurred.
Program director Chen Pai-chuan recalls that every time they went out in those days, they would first announce the route the mobile broadcast truck was going to take. "A lot of taxis would follow us around the whole route."
In the summer, as they passed in front of New Park the woman selling sour plum soup would bring her a bagful to quench her thirst. When they took Po'ai Road, the shop owners would come out and wave when they heard that the broadcast truck was on its way by. "We were really celebrities," she laughs.
Today, though drivers aren't so directly supportive of the traffic reporters, they have other ways of showing their approbation. Chin Ching, after being persuaded by huge numbers of people in the car driving population, has decided to run for the Taipei City Council at the end of this year.
"At first I thought I wouldn't have a chance, because I don't have much money and I have no political experience or connections. But my listeners kept encouraging me to run," she states.
Since she spends every day describing the traffic congestion, she is also very dissatisfied with the current situation. But she doesn't approve of tactics like those adopted by "The Voice of Taiwan" radio station, which urged taxi drivers to organize street protests for better management of city traffic. Therefore she decided to run for the city council, so that people would have a normal channel through which to address their problems.
A problem of chemistry
Recently many "underground" unregistered stations have begun broadcasting, and many taxi drivers have begun to listen to them. Will this situation threaten the position of the "heartthrobs" of the traffic reports?
"Of course the new stations put pressure on us," agrees Huang Hu-tai, a section chief at the Traffic Station at PRS. So PRS has begun to strengthen the type of "talk-back" programming on which the unregistered stations thrive. For example, during Chou Ning's program from 9:00 to 9:30 am, they now invite government officials each day to answer live phone-in questions from listeners.
But Chou Ning doesn't think the unregistered stations have had that much of an impact. "In fact, with mobile phones and two-way radios, taxi drivers can keep each other appraised of the road conditions. The audience likes to roam, and they selectively listen to whatever program interests them," he argues.
So in the end it all comes down to whether the traffic "heartthrobs" can keep their "chemistry" going with the Taipei driving public.
[Picture Caption]
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Participating in the professional driver singing contest, taxi drivers finally have a chance to rendezvous with their "heartthrobs." (photo by Diago Chiu)
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