VOV in the the hearts of its listeners

Nguyen Van Tong, former Director of HCM city’s Department of Culture and Information, has been listening to radio every morning for years. Tong says he often carried a small radio with him during the years of national resistence. Victory news gave him faith in the day of national reunification. Tong said: “The Voice of Vietnam contributed significantly to Vietnam’s Revolution. During nights when we were marching, I heard the radio everywhere. Even now that most people prefer to watch television, I still keep up my habit of listening to radio and VOV’s ID tune is very familiar to me.”

VOV has been a source of reliable, fast, and up-to-date information for everyone everywhere. Pham Van Dong, who often goes fishing near the Truong Sa archipelago, said: “During free time, I listen to Vietnam’s traditional music and news concerning Truong Sa and Hoang Sa on the radio. VOV is very important to fishermen like me.”

 VOV has many short-wave listeners around the world. One of them, Dmitri Kotenev of Russia, said: “The first time I listened to a VOV short-wave program was in 2004. It was about the commemoration of the Dien Bien Phu victory. I’ve been a regular listener ever since. I often listen to the whole program, whose news and features tell me a lot about Vietnam such as activities of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Vietnamese leaders, Vietnam’s people, culture, and sightseeing.”

Many foreign listeners have said that through VOV Vietnam has become very familiar to them although they have never visited it.

In a small town in the western part of the US state of Maryland Bill Ball has never missed a VOV program. Bill was in Vietnam during the war in the 1960s as a photojournalist. He has not returned to Vietnam even once but through VOV he can imagine the changes here: “Turning back in the 70s, I was quite impressed. I liked the fact that you had a goodnews program at the beginning, and then you went into some of the cultural thingsin your country. I found in current events very interesting. I guess I see that thecountry has really developed much more, and yet it has retained its identity withthe people, and I find that very interesting.”

In the southern part of the US, Richard Nowak has a collection of more than 30 old radio sets, some of which date from World War 2. Richard began to listen to radio in the 1980s when he was a student in Florida. He said: “It was by random. I turned on the radio, I was turning dial and I heard came acrossVoice of Vietnam.  I said “Wow, this is coming all the way from Vietnam, and it’s anear short wave. I was thrilled.  If it was to hear this from my college bedroom inthe 1980s, it was a huge thrill.”

Richard said VOV provides news not only about Vietnam but also other Southeast Asian nations. He still keeps as mementos many VOV verification cards, some of which have become blurred with time.

There is a club of radio listeners called the Radio Perch 200km from Paris. VOV programs have always been on the list of their favorites since 1983. A member named Philippe Marsan said: “I was moved to have found the VOV frequency for the first time. It was wonderful! There was some noise but it was audible. It’s the Voice of Vietnam!” I wrote down the frequency and reported back to VOV.”

Many club members have received gifts from VOV, which they consider priceless and evidence of their love for radio and VOV. Gilles Gautier said: “I once participated in a contest about Vietnam to mark VOV’s founding anniversary. I received an acknowledgement receipt and a small bronze drum. The contest was quite interesting.”

The love of our listeners has encouraged the VOV staff to continue striving to inform and entertain its listeners around the world.

VOV