English Radio Show "Music World Cruise"
Goes from Strength to Strength
By Tikei Bell
Music World Cruise Programme Creator and ACE Instructor Tikei aka Captain Tikei said, “The concept of our newest show is quite simple: You place 3 funny presenters on a ship that travels the globe playing world music, K Pop and MTV from different places. Of the presenters, the Captain of the ship is Tikei, the quizmaster is the First Officer played by Mick Taylor and the ship’s Khmer Communications Officer is played by MC Thina who ensures that our message gets fully understood out there by a wider audience.
“Our passengers are our listeners,” said MC Thina, a former ACE/EAP graduate. “We teach English on air and we invite guests to join our programme. These are usually local musicians and guests of interest from all walks of life. Throw in the competition element through a general knowledge quiz and you have quite a well-planned and formatted BBC-standard radio show. The only other radio show in Cambodia that is up to that standard is the BBC ‘Loy 9’ radio show but they are not as funny as us nor does anyone laugh as loudly as the Captain does,” he grinned.
MC Thina ought to know as Captain Tikei has designed dozens of radio shows in Cambodia and even set up LOVE FM in a radio career going back almost 20 years when he created the very first English programme called “Lunch hour hot hits” in Cambodia back in 1995. The programme was a music request show that aired during lunchtimes with Radio FM 99. Despite being sponsored by a cigarette company in those days, it was a massive hit with the local Khmers as it was the first time for many of them to practice speaking English on Live radio. "We have gone full circle by redeeming ourselves in the last 20 years,” said Tikei before adding that “because in the old days we didn’t have a lot of choice as far as sponsors were concerned but now thankfully we have replaced the tobacco companies with more reputable and health conscious radio show sponsors like So Nutritious & ACE and because of that we are truly grateful".
The history of the radio show began when it was launched as the Teen World Cruise in August 2013. The show has since been undergoing a rebranding exercise as the Music World Cruise for the second season when the producers realized that the majority of their audience was older than just teens. The show’s ethos of being able to successfully entertain, inform and to educate has led it to enjoy a loyal following of over Facebook 5,000 likes. Quizmaster Mick Taylor agreed saying that, “We are a health & educational show with a difference and although I don’t make it easy when it comes to giving the quiz questions I certainly make it a lot of fun”. Mick plays the role of the quick witted First Officer of the ship backing up the Captain and the Crew with the quiz in the second hour. The show is educational with English teaching formats that include the ACE Idiom of the Week in the first hour and the ACE Slang of the Week in the second hour.
The British iSound Concept Producer of the Music World Cruise Lee Handman said, “Since our partnership with ACE, it has really enriched our show by allowing us to gain a very loyal listenership. This in turn has also enabled us to increase our audience due to the fantastic ACE scholarship prize giveaway. We are excited about the guest of the week slot on the show that has already featured musical artists like P-Sand, No Forever, and the spoken word poet Kosal Khiev.”
Besides local artists, humanitarian spokespeople have also appeared on the show like Amy Hanson from the Small Steps Project (a charity which aids families on rubbish dumps) to Mr. Graham Taylor the CEO of So Nutritious who educates the youth to eat healthily. Lee said, “I look forward to working alongside ACE in the future to encourage students who are involved in the arts including singers, painters, poets and anybody who is interested in the radio and in any form of creativity and especially IDP/ACE staff to get in touch with the show on 015 774 037 and be our guest of the week.” Another great thing about the Music World Cruise radio show is that it can be streamed online so that ACE students from other campuses in Siem Reap can listen in to show. So too can the whole world on http://www.tonlefm.com/ so that even our families can hear the radio show as far away in London or in New Zealand!
Christmas came early for one young Music World Cruise listener and contestant Mr. Bun Hour who won the top prize of a free scholarship to ACE for the month of December 2013. Mr. Bun Hour won the scholarship by being able to answer the most general knowledge questions in the shortest amount of time of 47 seconds over the whole month.
I am so happy and lucky to win the ACE scholarship,”he said with a beaming smile. “I really like the Music World Cruise Radio Show because we can learn a lot of general knowledge about world facts. We can learn about English idioms and English slang which helps us to improve our English and to improve our knowledge of the world; most importantly i get the opportunity to study at the best English school in Cambodia. Thank you ACE!