ABSTRACT
Established in the UK in the 1920s to relay radio programmes using wired networks, the Rediffusion service travelled to some British colonies, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaya. However, the advent of the Rediffusion broadcast in Thailand was exclusively targeted at the ethnic Chinese—the country’s largest minority. This chapter examines the history of the Chinese Rediffusion broadcast in Thailand from the 1950s to the 1970s. As the Thai state considered Chinese language as foreign sound, it tightened its control on Chinese broadcasts; yet, as this chapter demonstrates, by offering knowledge in Chinese traditions, a glimpse into Chinese classics and modern literature, and access to Chinese pop music, the Rediffusion broadcast contributed to the development of leisure and entertainment culture in Chinese communities in the post-war decades.
