Former Site of TVB Studios, Broadcast Drive

Here is a quickie before we head off for the usual end-of-term getaway.  I’ve got a ton of stuff on my to-do list (about 7 or 8 things I want to post) but they invariably involve the need for some up-to-date piccies and seeing as school term ended last week going to get these snaps usually involves some sort of immense pain caused by my kids’ incessant moaning about how bored they are looking at old ruins (yes, readers that includes me). You bribe ‘em and they still moan, it’s a lose/lose situation and sometimes not worth the hassle. As a result, you may have to wait a few weeks for me to get around to finishing them off (the articles I mean, not the kids). Until then…

Let’s look at #63 Broadcast Drive. You may or may not be aware that this area in Kowloon City district just over the road from Kowloon Tong, was once the centre of HK’s television and radio broadcast industry. They were all here: ATV, TVB and of course RTHK and ETV are still here and going strong. ATV (formerly RTV and Rediffusion in previous incarnations) was the last to move out circa 2007 and has since moved to the rather less salubrious environs of the Tai Po Industrial estate (yes, times must be really that hard). TVB on the other hand moved out many years ago – 1984 to be exact – moving into the former Movietown Studios in Clearwater Bay when Sir Run Run decided to pull out of the movie business and concentrate on TV. Since then they have moved again to Tseung Kwan O but it could be argued that the station’s halcyon days were here in Kowloon when the popular Robert Chua hosted “Enjoy Yourself Tonight“.

The program was a real ground-breaker (for HK at least) and unfortunately, due to a tape-recycling initiative (in order to cut costs) during the 1980′s, almost all of the taped shows of EYT were completely wiped as the techies recorded newer material over the back catalog. One of those things that makes you go…

Of course, to many people this wouldn’t have too much significance, but to Bruce Lee fans around the world it cause much pain as Lee appeared on several editions of the show (as did many other famous HK stars)  – now completely lost in the depths of time. Anyway, this location of the former TVB studios is where it all happened. Here is a picture, courtesy of those nice people at Wiki, of how the studios looked.

Looks all very low rise and undeveloped compared to today but I guess that is the way HK is (incidentally the shanty town behind was on the lower slopes of Lion Rock Hill). Compared to its modern equivalent this place was tiny, so it’s of no surprise that the move in 1984 was, in part, spurred on by the need for more studio space.

Anyway, moving on thirty or so years and we can see what stands in place now. My word! Who would have guessed that on this spot there now stands an apartment complex? These days it’s known as Peninsula Heights.

Another obscure and mundane location in HK that hides quite a significant amount of history (albeit now taped over )

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