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Taking to the Waves: Vietnamese society around the radio in the 1930s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2011

ERICH DeWALD
ERICH DeWALD*
Affiliation:
Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Compared with other public media, the colonial state showed a relative lack of interest in radio broadcasting, which developed in Vietnam in the 1930s under the aegis of two organizations based in Hanoi and Saigon, the Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord and Radio Saigon. These two groups were largely responsible for the new technology's expansion and for determining the content of broadcasting. The groups actively consulted the growing radio public, and that vocal audience played a role in determining not just what was heard but also in the social life of radio in late-colonial Vietnam. The content of radio was limited to a non-political domain and this fact, along with the particular position that many radios took in the social geography of towns and cities, lent itself to the easy entry of the radio into day-to-day life. Indeed, the early history of radio in Vietnam is remarkable for how rapidly it became commonplace, even banal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Everyday Technology in South and Southeast Asia , January 2012 , pp. 143 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 For the sake of expediency I have used the word ‘colony’ to refer to the three majority-Vietnamese (kinh) regions of French Indochina. In reality the three regions were administered as separate parts of French Indochina, with Nam kỳ (Cochinchina) directly administered as a colony and the other two regions, Trung kỳ (Annam) and Bắc kỳ (Tonkin), governed as protectorates.

2 See also the paper by Chua Ai Lin in this volume on the radio's cosmopolitanism in colonial Singapore.

3 DeWald, Erich, ‘The Development of Tourism in French Colonial Vietnam, 1918–1940’, in Cochrane, Janet (ed.), Asian Tourism: Growth and Change (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008), pp. 221–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Arnold, David and DeWald, Erich, ‘Cycles of Empowerment: The Bicycle and Everyday Technology in Colonial India and Vietnam’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 53 (4), 2011, pp. 971–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Robbins, Jane, Tokyo Calling: Japanese Overseas Radio Broadcasting, 1937–1945 (Florence: European Press Academic Publishing, 2001), pp. 13–18Google Scholar; Marsellin, Jacques, La Merveilleuse Radio (Paris: Jacob, 1938), pp. 134–46Google Scholar. For the early years of radio in the British empire in Asia and in India in particular, see Awasthy, G. C., Broadcasting in India (Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1965), pp. 1–13Google Scholar.

5 Dépêche Ministérielle, 3 July 1933, ‘Au sujet du service de la radio en Indochine’, Archives Nationales d'Outre Mer (hereafter ANOM), Aix-en-Provence, AgenceFOM, carton (c) 235, dossier (d) 292. Also see the ‘official’ history of radio in Indochina in ‘Le service radioélectrique’, Indochine. Hebdomadaire illustrée, 127, 4 February 1943.

6 ‘L'essor de la radio en Indochine’, Le Courrier d'Haïphong, 18 June 1935; ‘Radio-Saigon s'entraîne’, Le Courrier Saïgonnais, 30 May 1931. See also Teston, Eugène and Percheron, Maurice, L'Indochine moderne: encyclopédie administrative, touristique, artistique et économique (Paris: Librairie de France, 1931), pp. 361–64Google Scholar.

7 Letter, Minister of the Colonies to Governor General of Indochina, 23 September 1929, ANOM, AgenceFOM, c235, d292.

8 For a compelling study of the possibilities of a technology such as radio and the lively and fortuitous ‘social construction’ of the technology (as well as a clear statement of the notion of the technological systems), see Wutzler, Steven, ‘AT&T Invents Public Access Broadcasting in 1923: A Foreclosed Model for American Radio’, in Squier, Susan M. (ed.), Communities of the Air: Radio Century, Radio Culture (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2003), pp. 39–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 ‘Au sujet d'une demande d’émissions présentée par le Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord’, 1930, Vietnam National Archives Center I (hereafter VNA-I), Hanoi, Fonds du Gouvernement Général de l'Indochine (hereafter GGI), d4681.

10 Robbins, Tokyo Calling, pp. 15–16.

11 The same phrase is found word-for-word in ‘Type tropical de poste de radiodiffusion’, advertisement, Courrier Saigonnais, Radio Saigon supplement, 17 July 1930; ‘La radio s'améliore’, L'Echo Annamite, 7 October 1931; Letter, Directeur des Services Economiques to the Directeur de la Société Radio-Saigon, 15 April 1940, VNA-I, d4685.

12 ‘Un vrai engouement pour la radiodiffusion’, Bulletin Officiel du Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord (hereafter BORCIN), April 1935, p. 4.

13 Note postale, Directeur des Services Economiques to the Gouverneur General, 12 June 1940, ANOM, GGI, d66582.

14 Letter, Directeur des Services Economiques to the Président of the Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord, 1936, VNA-I, GGI, d4697.

15 ‘Au sujet des demandes des autorisations de l'installation de poste récepteur particulier en Indochine du Sud’, 18 February 1940, VNA-I, Fonds de la Résidence Supérieure du Tonkin (hereafter RST), d4892.

16 Letter, Directeur of Radio-Saigon to the Directeur des Services Economiques, 27 March 1940, VNA-I, GGI, d4685.

17 See, for example, the article on radio as a palliative, if not a cure, for ‘colonial blues’: ‘Contre l'anomie coloniale’, La Dépêche Coloniale, 22 July 1935.

18 This is most aptly demonstrated in the inventories and surveys of comfortable, modest, and poor households conducted by the Commission Guernut in every province of Indochina in 1937–38. Of particular relevance are the comments made by those who owned radio-sets on why they nearly always placed the sets near windows, looking out onto alleys or roads. This is also attested to by detailed drawings of homes which show the locations of all sorts of household goods but especially of rice-mills, bicycles, sewing-machines, and radio-sets. Those interviewed often said it was to allow others to benefit or, more brazenly, they said that they wanted to ‘show off’. This as-yet largely unexploited archival resource is to be found in six cartons entitled ‘Habitation et alimentation en Indochine’, ANOM, Guernut, c87–90, 92–93. See also the weekly cartoons depicting the dreams of capricious youngsters surrounded by modern goods beginning with ‘Giấc mơ người ăn chơi’ (‘Playboy's Dreams’), Tràng An báo [Tràng An Newspaper], 17 March 1935.

19 Letter, Directeur of Radio-Saigon to the Directeur des Services Economiques, 27 March 1940. See also ‘Au sujet des demandes des autorisations de l'installation de poste récepteur particulier en Indochine du Sud’, 18 February 1940, VNA-I, RST, d 4892; ‘La radio se trouve partout en Indochine’, L'Echo Annamite, 12 July 1939; ‘Một máy thu thanh ở mỗi làng Trung kỳ’ [‘A radio receiver in every central Vietnamese village’], Tiếng Dân [The Voice of the People], 2 October 1938.

20 ‘Quảng bá sóng vô tuyên ở nước ta’ [‘Wireless broadcasting in our country’], Tràng An báo, 6 January 1939. See also ‘Một máy thu thanh’.

21 ‘Statuts du Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord’ (Hanoi: Phat-Minh, 1931); ‘L'importance social de la radio’, Courrier Saigonnais, Radio Saigon supplement, 17 July 1930; ‘Le but du Radio-Club’, BORCIN, May 1935.

22 Here I owe much to Alexander Woodside's classic account of social organizations in late-colonial Vietnam. See Woodside, Alexander, ‘The Development of Social Organisations in Vietnamese Cities in the Late Colonial Period’, Pacific Affairs, 44 (1), 1971, pp. 39–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 The company also owned Indochine Films and was a licensed operator of the state telegraphy monopoly. ‘Statuts de la Compagnie Franco-Indochinoise de la Radiophone’ (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1928).

24 The initial outlay for buying and installing its transmitters comprised at least half the public monies it received. The company was never able to repay the administration for the loan which had allowed the purchase. Upon the sale of Radio Saigon the debt was cancelled and the equipment was owned by the new company. See Report, ‘Etats des stations de radiodiffusion de l'Indochine’, 1 April 1939, Direction des Affaires Economiques, ANOM, AgenceFOM, c235, d292; ‘Où en est la radio en Cochinchine?’, Ondes coloniales, 12 August–September 1936; Charles Debierre, ‘La radioélectricité coloniale’, Les Annales Coloniales, 21 February 1931; Yves Dandoy, ‘L'équipement radiophonique de l'empire français’, Les Annales Coloniales, 8 May 1939; ‘La radio d'outre-mer en Indochine’, France Outre-Mer, 17 June 1930.

25 ‘La nouvelle “Radio-Saigon”’, Courrier Saigonnais, 3 April 1936; Report, ‘L'organisation de la station de radiodiffusion “Radio-Saigon”’, 25 January 1940, Direction des Affaires Politiques, ANOM, AgenceFOM c235, d292.

26 ‘La radio s'achève au Tonkin’, Dépêche Coloniale, 18 December 1932; Letter, Président of the Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord to the Gouverneur-Général de l'Indochine, 27 January 1937, VNA-I, RST, d3286.

27 In its first years the club received nearly $1,000 from the Gouvernement Général, the Résidence Supérieure du Tonkin, and the Mairie de Hanoi. Letter, Président of the Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord to the Gouverneur-Général de l'Indochine, 27 January 1937, VNA-I, RST, d3286.

28 Note postale, Gouverneur-Général to the Résident Supérieur du Tonkin, 27 April 1937, Vietnam National Archives Center II (hereafter VNA-II), Hồ Chí Minh City, Fonds du Gouvernement de la Cochinchine, VIA.8/272 (25).

29 ‘Nos membres’, BORCIN, June 1935; Report, Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord, March 1936, ANOM, RST, d66762; Report, Radio-Club de l'Indochine du Nord, April 1939, VNA-I, RST, d66790.

30 ‘Aux séances du Radio-Club’, BORCIN, February 1936.

31 Radio thus played a part in then-current concerns about self-cultivation and the burgeoning public sphere. For discussions of these two topics, see Bradley, Mark Philip, ‘Becoming van minh: Civilizational Discourse and Visions of the Self in Twentieth-Century Vietnam’, Journal of World History, 15 (1), 2004, pp. 65–83, especially pp. 72–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McHale, Shawn, Print and Power: Confucianism, Communism and Buddhism in the Making of Modern Vietnam (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004), pp. 3–38Google Scholar.

32 Listings can be found in the bulletins of the radio clubs as well as in the broadsheets, inter alia, La Tribune Indochinoise, L'Avenir du Tonkin and France–Annam, as well as in the Saigon-based Indoradio, published from 1937 to 1940.

33 ‘La formation de notre jeunesse’, France–Annam, 13 October 1934.

34 ‘Notre horaire’, BORCIN, May 1936.

35 ‘Aux écoutes du roi d’échecs’, La Tribune Indochinoise, 21 September 1938; ‘Scandale des ondes’, Indoradio, 16 May 1937.

36 On ping pong's popularity, see Erich DeWald ‘Vietnamese Tourism in Late-Colonial Central Vietnam, 1917‒1945’, Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2011, Chapter 5.

37 ‘La coupe Indochinoise’, Indosport, 8 March 1938, among numerous others.

38 ‘La Coupe Bảo Đại’, La Gazette de Hué, 13 April 1936; ‘Chim và Giao ở Huế’, Tràng An báo, 28 March 1937; ‘Chim et Giao encore à Paris’, Indosport, 1 July 1938.

39 Võ-Thanh, ‘Giá-trị phát-thanh radio’ [‘The value of radio broadcasting’], Tràng An báo, 26 October 1935. See also ‘Quảng bá vô tuyển ở nước Annam’ [‘Popularizing wireless in Annam’], Thắng Tiến [Forward March], 20 December 1935.

40 ‘Aux séances du Club’, BORCIN, August 1935.

41 ‘Un conflit à propos du poste de radiodiffusion coloniale en Indochine’, Courrier Saigonnais, Radio Saigon supplement, 18 September 1930.

42 ‘Lettres de nos auditeurs’, BORCIN, February 1937.

43 That both clubs sought the views of their public was clear from the beginning: ‘Les auditeurs, les auditrices’, BORCIN, March 1934; and ‘Aux écoutes du Radio-Saïgon’, Courrier Saigonnais, supplement, 25 June 1931.

44 Representative are the ‘Lettres d'auditeurs’, BORCIN, July 1935, October 1935, January 1936, and February 1936; ‘De la rue aux ondes’, Radio Saigon, July 1937, September 1937, and December 1937.

45 ‘Aux séances’, BORCIN, February 1936.

46 ‘Comment écoutons-nous tous la radio’, Radio Saigon, January 1938.

47 ‘Lettres de nos auditeurs’, BORCIN, November 1936.

48 ‘Lại về vấn-đề phát-thanh vô-tuyển’ [‘Again the problem of wireless broadcasting’], Nghe Thấy [Seen and Heard], 16 November 1935.

49 Băng-Tâm, ‘Khoa-học thường-thức’ [‘Science basics’], Phụ Nữ Tân Văn [Women's News], 16 March 1933.

50 Nguyên-Binh, ‘Thế-giới vô-tuyển’ [‘Wireless world’], Kỹ thuật phổ biến, April 1937.

51 ‘Encore les buts du Radio-Club’, BORCIN, January 1937.

52 ‘Comment écoutons-nous la radio’, La Patrie Annamite, 22 January 1938.

53 ‘Vous, nos auditeurs’, BORCIN, November 1937.

54 ‘Aux séances’, BORCIN, November 1938.

55 ‘Quảng bá’, Tràng An báo.

56 ‘Aux séances’, BORCIN, November 1938.

57 ‘Le service radio-diffusion en Indochine’, Indoradio, September 1937.

58 ‘Việc truyền thanh đối với sự tiến tới nước ta’ [‘Radio broadcasting and the progress of our country’], Khoa Học tạp chí [Science Magazine], October 1936.

59 ‘Les technologies modernes et le progrès social des Annamites’, La Patrie Annamite, 14 May 1936.

60 Viển Chí, ‘Sao thời đại máy móc chưa đến nước Annam’ [‘Why the machine age has not yet come to Vietnam’], Tiến Bộ [Progress], 3 November 1938.

61 Nguyễn Hữu Hưng, ‘Vấn đề khuếch trương kỹ thuật theo quan điểm «bảo hộ»’ [‘The problem of technological development from the perspective of “the protectorate”’], Ánh Sáng [Light], 18 June 1935.

62 From a pamphlet entitled ‘Thực tướng xã hội dưới chế độ thực dân’ [‘The true condition of society under colonialism’] confiscated from an entrant to the Huế fair in 1936, VNA-I, d. 5756.

63 ‘Từ trong quán cà phê’ [‘From inside the café’], Cười [Laughter], 26 February 1939.

64 Bùi Văn Dang, ‘Về vấn đề trí thức thất nghiệp’ [‘On the problem of unemployed intellectuals’], Nghe Thấy, 9 November 1935.

65 Tý Mững, ‘Một số dấu hiệu cho thấy cải cách xã hội ta’ [‘Some signs of our social reform’], Tiếng Dân, 29 June 1935.

66 Sói-Sâm, ‘Thế giới si-cút là thế giới ra-đi-o’ [‘The scouting world is the radio world’], Thắng Tiến, 5 July 1936.

67 Trung Ngọc, ‘Anh Lâm, thợ máy’ [‘Mr Lâm the mechanic’], Nghề Mới [New Trades], 10 December 1936.

68 ‘La vie en ville et notre évolution sociale’, La Patrie Annamite, 23 June 1937.

69 Ngọc, ‘Anh Lâm’. Also see Bùi Huy Tín, ‘Huế mới’ [‘New Huế’], Tràng An báo, 18 April 1939; Thu, Đỗ Đức, Nhà bên kia [he House Across the Way] (Hanoi: Nhà In Cộng Lực, 1938), p. 39Google Scholar; Lân, Nguyễn, Cậu bé nhà que [The Young Yokel] (Hanoi: Imprimerie Thanh Niên, n.d. [circa 1940]), p. 27Google Scholar.