Memories of that Box

I read in the papers about Redifussion closing shop at the end of this month. It has been in operation for more than 6 decades, 63 years to be precise. I am a bit surprised though that it is just 6 years older than me because my earliest childhood memory includes this square wooden box perched at a height on the wall. It provided whole day entertainment to the tailors working in our home in KL for my father's tailoring business. Needless to say their favourites were myths, legends and historical epics told by Li Dai Soh. Some of our tailors were illiterate too and depended on redifussion to receive the latest news update in Cantonese. Redifussion had other uses as well. I can still vividly remember the exact melody that blared from the brown box waking me with a shudder for school. It was the music which announced the start of broadcast at 6am daily. As an alarm clock it never ever failed us. Other than Li Dai Soh's animated story telling there were also various audio dramas which depended on dialogue, music and sound effects to stir our imagination. Indeed we the children became so addicted that my mum worried that we were too distracted to do our homework properly. Thus she imposed a curfew much to the distress of our workers. No one was allowed to turn on the Redifussion when the children were home from school. What a pity, I could have gathered so much more about Chinese history through Li Dai Soh's historical epics.

Almost every family subscribed to Redifussion. When I was 15 my elder sister, younger brother and I moved from KL to stay at my aunty's shophouse in Selegie Road, Singapore. I could enjoy Redifusssion again. On Sundays the shop house was deserted as my aunty and her family would spend the weekends at their new house. The Selegie shop house was haunted and I could bear witness to that. Can you imagine the nervous thrill of listening to ghost dramas in a haunted house every Sunday evening! My sister, little brother and I would huddle together near the Redifussion almost feeling the presence of other audience.

In 1982 when the Singapore government banned all broadcast in dialects my grandmother was in rage and scolded LKY. When not playing mahjong she would be listening to Redifussion's Cantonese programs whilst sewing, preparing meals or meddling with the contents of her cupboard. How pathetically docile our generation was then. We didnt even fight for our parents or grandparents' rights to simple entertainment. Redifussion was for her what the ipod is for us today. Can you imagine taking the ipod/iphone away from a youngster. No wonder she cried foul and murder. That box will always remain as part of the sweet memories cherished by people of my generation.