global_jd

Sodoyo

I happened across a Mandarin-oriented bookstore in San Francisco this weekend... Sodoyo is on upper Powell St., right across from Washington Square Park. They sell video, audio, books and magazines. Prices are very, very low... I picked up a bunch of DVDs of pre-1950s films at less than $2 each, photo guidebooks at about $6, a paperbound atlas of China for about $4, textbooks at a third of what they might cost elsewhere. The feel is like Kinokuniya in Nihonmachi, although not as extensive (and not as expensive).

The films I've viewed so far are in Mandarin, without any subtitles or alternate audio tracks. They carried a couple of lines of classic film, though. Lines of stock weren't complete... it felt a bit like overstocks, although I suspect the business is more complex than that. There's little English in the shop. Red labels are list price; white labels show the 20% discount for members.

Local radio

The Japanese-language Radio Mainichi on KEST-AM1450 changed hours this week. I don't yet see updated info on their their website. I was listening just before 6pm on Monday and heard a brief announcement in Japanese before the hourly station jingle, but couldn't give it full attention, and am not sure what it said. The following program was in Chinese, as was this 6pm block throughout the rest of the week. I'm not sure if it was a one-week change, or a permanent change, or what... will keep checking, trying to get on just before 6pm again.

KVTO Radio is still free of "Air America", and it looks like we've turned a corner... Google still shows only the two original press releases on their site, and KVTO has been silently dropped from Air America's station list. I'm tempted towards profanity... this silent retraction in the face of reality is so typical of their communication style. How can anyone ever take such abusively duplicitious people seriously? (Interesting... The Wayback Machine has not archived any of their pages.) pfeh.

KVTO radio watch

From referrer logs I see that many who find this blog come in with search terms on KVTO radio. I'm not certain who is seeking what info, from where or why, but if you're seeking info on the Air America takeover, then the station still has Cantonese-language programming today. The most recent info I find on the Air America Radio site says that KVTO is "coming soon", although it was expected to be completed last month. If you're seeking an online schedule of Asian-language programming on KVTO then I don't know whether any exist, sorry. If you're a reporter outside of SF seeking changes in status on this story, then I haven't seen evidence of the takeover yet... you can use this link to track relevant changes to the Air America website, and this link to check for any recent news articles. (If you're instead searching on this because unique programming in your own city has already been removed, then you have my sympathy, and the hope that balance will return soon.)

KVTO update

For some reason this blog is at the top of the list for radio station KVTO, Berkeley "Voice of the Orient", which is under threatened take-over by some, ah, wealthy and famous people who think their political views cannot otherwise be heard in the San Francisco Bay Area. Assuming you're looking for an actual website for the station, I haven't found one either. I believe this is the owner contact, but the only website I've found has never served up its pages in the two months I've been pinging them. On the plus side, although Air America backers said that they'd take over KVTO "in April", today is the last day of the month and yesterday afternoon I still heard Korean and Cantonese programming on the station. (Unfortunately, my ear still isn't at the place whether I could figure out whether they were talking about the takeover...!) The syndicated show has already lost its CEO and main outlets, and rumor has it that the financial backers are bit upset, so we may luck out and not lose access to this Asian-language radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area.

More SF Mandarin radio

I like TypePad, because it gives me access to referrer logs once again... a lot of hits come in here for "cross culture communication" even though I know precious little about the subject yet (I suspect I'm benefitting from the aggregate TypePad pagerank). Still, one incoming search on "KVTO" also turned up this link to Chinese-language radio in San Francisco, and I learned of some programming slots I hadn't known of before. Thank you, O Mysterious Searcher Out There.... ;-)

KTSF schedule

Duh... I had seen this before but hadn't processed it properly... KTSF, Channel 26 San Francisco, has an ASP-fed schedule which lets you filter by language. The listings include information about available subtitles and (few) SAP (second audio channel) programs. KTSF comes in intermittently for me, but if DishTV punks out then I can look into strengthening my local antenna rather than paying cable or DirectTV costs just to get better local signals.

(The website of KMTP, Channel 32 SF, says that they're currently evaluating broadcast changes. They'll have a focus session on Bryant St. Thursday evening. I'll probably be pretty whupped by that point next week, but will see if I can attend and present the "concerned gaijin" viewpoint.... ;-)

KVTO alternatives

Al Franken, Janeane Garofoli and their backers have contracted with KVTO-Berkeley 1400 AM for their 1000KW signal, knocking off its variety of syndicated Asian programming in the process. I had started listening to that station this spring and regret its passing, although there's still hope that the deal won't go through. An article at morons.org (honest, that's what they call themselves) notes that neighboring KEST has a few Asian languages represented, although from my casual inspection it's only a fraction of what KVTO offered (KEST is mostly new-age, although it does offer Radio Mainichi 6pm-7pm M-F, and the "India Waves" radio show on the weekend (which has a television component on KMTP-32)). KVTO is ostensibly a Korean-language station, but the bulk of its own content was apparently Cantonese, and I believe I've heard a variety of other asian languages on it (I'm not good at identification yet). Santa Clara University has another list of local radio/TV resources, although I haven't had the opportunity yet to cross-test this against other such lists to create a personal schedule. Anyway, once this thing settles down, then if KVTO's unique content is removed I'll scurry to construct a personal listening schedule from the remaining voices.....