Hong Kong music host issues classical challenge to chief executive contenders

Retiring RTHK personality Jonathan Douglas says he would love to interview the three candidates on their classical music tastes

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RTHK music host Jonathan Douglas is inviting the three chief executive candidates to come on his morning programme. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 5:15pm, 13 Mar 2017Updated: 10:51pm, 13 Mar 2017

The city’s top classical music radio host has called on all three chief executive candidates to phone in to “reveal their human face” through a chat on the arts.

Jonathan Douglas, the host of Morning Call on RTHK’s Radio 4, made the appeal to all candidates to join his show, which features live interviews in English with artists and reviewers from 7 to 10 on weekday mornings.

“Wouldn’t that be marvellous if the three candidates come on air and talk about the arts?” the British host said, referring to chief executive contenders John Tsang Chun-wah, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Woo Kwok-hing, who face the election on March 26.

A conversation on issues such as the importance of music in their lives “would be revealing a bit of their human face” and “they would be showing they have a certain amount of heart [in the arts].”

Chief executives, past and present, have often appeared in events such as the ongoing Hong Kong Arts Festival as leading arts patrons.

“They recognise the importance of making Hong Kong an important arts centre but I think they should follow it up with more action, and that action should be genuine,” he said.