Phuket Post :: Article :: The Media Lady

Nestled in the midst of a tropical jungle on Rang hill Phuket city, the last place you'd expect to find an office for any usual business, is where Khun Wanpen drives to work every day. And surely enough, the work that goes on there is far from ordinary.

Khun Wanpen Upton is the Director of Channel 11, the only television channel that broadcasts local programs from Phuket. While Channel 11 as a whole is broadcast all over the country, different regions have their own stations and programmes, the one in Phuket also covers Krabi and Phang Nga.

�The channel serves under the Royal Thai government Public Relations Department,� Khun Wanpen explains to the Phuket Post as we are seated in her work station on the hill. �It delivers the policies of the government to the people, and also conveys the opinions and thoughts of the people to the government. So we perform a two-way function.�

�Channel 11 Phuket is a community focused station, which emphasises the development strategy for the Andaman region.� Khun Wanpen explains. �Being here in the Andaman, our focuses are tourism and the economy; one of our goals is to enhance the competitiveness of the people of the region, by introducing and covering career opportunities for the people.�

The channel features news, current affairs, documentaries, travel, culture and education. Equipped with a mobile satellite and OB van, the channel is equipped to air live, whenever the occasion arises.

�We are very keen to include foreigners who live here,� says Khun Wanpen.

Channel 11 is open to media partnerships and welcomes new ideas and constructive programmes, especially in English. Capital TV, for example, has a half hour spot at 8 am every Friday, when they air a programme in English. Khun Wanpen emphasised that the channel is open for commercial adverts and airtime for rent. They can also do production if required.

The channel runs a news bulletin �Andaman News� in English, Monday to Friday at 8: 30 am.

I am led into that ultimate media haven, the editing office, with all its mysterious switches, screens and boards, to see rushes of the English Club series, where bilingual children acted as smart, peppy hosts for the entertainingly produced educational series.

�They were so confident,�she smiles warmly. �This was an extremely popular series, watched by Thais all over the island, especially in the tourism industry, to improve their language skills. We continue providing TV experience for children or students by having a Young Reporter segment both in English and Thai news programs where they report direct about activities. It is working very well.�

�We want our viewers to participate and feel like they are a part of the station. This is after all, a community channel. We would like to be a forum for both the locals and expatriates who live here, so that they may be able to communicate what they think, what they like or dislike about their life here.�
As part of including the viewers and their opinions in their TV, Khun Wanpen has been holding forums for discussions on various issues and topics, and plans to extend these further to include expatriates as well.
The purpose behind these forums, she explains is to go to the grass roots to encourage dialogue, elicit opinions, find measures and solutions.

�I like casual and open forums, where everybody can be themselves and participate equally,� she declares, �not a formal meet in a hotel, but rather an informal gathering in a casual setting, where people just sit around in a circle and everyone has an opportunity to state their opinions. Recently, over the issue of garbage disposal on Phuket, we had a forum at the Queen Sirikit public park, near the TAT Office.

�You see, I still believe in the media,� says Khun Wanpen forthrightly. �I believe that we can help eradicate problems and solve issues, and that this is our role.�

�The media has a very important role to play in the community. Disaster prevention, for example,� she points out.

�Having been through the experience of the tsunami, our role in the community was highlighted. We became the centre of communication during that terrible time. People would call us constantly for information and reassurance. They relied on us, we built a relationship of trust with our viewers and we want to maintain that.

�Even in September, when there was an earthquake in Indonesia, we had several people call in anxiously, wanting to know the situation. We, as a team, work to reassure them and provide them with accurate information. We told them to keep tuned in, and our reporters were stationed all along the coast, ready to report live, in case there was a tsunami warning.�

�That trust is the most important thing to us.

�A few months earlier, due to a lightening strike on our cables, we were off the air for two days. The number of calls we received enquiring about why we were off was just heart-warming.

�That's the charm of local TV, you see.� says Khun Wanpen proudly. �Your viewers are close to you, the programmes they see, the people they see featured are part of their lives; we are a part of their lives.

�And they are a part of us. Our viewers feel like 'this is my TV'. They call in and tell us about things that are happening on the island, just so that we may be the first to have that story...that kind of loyalty is invaluable. It's a wonderful feeling.�

And so Khun Wanpen and her team labour seven days a week, in their office-in-the-hills with the million baht views. �It's a bit of a problem at lunch time!� she grins. �It's so far away from everything.�