‘All radios go to hell’ is the slogan of Antiwave, China’s best podcast series, produced by Flypig (飞猪) and Ping Ke (平客). The Antiwave website has just been relaunched with a new design and starts off 2007 with a lineup of shows the like of which would never be broadcast on China’s creaky old radio stations.
Flypig and Ping Ke are both journalists by profession. Ping Ke used to host one of the most popular radio shows in Tianjin. The pair started Antiwave in 2005 and quickly became well known amongst China’s young digerati for their caustic sense of humor. Along with San Lian Life Week editor and blogger Wang Xiaofeng, they were the vanguard of the spirit of parody (恶搞精神) that became both an overused buzzword and an emblem of Net savvy Chinese youth in 2006.
For the relaunch of Antiwave, they have come up with two new shows:
Hard to Say 超级难说
Each episode is a spoken essay by Ping Ke about a sensitive or difficult topic. The two episodes published so far are:
Al Jazeera — Which came first, the chicken or the egg
The show examines how an independent global media company could emerge from Qatar, and asks the question: When a country is still an autocratic state, does a free and independent media have to wait for the arrival of democracy, or can it just stand up by itself?
An argument for being rational and cool-headed about Japan, and appreciating the island nation for what it does well instead of just thinking about the past.
People Talk 人民大会谈
Interviews by Flypig. The first one is an interview with Tony Cheng, Beijing Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera English.
Notes: According to Flypig, a third show called Overheard in China is also in the works. The Danwei TV crew recently shot an interview with Ping Ke and Flypig; it will be published in about two weeks time. You can subscribe to Antiwave podcasts on iTunes, by RSS feed, or you can just listen online at Antiwave.net (or at the hyperlinks to the episodes above).