TV awards panel honors Asian programs with pizzazz

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Informative TV stories are almost always surefire ratings winners.

But programs inevitably do even better with audiences when packaged in original, entertaining concepts.

This was among criteria for 25 judges from nine countries, who visited six cities in the region to screen and select winners in the Asian Television Awards 1997 (ATA).

From the list of eight participating countries, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Korea received notification of awards by facsimile message last month.

Indonesia shone with its best showing in the second holding of ATA.

Private station ANteve was cited for its fast-paced sports program, Majalah Olahraga (Sports Magazine).

Brainchild of the station's sports division head, Reva Deddy Utama, the hour-long show airs every Sunday at 12 p.m. Anchors are Monika Desideria and Martin Mohede.

ANteve corporate communications manager Zoraya Perucha said it received the distinction because it was "original, packed with the latest and packed really well".

ATA, an annual nonprofit event to encourage television creative talent in Asia, is organized by Television Asia, Asia's leading business magazine for the TV programming industry.

With three nominations in 23 categories, the awards' criteria include originality of idea and concept. Other considerations are minimal production value and use of one's own crew.

ATA's Singapore office had initially gathered the 668 entries for 1997 on videotape. Judges announced 69 finalists at a reception in Hong Kong's Convention Center in early December.

Winning entries will be compiled in a program -- to include interviews with the talents behind the shows -- scheduled for broadcast across Asia in April.

For nonfiction programs of sports, music, documentaries and quiz shows, Zoraya explained the term "minimal production value" meant the production should be top quality and gain more in viewer ratings than its production costs.

"It's about minimal costs. Since everything was done in our own studio, with our own camera and editing facilities, it cost us practically nothing for this program."

The year-old program had originally cost about Rp 1 million when it debuted, she said.

"Now, even with sky-high rates and prices going up everywhere, it still costs us under US$1,000. That comes down to overhead costs alone," she said.

"The program is done with our own production crew. The international soccer aired on Anteve, for instance, is taken from foreign video clips, edited, packaged and anchored by locals. But everything about Majalah Olahraga is local."

Reva said the program's varied segments -- such as Kilas (At a Glance) on the latest sports fads -- were a draw.

"It covers the best national sporting events of the week," Reva said.

Other segments include Orbit on up-and-coming Indonesian athletes and their progress; Bugar Bintang (Celebrities and Exercise) and Sosok (Spotlight), profiles of sports figures.

Gossip spices up the program with tidbits on lifestyles of local athletes.

Also cited in the ATA were RCTI's music program, Dua Warna, and SCTV's children's show, Krucil.

In a musical class of its own, Dua Warna does not attempt to fuse the contemporary with traditionalism. It instead gives contemporary songs its ethnic note with beats, rhythm and sounds of Bali, Java, West Sumatra (Minang) and West Java (Sunda).

Vocalists sing contemporary local favorites -- including traditional songs -- and the Dua Warna group supplies backing with traditional and modern instruments.

Conductors Aminoto Kosin and Djaduk Ferianto head the nine- ensemble in the shows produced for special events by RCTI.

Music ranges from traditional rhythmic beats to jazzy tunes. The group also performed Jazz Liquid, Sen Ken Ken and Kuah Etnika at the 1997 Jakarta International Jazz Festival last November.

This eclecticism is also reflected in the choice of singers. The list includes pop vocalists Rita Effendi and Andre Hehanussa and alternative rockers singers like Atiek CB on special events. Dua Warna arranges songs to suit their particular styles.

The program does not rely on musical drivel of gamelan banging and jazzy tune-stringing. Instead, it is a blending of voices, pure ethnic gamelan playing and catcalling.

SCTV's Krucil (short for Kru Cilik, or "Small Crew") is without doubt a notable show. The four-year-old program, which airs every Sunday at 4 p.m., informs young viewers on topics which could benefit not only them, but also their surroundings.

The ATA selected on the environment, broadcast on last year's World Environment Day of July. 1.

It featured engrossing and entertaining segments, such as efforts to brush the teeth of hippopotamuses, paper recycling and the catching of sea turtles in Bali.

There was also a special interview with Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and a performance by child star, Joshua.