To welcome the New Year in 1996, television producers at Vietnam Television, along with their colleagues in Ho Chi Minh City, came up with the idea of a North-South multisite broadcast to give audiences across the country a glimpse of the festive atmosphere at both ends of Vietnam as the nation prepared for New Year's Eve.
Recalling the memories of producing that historic broadcast, journalist Thu Uyen shared: “I learned so much from Mr Binh Minh, the former general director of VTV, on how to host naturally. The way he interacted on screen in that program was a lesson to us”.
“When I went on air back then, I didn’t think about looking pretty — I was just focused on hosting”, she said. “The young VTV colleagues at at the time were incredibly talented, especially the team working on the French-language news”.
“VTV is the cradle of Vietnam’s television industry and all forms of visual storytelling in Vietnam. So I truly hope that VTV continues to grow through its younger generation — they are such talented people”, she added.
Journalist Vu Manh Cuong joined that broadcast as a guest, interacting with journalist Thu Uyen at Hoan Kiem Lake.
“The next morning, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I went outside and people recognized me and congratulated me for appearing on TV at such an important time”, he recalled. “Even though our roles in the program were small, we were congratulated because we had taken part in a meaningful show on New Year's Eve. It was a new kind of spiritual offering for TV audiences, so people were eagerly awaiting it. And it truly was a moment of joy for both the viewers and those of us working in television during that era”.
