TV Broadcaster

My debut as a TV broadcaster occurred in April 1983 through a TV program named "Middle School English" produced by EBS (formerly known as KBS 3 channel). Since I am in the process of obtaining video records from it, I will share what's called a 'Behind-the-Scene' story as to how I made my TV appearance debut through said program.

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It was early March 1983 while I was watching the program and decided to apply for the participant of the program. My predecessors were all middle school students like I was, and I thought I would give it a try. Then one day, one of the staff from said program called and asked whether I could come to their TV studio and become a participant. I said I would, and went to the TV studio located by the hillside of Mt. Umyeon (a.k.a. Umyeonsan).

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After receiving verbal instructions and signing some papers (now I believe it was my Release Form to use my tape appearance for TV broadcast purposes), I sat at the semi-circle table next to a Korean female MC in her early 30s. To her right, a Caucasian male & female in their late 20s/early 30s were also sitting there, both wearing brown-colored eyeglasses, just like I was at the time. Then one of the stage ADs approached me and asked whether I could take off my off-white sweatshirt and only wear a navy-colored shirt underneath it because the sweatshirt may produce too much glare under the bright studio lighting system. I said I would, but she later told me I could continue to wear a sweatshirt because the main control room said it was OK.

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While waiting for my segment to be taped, the MC asked me whether I could introduce myself by mentioning my name and the middle school I go to, and I acknowledged it, which became part of the opening shot of the segment. I also noticed there were three studio cameras and a big TV monitor located adjacent to them. During my segment taping, I found out one camera was fixed at two Caucasian pair capturing their bust shot, one was fixed at myself and the MC capturing the same image as theirs, and another one was to capture the entire participants from a full shot. I also learned that when TV stations tape a program such as the one I was in, they record several days' segments together, and while I was waiting for my segment to begin, the main control room played the segment that's scheduled to air the day before my taped segment will, and I noticed one Caucasian female in her mid-20s wearing a white cocktail dress with off-shoulder design was lip-singing to the song "When Will I See You Again" by The Third Degrees (which were part of the program segments for middle school students to learn English songs and their lyrics), and I remember a female AD, MC, and two Caucasian participants discussed with some amusement as to whether such "revealing" clothing is allowed by EBS. It was, and I watched that segment aired without any correction.

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The taping went smoothly without any technical or NG from any one of the participants. After the taping, the female AD apprached me with ten notebooks with the KEDI (Korean Educational Development Institute) logo on them as compensation for appearing on their show, and I still retain some of them today with unforgettable memories, even after 41  years have passed from the event.

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