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Growing up, Woon Tai Ho - Channel NewsAsia founder & Bestselling Author of books like the George Yeo trilogy, Soul of Ink, Riot Green- didn’t know he was poor.
Until he invited his friends over and was asked questions like:
❓ Where’s your phone?
❓ Where’s your sofa?
None of which he had.
Which made him realise that actually, he was pretty poor. 😅
But he was never ashamed of it.
When his sister invited him to stay at the house she was working at as a domestic helper, that changed his world.
“I couldn’t believe it, the way they stayed… these people had a dimension of luxury that I didn’t know about. So I told myself, I need to work very hard.”
And work very hard he did.
We know Channel News Asia as one of the preeminent TV news channels in Asia, but that wasn’t always the case. As Tai Ho shares, the earliest days of CNA was very much a ‘wait and see’ game.
It was hardly easy too.
“Television is a very, very hungry animal. A news channel is a very, very hungry animal. Every hour, every minute, every second needs content. Otherwise it's black”
❓So how did Tai Ho build CNA from the ground up?
❓Position CNA amidst other giants like CNN & the BBC?❓Gain support from the likes of former Singapore foreign minister, George Yeo?
❓Handle challenges like when he was summoned to China for their coverage of Falun Gong?
To find out more, listen to Part 1 of Woon Tai Ho's episode on the So This Is My Why here. 😉
Highlights:
0:00 Introduction
1:10 Do you feel successful?
4:40 Childhood
6:30 Being a chef?
8:40 Singapore is a pretty good place!
11:30 "I never thought about being the best"
12:00 "When I was a kid, I didn't know I was poor"
14:00 Singapore spoils you
15:00 Founding Channel NewsAsia (@channelnewsasia)
18:50 Realities of founding a news channel (that most people don't see)
21:10 Defining 'quality'
22:30 Communicating quality to the team
24:10 Analysing competitors
26:40 Wait & see game
32:40 Getting into trouble with the Chinese government
39:00 Moving on from MediaCorp (@mediacorpsg)
🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: www.sothisismywhy.com/146
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WHO AM I:
I'm Ling Yah, a Malaysian lawyer & host/producer of the So This Is My Why, where I interview inspiring people about how they found their why, and their blueprint for turning that why into a reality. I’ve interviewed Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs, top entrepreneurs, VC founders, Hollywood actresses, and more.
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⌨️ I’d love to hear from you! Just leave a comment below or email me at sothisismywhy(at)[gmail.com](gmail.com/)
Part 2 will come out next Sunday!