Welcome to a very special edition in our series,
Tribute to SG Music Icons. Our series pays tribute
to the artists, the enablers and the icons who
have shaped our entertainment landscape. And
tonight we welcome a man who is the very definition
of a Singaporean icon. Some say his name, the
Flying Dutchman, was born from a legendary 48
-hour radio shift. Others claim he was a boy
delivered on a KLM flight. Any very brave few
suggest his boss just couldn't pronounce Van
Kallenberg. The truth, he insists, is the one
you choose to believe. With a career spanning
over four decades on the airwaves and more than
half a century as an emcee, he has been a constant
voice in our lives. From Rediffusion to the golden
age of partnership radio with Joe Augustine,
Glenn Ong, to mentoring the next generation,
he is a living testament that Nothing will kill
the radio star. But to me, he's more than a timeless
brand, a mentor, or an icon. He's my friend.
So tonight, on the Chris Hansen Conversation,
we get to the man, the myth, and the master of
the airwaves, my buddy, the Flying Dutchman.
Let's find out if he'll finally tell the truth
about that name. If he won't, I will. There are
three origin stories behind the name The Flying
Dutchman. Let me just name those three. A legendary
48 -hour radio shift. Yes. A boy delivered on
a KLM flight. Yes. Yes. Or a boss that just couldn't
pronounce Van Kallenberg. Yes. So you're never
going to reveal the fact. I will never reveal
it. People have just got to try and figure out
which one is the real story. I'm going to tell
you right here, right now. I know what it is.
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Shure merchandise with your purchases. Now, let's
start the show. But you got to know what is the
title of the show, Dombra. Okay. The title of
your episode is a tribute to SG's music icons.
Okay. And it's a tribute to you. Okay. Okay.
And the episode title is that tribute to a timeless
brand, the Flying Dutchman. Stay there. Timeless
brand. Timeless brand. Don't play a fool. Not
bad. Not bad. 44 years. Why not? So, do you think,
Bruh. They're at this stage of your game. What?
30 years already, right? 44, bro. Holy crap.
I just got a long service. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
A lifetime achievement award. 44 years. Congratulations,
man. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Don't forget,
no, I think I was. No, I wasn't there. This 44
years includes Rediffusion. Yes, yes. Because
I was there when you first got the radio. Yes.
Okay. So, 44 years. at this juncture in your
game, huh, bruh? In my game. And it is a game.
Yeah. It is a game, bruh. I think anything anyone
does in any profession is a game. Providing you
treat it with respect. Well, yeah, lah. Of course,
lah. I mean, no other way, right? True enough.
Would you consider yourself after this long to
be a national treasure? I've always considered
myself to be a national treasure. Not shy, boss.
No, no. There are two things I consider myself
to be. One, a national treasure, and two, a 90s
icon. Why 90s? 80s, 90s. Actually, it was a party
we did the other day. where the station did a
party and you had to come dressed as a 90s icon.
So I came in black pants, a black t -shirt and
a red jacket. The greatest hits of all time.
Yeah. And someone asked me, so who are you? I
said, I'm a 90s icon. But actually, come to think
of it, your heyday started then. I think my heyday
really started in about 19... Ooh, 90s lah. Early
1990s. Yeah. It would have been the 90s. Early
1990s. But bearing in mind that I started on
Rediffusion long before that. Oh, yeah. That
one I know. Yeah. People, you got to know this.
First of all, let me just say hello. Welcome
back to the Chris Hansen Conversation. And it's
my tribute show. This time to this icon. You've
heard the introduction earlier on. And I have
with me my brother from another mother. And my
mother still regrets it. The Flying Dutchman.
Thanks so much for having me, man. Finally, I
have you with me live in the studio. Yeah, it's
about time. The last time we did this was with
Mr. And we did that one over the phone. Over
the phone, yeah, man. It wasn't that much fun.
This is more fun. Yeah, it's difficult when you're
doing it over the phone because you've got nobody
to bounce off. Precisely, bro. Precisely. And
I've known you for decades. So might as well
just have you in studio, right? Absolutely. Yeah,
man. Bring me back whenever you want. My afternoons
are boring. I will bloody hold you to it. Absolutely,
please. Is it true? Is it true? Is it true what
I've been reading? I don't recall you telling
me this. What? You were delivered by our former
president, Benjamin Shears. Serious shit. Yes,
serious shit. After two inducement injections.
You refused to pop, right? I refused. I was stubborn
as hell. And it took a second injection and then
finally I said, okay, welcome to the world. Came
out going, whoa, look at this. It's color. You
know what? I'm just wondering what's my phone
doing with you? I have no idea. It's blocking
my hat. I'm sorry I'm blocking your hat. Because
you know me. I have a massive hat collection.
Oh yeah, that one I know. What made you wear
this one? I was going to wear another one. My
wife said, nope, you've got to change it. It
doesn't suit what you're wearing. But it's on
the table. You're not wearing it because of the
headphones. Sorry, man. No, no, it's fine. Don't
want to bust your plans. No, no, no, it's fine.
Don't worry about it. Okay, okay, okay. I'm going
to get straight to this bit here. Okay. What's
the bit? You're going to hate me for this shit.
I know you are. I'm prepared for these questions.
That's why I came with coffee. There are three
origin stories behind the name Flying Dutchman.
Let me just name those three. Yeah. A legendary
48 -hour radio shift. Yes. A boy delivered a
KLM flight. Yes. Yes. Or a boss that just couldn't
pronounce Van Kallenberg. Yes. So you're never
going to reveal the fact. I will never reveal
it. People have just got to try and figure out
which one is the real story. I'm going to tell
you right here, right now. I know what it is.
What's the real story? The 48 -hour shift. Who
knows? Who knows? Okay. People, you got to trust
me. Let me tell you. It is the 48 -hour shift.
So he says. It is true. It was a re -diffusion.
Everybody seems to be on MC on that day. Yes.
Well, that's the story. That's the story. It
is the effing story, man. Okay. So he says. So
he says. No, no, no, no. You got to trust me.
All 80 plus thousand, almost 90 ,000 of you,
trust me, okay? 90 ,000 people trusting Chris
Henson. Yep. That's a national disaster. No,
it won't be a disaster. It won't be a calamity
even. I can tell you that it is a, the real story,
and there's some more things people have asked
me over the years, by the way, is the 48 -hour
shift on re -infusion. And it was Nigel who gave
you that moniker, right? Nigel Mossberg. Actually,
he came up with the idea. It was approved by,
um a man i have great respect for larry till
today um he was a voice that rang on radio oh
i know who you're talking about eric oh yeah
oh yeah what a man what a man what a voice he
was my boss eric lim was your boss yeah okay
okay my hell of a voice hell of a voice oh man
i cannot i can never I can never forget that
voice, I can tell you. Very special voice. Yeah,
man. So it was decided then, during the days
of Really Fusion. Yeah, because you see, how
many people can pronounce Van Kylenburg? It was
just going to create problems. But I remember
when I was, I've got to say this, when I was
younger. I can't even remember when I was younger.
Okay. When I was young, really, really young,
with a box in my mother's house. Yes. Called
the Rediffusion box. $12 a month. I don't even,
I wouldn't know. I wasn't paying that shit. It
was about $12 a month. My folks would pay. Or
$8 a month or something. I can't remember. Yeah,
but Rediffusion changed a lot of people's lives,
man. You know this show, right? I mean, I've
been having this tribute show since we started
the Chris Hansen conversation. A lot of people
that I've spoken with, musicians alike as well,
the influence for many actually came from Beauty
Fusion. It did because we had everybody who was
anybody. You think about it. There was Nigel
Moss Bergen. There was Chris Hall. Chris Hall
was with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? I was there.
We... Larry was there. Larry was there. You know,
we weren't a radio station. Yeah. We were a community.
Right. And I think that was... a different time.
Radio was a different time. If we wanted in those
days to diss a song, we would do it. We'd play
a song and say, for goodness sakes, don't go
out and buy this. It's absolutely rubbish. So
it was a real... It was honesty. It was honesty.
So basically it was more like an actual music
station. What it ought to be. I can't say it's
what it ought to be. I think music stations have
evolved over the years. Formatted radio. Formatted
radio has come into it. So I think radio stations
are what radio stations need to be today. The
issues that radio stations have today is what
kind of content do you put out there? Because
if you are... you've got to be very, very in
tune because your audience is not, say, 35 to
45. Right. Like my current audience is 35 to
55 and beyond. So what the 35 -year -old listens
to and wants to hear is not necessarily what
the 55 -year -old wants to listen to and to hear.
So I've got to find the middle ground. So radio
now has become more... thought -provoking for
the DJ than it ever was before. We would get
out and we would talk music and that's all we'd
talk. We wouldn't do stories about life. We wouldn't
do discussion topics. It didn't exist in those
days. Right, right, right. But it does now. But
the thing is today, don't you think, lack of
a better term, that the marketplace of listenership
has, lack of a better term again, regressed.
back to the past of the days like Rediffusion
when people just demand to just want to listen
to the music and listen to the discography and
all that. I tend to disagree with that. People
want engagement. They want to be able to have
their say. So, for example, this morning on our
show, we did What's the Future of Cinema with
John Louis from The Straits Times. Right. Because
the projector is closed down. Yeah. Cathay Cineplexes
are closed down. Yeah. So what's the future of
cinema in Singapore? And people were wading in.
There were people who said, I still go because
it's an event for me. As much as it's expensive,
and it is, a family of four is close to a hundred
bucks every time you go to the cinema. So it's
become an event. So there are those. There are
others who say, I'd rather watch it at home because
I can stop the movie whenever I want. I've got
whatever snacks I want. So there were very, very
different. opinions. And that comes through now
on radio. That never came through on the old
days. Yep, yep, yep. Sure, sure. People want
to be involved. They want to have a voice. They
want to have a voice on radio. But then again,
there's also that big... To me, what I realized
is that there is a larger, much larger audience
today that would rather just, hey, can we cut
the talking to a minimum and just play the music
or tell us more about the song and the band or
the singer and the artist, blah, blah, blah.
It's very interesting you're saying that because
we just finished some research. Yep. And some
of the top things that people listen to radio
for. Top of the list, music with. Entertainment.
Second on the list, news. Third on the list,
and this will freak you out. Traffic. Financial
literacy. No. Yes. That's what they want to hear
on radio. That's weird. They want to hear that.
So when you hear radio stations doing a psychologist
or a career analyst, you've had him on the show.
Oh. Right? Mm -hmm. People want that because,
yes, I want the music, but I also need some meat.
I need some meat that will help me get through
my day. Right. You know? So it's very interesting.
We have people currently, when we do a discussion
topic on our station, they are WhatsApping us
from New Zealand, from Canada. And these are
Singaporeans living abroad. Living abroad. And
how their mindset has changed because they live
in a different environment. Right. You know?
Culturally different. Culturally different. They've
learned to assimilate and now they think differently.
Right. So you get this whole mixed bag of people
getting involved in your show. And honestly,
I do a four -hour show and it feels like 45 minutes.
It flies because our listeners are getting involved.
So now when you say, let's say for myself, I
work on 1FM. 1FM is a media, an SPH media radio
station. But who does it belong to? It belongs
to the listeners. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Absolutely.
Because they are so involved in this. Right.
They are so involved in this. And I've often
wanted this to happen. A show like this, how
do you get your viewers and listeners to chime
in while it's happening? You need to go live.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? And how do they chime
in? And when you get them to chime in, you'll
understand the real thinking behind your listener.
You're not playing the guessing game anymore.
Yeah, well, since you asked the question. is
for people like me in the digital realm, right?
It would be comments and stuff that come in after
you post. The video. But you can't then respond
to that. You can. No, you can't respond to it
as in immediately. No, like this. No, not. So
if we're having this discussion and someone completely
disagrees with me, we can have a discussion with
that person. You know, I mean, I would love to
have the day, man, but it will never happen.
It's called live streaming, bro. No, I know that.
But live streaming has got its dangers, man,
since we're talking about that. The reason why
this show doesn't go on live streaming. First
of all, it is kind of suicidal. No, that's why
you have producers. No, no, no. That's the reason
why. The producers is just dear old Kai and me,
right? But we don't want it to go live because
it is suicidal. It really is. If you cannot get
the kind of viewership coming in when you're
live during a particular hour, then you're really
asking for a very short -lived show. Okay. Yeah,
but if you're going, but this in... you can go
back to all my episodes all the way to quite
a few years back, right? And so many episodes
have been put up. So people can take the time
to watch. They can stop, pause, play back, you
know, do whatever they want, you know, whether
or not it's going to be audio, whether it's going
to be on video. It's a different animal. I think
it cannot be compared to radio. But like I was
about to say, I wish there could come a day,
which will never happen because of copyright
laws, right? Where a show like this can do, what
radio does, you know, taking the calls, playing
the songs, playing the music and stuff and all
that, right? Just like a radio, just like formatted
radio. Like formatted radio. So I ask you the
question, have you had discussions with Facebook?
Have you had discussions with Spotify? No. Then
you can't say it'll never happen. Well, you know,
again, the discussion should not just be with
these guys. It could be with whoever. No, Compass.
Whoever. I did check with Compass. I have, I
have. And it is the same rules we have to apply.
Because whatever you have on a Spotify platform
can't even be aired. It's for personal consumption.
So that's where we can run into difficulties,
you see. Okay, so let's just take the Chris Henson
conversations. And this is for something down
the road. It's a recorded show. Yeah. But every
Saturday morning. You're on live for an hour
and a half. That would be interesting. Right?
People don't have to call in. Everything is done
through WhatsApp. WhatsApp is moderated by your
producer. And you start these conversations with
people. Taking calls. You don't have to take
calls. You just use WhatsApp. Right. Okay. Just
get your messages in on WhatsApp. You reply to
the messages and it keeps going back and forth.
And imagine Chris Henson's conversations live
on a Sunday morning. That'd be quite fun. As
people have breakfast. That's quite fun. Why
can't it be done? Yeah, actually. Well, the difference
here is this. You guys can say, okay, we're going
back to the music right now, blah, blah, blah.
You know what I'm saying? There's got to be,
as you said, there's got to be some kind of entertainment
element involved. Those are your guests. So if
you're doing an hour and a half, you can still
pre -record 15 minutes with guests and play that
back during your stream. Well, yeah, that can
be done. It's doable. It's doable. It's a lot
of work. It's doable. Kai, the man's putting
us to work. Yes. Thank you. Sorry about that,
dude. No problem. I love more work. Okay, let's
talk about you. Let's talk about you. Let's talk
about you. The name The Flying Dutchman, the
moniker The Flying Dutchman, allowed you to do
things Mark Van Kallenberg couldn't. You said
that before. You've mentioned that before. What
kind of permission did that persona give you?
It gave me, the ability to say what I felt needed
to be said. But Mark Van Calen couldn't say?
Couldn't say it. Why? You're one and the same
guy. No. I think what you've got to realize is
we call it a moniker, but my eyes were opened
a few years ago when someone said, you are a
brand. So I'm a brand. A brand has an image.
People expect a certain thing from that image.
Right. So if you listen to 1FM, you will find
that many is the time I am borderline. I push.
Okay. Push the ante a little bit more. Yeah.
You know, it's like, how much can I say on this
show? You say whatever you want, man. Okay. So
the other day. The other day, weather was said
to be hot and yet wet. Okay. I said it's exactly
the way I like my women. And you got away with
that shit? And I got away with it. Usually you
wouldn't, right? No. How many people would get
away with that? No, no. Why? It's become expected.
If he doesn't - By the regulator? No, no, by
the audience. Okay. So I run the risk of getting
caught. Right. Because people, it's like Kuma.
You can't bring Kuma up on the stage and say,
don't do this and don't do that. It's not Kuma.
Yeah, he'd give you the finger, man. Yeah, he
would. It's not Kuma. But that is me. At the
same time, I can be very serious, very level
-headed, and very 69 -year -old. Right. Oh, crap,
I forgot you're 69. So people listen or watch
on Facebook and they go, so what's he going to
say today? Okay. They don't know. I don't know.
Okay. But again, how is it you could get away
with it? It's the brand. Oh, come on, man. It
is a brand. It is a brand. I should give myself
a fucking brand name. And I have respect for
the people out there who are on social media
and listen and have the right to comment, but
I'm not afraid of them. Okay. I'm not afraid
of them. Okay. If you don't like something I
say, that's okay. You're entitled to your opinion.
Sure. I'm entitled to mine. Even in these days,
you know, of the word cancel, being canceled
out. Yeah, cancel culture is cancel culture.
I believe that certain people have said things,
and yes, maybe they do deserve to be canceled.
But at the same time... I need to be honest.
I need to be who I am. I need to be who my listeners
expect me to be. And this is very disconcerting.
You have Elvis Presley there. Yeah. It's very
disconcerting. Why? Because I just realized he
was there. I was wondering who the hell that
was. Yeah. So I need to be able to say what I
need to say. Everybody is entitled to their opinions.
And I try to put that across. There are people
who don't like what I say. There have always
been people who don't like what I say. Yeah.
And you're entitled to that. Right. You know?
But then again, you don't have the bosses or
the regulator bringing down your neck. No, I
do. I do. When I go too far, I do get a very,
very hard whack on the wrist. Okay. I do. And
what do you do? Do you pull back or not? I have
to. Okay. I have to pull back because I have
to understand that there's more than my image,
more than 1FM. There's the whole of SPH behind
this. Okay. So I have to. Every once in a while,
I just, I'm sorry, it's me. So FD does tap on
the brakes. Once in a while. Okay, give me one
example. The kind of trouble that FD got into
that you, as Mark Van Kallenberg, couldn't get
away with. Okay. I think I would have lost my
job and my career would have been down the tubes.
Many years ago, I was not focusing on a radio
show. I won't say who I was with. One of them
is dearly departed now. And I wasn't focusing.
I was prepping a story. I wasn't focusing on
what was happening. And I can say anything I
want on the show. Sure, please. So they were
talking. I thought we were off air. I thought
this whole discussion was a buildup to what was
going to happen on air. I didn't realize we were
on air. I wasn't looking at lights or anything
like that. And the question came, so FD, what
do you think? And I went, I've got no fucking
idea. Oh, crap. And you were on air. I got fined.
I didn't get suspended. I got fined. Right. But
would the Flying Dutchman have just been fined?
Would Mark Rand Kallenberg have just been fired?
You would have been fired. I would have been
fired. But the brand was important to the station.
So far, so far, there's only two of you on air.
Today, today. Even in history, I can't remember
anyone else. Help me out, okay? There's only
you and X that has got your own brand. I disagree.
I think there are a lot of brands on radio today.
Like who? Eagle Man's a brand. Who? Glenn. Glenn's
a brand. Okay. Glenn's a brand, but not known
as an ego man, but just as Glenn. No, because
he doesn't push it as much. Right. He doesn't?
No, because no one uses Mark van Kallenberg.
Everybody uses the Flying Dutchman. It's in your
face. Right. So that's how the brand developed.
Okay. The advertising, everything was the Flying
Dutchman, the Flying Dutchman, the Flying Dutchman.
So you need not actually have a moniker. To build
a brand. You can build your name. You can build
a brand. Right. What makes you think Chris Henson
isn't a brand now with the conversation? I don't
think I am. Ask that of your 90 ,000 people who
follow you. Oh, man. I don't know, man. I never
looked at things that way. But you need to start
looking that way. That's what gives you longevity.
Personally, you will never have that longevity.
A brand has that longevity. Well, I thought long
and hard, you know, bro. When, you know, a couple
of years back, right? When on that first show,
you were the only one that didn't belong to me.
Yeah. That was Kopi with Chris. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I fucking said it. Kai said it, Kai. Kopi with
Chris. Good Lord. Oh, here we go. That was a
while ago. No, FD said it. That was a while ago.
It was like, what, five years back? And my first
foray into podcasting, right? Yeah. And I had
so much fun. And when the show was shut down,
I couldn't retain that name because it didn't
belong to me. So I spent two years building this,
what you see right here, and building this show.
Now, there came a point naturally I had to sit
down and think, how should I name the show? And
a lot of bullshit came up. No worries. A lot
of bullshit came about. To me, it didn't work.
And maybe you're right because I came to this
crossroads where should I... I had a little regret
with Kopi with Chris because it was just Chris.
There are a lot of Chris's out there, man. Right?
And, and, and the then producer told me, no,
you shouldn't, I mean, you know, why do you,
it's so much ego, you know, right? You've got,
you know, you've just put out your full name.
I said, fuck, but that's my name. And they can,
there's only, as far as I know, in this country,
there's only one Chris Hansen. Exactly. That's
why the last two episodes, I can tell you, my
guests that were here, Sky was here, Sky's here.
Oh, right, yeah. Remember the, Wonderful singer.
Wonderful singer. One that sang the Whitney Houston
song. Oh, my goodness. She was here. Reggie Leo
was here. And I said, there can only be one Chris
Hansen. Sorry. So I told myself, no, man, I got
to start the show. I got to start branding the
show. I never used that term, actually. I just
wanted to make sure there's a name that will
stick and it's going to be my name. You know,
you've got 90 ,000 listeners. Brand yourself.
Yeah. Spend time. Spend a few bucks. Good advice,
brother. Brand yourself. Yeah, you're right,
man. Before you became that voice in the airways,
I know the story. My viewers don't. You were
a model. I was a model, yeah. I modeled jeans.
I kid you not, I model jeans. Because apparently
when I was young, I had a nice ass. Right now
my ass is down by the back of my knees somewhere.
But yeah, apparently when I was young, I had
a nice ass. No, don't worry. Your ass is still
kind of high, bro. It's not down to your knees
yet. I was walking behind you just now. And a
fashion show host. You do all the fashion shows,
right? All the catwalk stuff. Catwalks. I used
to do a lot of the beauty pageants here as well.
That one I know. Yeah. My goodness, how you tahan.
You know. I can't stand it, man. Why? I can't.
It's like. I don't know. I just find it a little
bit too pretentious. It depends. It depends.
You've got to. And there's so many things to
remember. You've got to ask the stupid questions.
You did the Miss Universe Singapore thing, right?
Yeah. Yeah, I know. Of course, you've got to
ask the right questions. But you've got to understand
that your job when you're doing a pageant. Yeah.
is to bring out the personality of the contestant.
So you're given one question. It's your tone,
it's your pace, it's how you look at the question.
But it's not your question. It's not my question.
But they see what a lot of people don't realize
is the girl answers the question and they go,
thank you very much. But if that answer led to
a second question, ask it. Okay, so you're saying
thread it along. Thread it. You're allowed to
do that. Yeah, in those days I was. Now, what
do you think? Do you think they still allow shit
like that? I don't even know how the Singapore
universe runs these days. I have no idea. I don't
know, man. I'm always frightened by these things
because, you know, my mouth gets me into a lot
of trouble. And I just don't want to tread into
that territory, man. But you did all that. I
know that. But the late Paul Chong found you.
He discovered me. Yeah. Did he ever tell you
what he saw in his young fashionable youth? God
rest his soul. Oh, Mr. JBL, bro. Nah, Mr. JBL,
yeah. No, but Paul, I remember I was hosting
a fashion show and Paul had a satellite studio.
This is, I can't remember. What was the name
of the department store? It's gone now. It's
where Funan IT Mall is. It was a department store.
Yeah, yeah. And there was a long staircase and
we used to do fashion shows on that staircase.
No shit. With people walking up and down. The
girls walking up and down. When was this? This
is like what? 1980? No. Earlier. This was early
70s, mid 70s. Really? Yeah. And he was doing
a satellite studio. He played a P song and went
to the toilet. When his shift was over. He played
a what? A P song. The long one. The seven minute
song. I'm going to play seven minutes of American
Pie and I need to go to the toilet. Yeah, that's
what it was. And when his show was over, he came
out and he looked at me and he said only one
thing. Do you want to do radio? That was it.
And I said. I'm impressionable. I saw radio,
and I kid you not, people, I saw radio as $25
million a year. I'm still not earning $25 million
a year, but that's what I saw. And he arranged
for me to meet Eric Lim at Rediffusion, and I
did a voice test, and I was on air in a week.
Wow. There was no training. So it was all Paul.
You learned how to work turntables. You learned
how to work a mixer board. You learned the library,
because in those days, we had to go to a library,
pull out every record, carry it to the studio,
play it, then go back to the library and put
it back in exactly the same place. While the
show was going on? No, no. After your show, you
went back and put everything back. Okay, go back
and put everything back. Yeah, so that's how
it all started. Wait, let me try to understand
the difference between then and now, yeah? Really,
Fusion? Okay. I've been to the studio once. Clemenceau
Avenue. In Clemenceau. Yeah. Remember back then
when Chris Ho was still there. Yeah, yeah. When
the late Bonita Nelson was there. Yes. And there
was this program called So You Want to Be a DJ.
Yeah, yeah. I was on one of those. Yeah. So that
was how badly, man, I wanted to get on. You've
always wanted to be on. Ah, shit. Well, anyway.
Anyway, so. Dude, I'm going to die. No, I'm going
to die nine feet underground, you know, and have
this fucking regret, man. It's six feet, bro.
It's nine feet. For me, it's got to be nine feet,
bro, because look at the size of me. Okay. Six
feet is going to be 250 shadow. Okay, cool. So
I'm going to go with that regret, man, you know,
not having gone on air, on radio. Okay. Yeah,
I will. I will. You know, and it's something
that I will never. ever get over listen let me
put this into perspective yeah you have 90 000
followers yeah yeah okay yeah how many of those
people are saying the same thing about you now
oh i am going to go to my grave not being chris
henson you know i cannot wrap my head around
that hey wrap your head around it because i can
guarantee you among your 90 000 followers there
are people saying exactly that i wish i could
do what he's doing. And this is the thing about
people like yourselves who do this, about people
like me who work on radio, it's aspirational.
Everybody wants to be us. And that's why we have
a responsibility. Everybody who wants to be you,
I can understand. I'll tell you guys a story
very soon about that. But I just want to get
back to that story. I went down to Clemenceau.
I went into the Fusion studio. I cannot remember
who she was. She's such a nice girl. She was
the one that was handling all the music. She
was this DJ that was there. This young girl,
short hair, glasses. And I did all the voicing.
And I did talk sets. And then after that, she
played the music. And then I was just looking
around the studio, man. Then I saw Mark Twos.
Yes. The old Mark Twos. Record players. Record
players. For those of you who don't know, record
players. And then, what was it? Cartridges. Cartridges.
Yeah. If you remember eight tracks, eight track
cartridges, that's what they were. I mean, there's
cassettes and there's this big ass thing called
a cartridge. It's music inside. It's like a reel,
right? And I was like, it's rudimentary. It was
so rudimentary, man. The mixer board was just
a normal mixer board. There was nothing special.
And that's how you run your broadcast. Yeah.
Not anymore, though. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean,
I understand how the panel is like. Now we've
got. computer systems and editing systems. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. All kinds of things. Yeah, then it
keeps you in time as well. It does. Yeah, back
then you look at your clock. Yeah, you literally
look at the clock. Wow, wow. So which do you
prefer? Your personal preference between the
hands -on, get the records out, you know, do
your own music programming, put on the records,
and then compare it to everything that's digital
today. It's very different. What's your preference?
I enjoyed the records. The manual stuff. The
manual stuff. But it never gave me the time to
express myself that I have now. Because you had
to focus and all that. Yeah. Now I have time
to express myself. One, because we run computers
that help us keep time. Two, I have producers,
which we never had. So the producers do all of
that. They do. They take the calls. They do all
the editing that needs to be done. They do it
all. Bloody hell. We are there. For content.
So you're there to facilitate. Yeah. Wear the
glue that binds the glitter. By the way, that's
mine. I know. It's mine. I know. I've got rights
to that. I know. Yeah, I got to say that first.
But that's what it is. That's what it is. Yeah,
I mean, your producers are so fun, right? Takes
on a load of you, man. You were talking about
Vanessa Milsom just now. Yeah. You mentioned
her name. Do you know that her granddaughter
Yeah. is now one of the producers for the Kiss
Morning Show? Oh, is that right? Yeah. Cheyenne
is her granddaughter. Cheyenne is her granddaughter.
Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Wow. Small world, yeah. Oh. Very
small world. Let's talk about your, you know,
the golden era of radio partnerships, man. You
know I'm going to go there. I've worked to the
best. I've been so lucky. I've been blessed by
God. Yep. You have. That one I can say. I mean,
we are good friends, man. I mean, we've known
each other for decades. So that one I can say
quite clearly. I have been blessed by God. Yeah.
And it all started with the Morning Express.
Started with the Morning Express with Joe Augustine.
That is a partnership. There are two partnerships
radio will never see again. And even, I believe,
Joe and the Flying Dutchman, if you put us together
now, wouldn't be the same. Why? We've grown in
different directions. As people? As people. It
would never be the same. We came together at
the right time in each of our lives, and we just
gelled. Okay. And you know how people say, oh,
we'll get together, we'll build chemistry? That's
the most difficult thing. Right. But when you
have someone like, when I came in with Joe, he
was welcoming, he was open arms, he showed me
the ropes of what Mediacorp was, and that chemistry
was instant. Okay. It was instant. The other
partnership you'll never see again, unless it
happens very soon, is Glenn and myself. Okay.
It's not going to happen again. Okay. So the
chemistry between you and Glenn is still ongoing,
right? It can still be ongoing. Let me rephrase
that. It can still be ongoing if we're brought
back together again near enough in the future.
But if we wait four or five years, it will be
gone. Okay. You also had a partnership with Vernetta
Lopez. One of the best. Two women I have thoroughly,
thoroughly enjoyed working with. Vanessa Lopez
and Carrie Chong. Okay. Two women. I'd work with
them again, drop of a hat. Okay. So Carrie is
no longer your partner as of today? No, she's
not. Lavinia is on the show. Lavinia is on the
show. Lavinia is a very funny lady. And I really
want to see where this show goes with her. Okay.
Any secret ingredient to your chemistry between
you and everyone who wants to know about this
one, Glenn Ong? Glenn knew how to push my buttons.
Fuck yeah. Yeah. He knows how to push a lot of
people's buttons. And he knew it. He knew how
to do it. But at the same time, Glenn knew that
if he was busy on the other side, because Glenn
used to run panels when we first started. Yeah.
And I've never been a panel operator. Lucky you.
Lucky me. And Glenn knew that if he was ever
caught in a bind, he just had to look and I would
have something ready. Okay. That was one thing.
The other thing was he knew how to push my buttons.
And you've heard it. We got angry with each other
on it. Yeah. But the show was the show. Show
finished. That was it. It was done. Okay. It
was never carried on outside of the show. Okay.
It was for the show. The show. And this is the
thing. as I'm sure you do with Chris Henson Conversations.
This is, it's not work. It's something you own.
Yeah. It's an institution in itself. Yeah. So
you come to, say, the morning drive on 1FM, and
you come to work. You're not working. This is
a passion. This is a love you have. The minute,
I believe, you come into radio. and you're working,
get out. It's like what you and I used to tell
all the kids. Kids, shit, stop that, Chris. They
were kids, at least to me. 69, folks, 69. Yeah,
I mean, to all the people that came in and out
of our door at the MC Academy, man, that nothing
is bigger than the show. Nothing's bigger than
the show. Yeah, nothing's bigger than the show.
It's always about the show, nothing else. Not
about us. None about anyone else but the show.
And the show is only as good, your show is only
as good as your last show. Yep. You can do five
years of great shows, you do one bad show, and
everybody goes, what the hell? Well, yeah. I
mean, one bad show and then after that, no one's
going to call you back again. Yeah. You're done.
It's the same when you do MC work. Yeah. Absolutely.
It's the same. Very much so. Yeah. I'm always
worried about fucking up the next show, man.
Yeah, of course. Yeah. Of course. I know. There's
separation between... This is like two couples
breaking up. It's like husband and wife. Ridiculous.
Glenn was the wife, by the way. No wonder his...
Butt looks pretty like, you know, nice and rounded
and stuff. Have you seen his legs? Holy hell.
Here am I talking about his butt and everybody
talks about his legs. This boy can walk around
in a miniskirt and look good. Was it a difficult
separation, man? Very. Very. Tell me about it.
There were a lot of tears and it was hard because
as much as I... I was very excited about going
back to one because I understood the music and
everything. But I was going into a situation
where I was working with someone I'd never worked
with before. I didn't know whether one was the
same one I'd left. And I was leaving something
that I knew, something I was really comfortable
with. So I was taken out of my comfort zone for
a while. Then I went into one. I was with Lavinia
for all of two days, I think, or something. Right.
Then she had to go on medical leave. Right. And
then for eight, nine months, I was with Carrie
Chong. Right. And again, that chemistry was instant.
Okay. So it made it easier. But the breakup,
damn, that was hard. It was really hard. Because,
I mean, how many years? You wanted to leave,
right? I needed a change. I wouldn't say I wanted
to leave. Why do you need the change? I'm getting
older. I find it very hard. How do I put this?
To relate. No. I find it very hard to understand
how a 15 -year -old will understand me. But that
is part of the target audience of kids. Right.
So am I doing justice to that station? Glenn
is my age. Yeah. How does he relate to a 15 -year
-old? 15 -year -old. You'll have to ask him that.
I have no idea. But he's also very in tune with
what's happening, what's happening in Korea.
So he's still a kid then? He's in tune. I know
there are a lot of you out there that love Korean
music. I love the music. That's it. That's about
it, yeah. You just don't understand the language.
I don't understand the language. Me too, I'm
like you, man. Why must every group have 17 ,000
people in it? Yeah. Seven, eight, nine guys in
a band. And they all look the same. And they
all look the same. And the same with the girls.
They all look the same. But look at Glenn. Look
at his hairstyle, man. It's like a K -pop star's
hairstyle. Well, if you look at Glenn going back
to the early 2000s, he was the first Korean pop
star. If you stop to think about it. actually
yeah look at his hairstyle i i'm just looking
him what yesterday i think um on online on my
socials the hair sounds like he's just he's like
not grown old but i'll tell you you will never
find anybody as dedicated to radio as glennon
i am pretty sure man yeah he's he's so dedicated
to his craft okay but glenn very hard for you
to pass his storyline remember back in school
really Guess what I'm using on air tomorrow.
Dude, I'm saying it. I don't give a shit. Glenn
and I, we knew, know, we know. We've been friends
since we were seven years old. We were in school
together. For most parts, we were classmates.
All the way through secondary school. This joker,
every time we get history results back, everyone,
everyone passes except one. Till we got used
to it. There you go. He's always the one failing
history, man. We don't get it. We just don't
get it. He set a record for St. Patrick's. Almost.
So the audience in Kids 92, too young. But you're
not kind of glad, though, that you made this
decision, bro. It's your friend, yeah? It's an
old friend, I can tell you. Yeah. Probably, you're
older than X, right? You're older than William
Xavier, right? You're older, right? I think on
English radio, I'm the oldest person. You're
the oldest, dude. I'm the oldest person. You're
the oldest. You cannot possibly. Now that Uncle
Brian is retired. Yeah? Yeah, I'll be the oldest.
Yeah, you're the oldest. And since you're the
oldest, you should not be in a station that's
catered for people that young. Yeah, maybe, maybe.
But the bosses made the decision. The demographics
is just not right. I've got a new lease on life,
I've got to tell you. I love going to work, man.
I can't wait to go to work. Really? Yeah. How
come? Because of the new... New station. Because
you're back where you think you feel belonged?
I'm back where I'm comfortable. Yeah, where you
belong. Yeah. It's another way of saying it.
I'll just say comfortable. Okay. I'm going to
skip some questions, man. Absolutely. Because
I look at it and I get bored, boy. Okay. Who
wrote the questions? I don't know. I did. Let's
talk about your MC career. Oh, my God. Now, that's
50 years, man. Half a freaking century. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. It's been great. Do you know your management
page still states 32? Does it really? You better
go tell him to update the damn thing. I think
we got to go. Yeah, you got to update it. No,
it's way more. Your radio career is 45. 44. 44.
Okay. All right. Now, 50, I still remember the
music force. Wow. Nigel Muspergan, Eric Lim and
myself. Huh? Yes, yes, that's right. TMF, yeah.
TMF. I mean, that was the team. The team that
pioneered the events industry. Okay, I've got
to give credit where credit is due. I think before
us came a few people. Moby Dick. That was Moby
Dick. Yeah. Larry Lai. Yeah. Bernard Solosa.
Ah, Solosa Productions. Solosa Productions came
before us. Yeah. And I've heard stories. Yes.
I don't know how far they're true. But back when
the British had army camps here, Uncle Brian
used to do DJ stints in the army camps in the
evenings. Is that right? He would get on a moped.
A moped? Yep. with a box of records at the back,
strapped down, and he would ride to the camps,
and he would go there and play music. Wow, that
was way before Richmond Productions. That was
way before anybody. Okay, Uncle Brian, wow. Legend,
legend is the man. But TMF, man, admittedly,
TMF brought this to another level. Oh, yeah.
I mean, you guys were doing stuff like, even
for bars and clubs, right? Oh, yeah. Management,
entertainment management, right? The only competition
we had was Juliana's. Ah, yes. Julianas of London.
You were also with them. For a while. Yeah. Very
short while. So TMF, back then in the 80s and
90s, how was it like, man? All the big names
were in there. Everybody who was anybody was
with the music folks. Yeah. Moe, Moe Alcove.
Moe, Hamish Brown, Jaffa Alcove. Myself, Nigel,
William Xavier. Who else was with us? Kennedy
Ling, God rest his soul. Wow. Our technical team,
some of whom are now working at Resorts World,
believe it or not. Yeah, so we were the power
there was at that one point. Yeah, man. I mean,
even for satellite shows in Parkway Parade. Dang.
That was good. Yeah. To me, it was eventful for
me because you know this. Back then, my school,
Yeah. St. Pat's, nothing to hide. Poor boy. What
poor boy? I tell you, best bloody school to be
in, man. Poor fellow, not St. Pat's. No, man.
Best bloody school to be in. You got to remember,
today, look at radio today, or just not long
ago, even in recent times. 90 % of media personalities
come from where? Yeah, the point is... I mean,
come on. Come on. The entertainment industry
in Singapore has been fueled by St. Patrick's
and St. Joseph's institutions. Okay, okay. Let's
be fair. It's a Lasallian thing. It belongs to
the Lasallians. Yeah, it's the Lasallians. All
right, let's boil it down to that. Let's be nice.
Back then in school, when TMF was really coming
up and really growing up, And of course, you
know, you hear announcements, you read it in
the papers as well, right? Parkway Parade is
going to be a show going on downstairs in the
basement, blah, blah, blah. I tell you, I've
got wire cutters, you know. Take my wire cutters
out of my school bag, huh? Next to my school,
there's a canal, right? That's right, yeah. Bloody
like commando, cut the wire. And go to Parkway
Parade. And then you jabut, you know. Crawl along
the canal, jump over the bus, jump over the fence,
and then run across the road, get into the bus,
go Parkway. See? Chabut school. See, when your
children chabut school, don't scold them. They
might end up like Chris Henson. My son, bloody
hell, better don't do it, boy, I tell you. I'll
have his guts for gutters, boy. So, I would chabut,
no, I would go straight to Parkway, and I would
be on the second floor banister. Yeah. In my
school uniform. Looking down. You know why not?
Because the Flying Dutchman was going to do a
show. Were you there the day I passed out in
Parkway? No, boss. I passed out in Parkway Parade
on stage. I spent two days in hospital with a
drip. How come? I was dehydrated. I had done
so many shows at Parkway. It was in December.
And I was just so dehydrated and so exhausted
that I passed out on stage. Shit, I missed that
one. I probably got caught trying to childhood
school. Quite drama. A few years ago, I met someone.
It's amazing. He brings you back to reality.
Comes up to me and he goes, FD, you know, I've
followed you through your career. I used to watch
you at Parkway Parade. You know, you were my
hero. I'd like you to meet my son. His son is
16. You know, suddenly it all becomes reality,
you know. I'd like you to meet my son. Hello,
my son is 16. I know. Exactly. When I was about
14, 15, I was sending the banisters watching
you. Yeah. Right. Because why? I wanted to see
how this whole thing works. Yeah. It was curiosity.
Around that period, I think, around that period,
were you still in Rediffusion? About 83, 84,
right? Then I called you up. I was still in school.
I was a young teen. And then you spent half an
hour on the phone with me in between songs to
tell me about the job because I was so interested.
You were so into it. And then, you know, that
period of time for someone like me was very critical
because in 86, I did my first paid gig. There
you go. When I was 16. There you go. Right? And
that's why today I can boldly say I've been doing
shows for four years. There you go. You know,
and yeah. And frankly, man, I mean, that's the
reason why. I mean, we are really good friends.
We've known each other for so long. So long.
And, you know, we know each other's families,
right? Your kids were my flower girls. That's
right. I emceed one of your daughter's weddings.
That's true. I mean, it's been ages, right? But
officially on my platform, this is my tribute
to you, brother. Thank you. Seriously. Thank
you. Because I would not have been able to take
bold steps forward if not for what you've been
doing. And I think, you know, just save a bit
of a breath here for your mom, your sister, who
didn't hold you back. They allowed you to do
it. To an extent. To an extent. But they allowed
you to get out there and do it. True. Yeah. Because
I know the kind of son you are. If they put their
foot down, you wouldn't have done it. You're
right. That's the reason why I didn't get into
radio. Yeah. You know, if they put their foot
down, you wouldn't have done it. You know my
right. They did put their foot down about that.
For radio. But they didn't know it was radio.
Yeah. You see, there are some gigs I did when
I was in school. Didn't know. They did not know.
Okay. I can say it now. Freaking 55. What the
fuck. Yeah, exactly. But later on, especially
after doing NS and after NS, I was moonlighting.
After NS, no one got much to say, right? Yeah.
However, when I actually was asked to go, that
was in 1991 or early 92. Come on radio, Chris.
Go on Perfect 10, 987. I said, fuck yeah. Yeah,
of course. I mean, come on. I was what, 21, 22?
Yeah. And dream job. Dream job. All my young
life. That's what I wanted. Came back home. Told
my mom. Mom, I've got myself a job. As, oh, doing
what? As a DJ. Yeah. Came back home the following
weekend. I was still in NS, right? So I booked
out on the weekends. I was in a real active unit.
So I really stay in camp. I came back home on
one particular weekend and there was my uncle
and things got really kind of violent. Really?
Yeah, yeah. And because, see, my dad died just
about, actually the year before, two years back,
a year and a half back. It was quite recent.
So I'm the only guy. I'm the only man in the
house. And it was seemed as if I felt, it seemed
to them, the elders, that I could do whatever
I want since my dad's no longer around. It was
a very bad assumption. Yeah, they didn't see
the passion. And it got really violent. I didn't
fight back. Because I'm not the sort to do it.
Especially with... My eldest. So I didn't pursue.
I went somewhere else. I'm not going to talk
about that part of my life. But you did damn
well where you went. Yeah, but you know something?
Jerry. Yeah. I mentioned this not long ago. Jerry
is on my show on my very first season. Dr. Geraldine
Tan from The Therapy Room. Okay? To give you
some context. She's awesome. Yeah, she is. She
is. Amazing person. Incredible person. And we
were discussing about happiness. And I said,
so Doc, what's the definition of happiness? I
want to put it in a spot, right? And she put
me in a bloody spot to today. I just wrote about
this. I just wrote this in a post on my timeline.
She says, there's no such thing. I mean, can
you define happiness? What is it? It doesn't
exist. It's about... do you feel fulfilled? Have
you, when you look back, if a sense of fulfillment,
when you have that sense of fulfillment, like,
okay, you know, I've done that. You know, I feel
great about it. I want to do more of it. And
that's what I suppose should be what happiness
means, you know, but it doesn't exist. Yeah.
You can't say you're not happy though, because
you didn't do radio. Yeah. I'm not happy because
I didn't do radio. And I'd say to you again,
Chris Henson conversations, man. No, I know that,
bro. That you. It's an itch. It's an itch. You
know you got to scratch. True, but you had the
guts and the gumption to come out with this.
Fight tooth and nail. Make it a success. How
can you not have happiness knowing as a human
being you achieved that? Well, true. It's just
that. it's not something that always you see
when you have a dream since you were five six
years old right i mean and it has been that long
um and on every day or especially on saturday
mornings right and when you're a kid and you
listen to in doses uh radio one now it's good
right um and And you listen, and you listen to
all these people. Listen to Reedy Fusion, and
you listen to Casey Kasem. You listen to American
Top 40 back then. Wow, awesome, awesome. And
all you wanted was that. It's all you want in
your life. And it's all I've ever wanted in my
life. You say Glenn's very dedicated to his craft.
I would tell you this much, man. I can understand
that. Yeah, because you are. Yeah, and I am.
And this is what I was born to do. So this is
where I'm going to tell this little story. I'm
not outing anybody just because of what I'm about
to say. In recent times, I was asked, approached,
I guess, to try radio part -time. I will not
mention the station. I will not mention the...
I will not mention it. There's only two anyway,
right? Yours and the other one, right? Okay,
so... And I attended the training. I was very
fairly told that, Chris, you will not be paid
for training. So that's cool. I mean, I don't
care. No one's paid for training. Yeah, I want
to learn. So it's cool with me. Well, Chris,
and also, we don't pay a lot. And I'm not going
to mention it here, but when I heard it, I was
like, what? But it's still cool. That's what
part -timers get paid for. But it's still cool.
Because why? Because I want to do this. It doesn't
matter to me. And I want to get really good at
it. And I've never done it before. So I really
want to do radio. After that, I spent two days
in the studio. Now, let me tell you about that
experience, bruh. When I walked in, I don't think
I can mention his name, can I? The guy who trained
me. He's on your station now. Yeah, let's just
say he's on us. He's on your station now. Nice
guy. And I love the way he does his things. I
love the way he conducts his shows. And I think
that's really... This is what I believe. And
I believe that's music station, man. Yeah. Right?
Discography is great. You know, the back cell,
the front cell. I learned all that. Not as if
I don't know that. I do know that shit, right?
So, it's really just refining stuff and learning
the panel. Because I've never seen that before.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not openly available outside.
No, it's not. Exactly. So, it was an eye -opener
for me. It went up a little bit. Yeah. And when
I walked into that spot where you used to work.
Same studio, by the way. No, no, no. This is
not Caldecott. Oh, you moved into the new one.
Yes. Did I say Caldecott? Yeah, you moved into
that. I moved into the new big space. Spaceship.
Yeah, the spaceship. And when I went in there,
man, I looked around me and I had to turn around
because I had to do this. You had tears in your
eyes. You know why? Because for some funny freaking
reason, I felt that I've been here. Don't ask
me what it, I don't understand it myself. Like
I've spent years here. Like this is home. Yeah.
And I told my trainer that. And it was like a
dream come true. Yeah. You know, and the next
step was to wait. for a call, I've really gone
that far. Yeah. I signed the radio code. Did
all that. Yeah. Mate, I think that was November
last year. You're still waiting for the call?
You know what you are? What do you think that
is? You know what you are? And I'm being ghosted,
you know? Do you know what you are? They're ghosting
me. You know what you are? What? You're a dumb
blonde in Hollywood. Wait, what the fuck does
that mean? What do you mean dumb blonde Hollywood?
Radio is going through a very tough time. I don't
know that you're going to find a lot of new people
on radio in the next couple of years. We're going
to have to rely on tried and tested. Yeah. Fuck.
I mean. It's business. Don't ghost. It's business.
It's cool to just say, sorry, man. I guess, you
know, you got to wait indefinitely. I'm still
cool with that. Some people don't know how to
say that. Don't freaking ghost people. Don't
give me that. Don't call me. I'll call you bullshit.
This is not Hollywood. Some people just don't
know how to do that. That's all. That's all it
is. That's all it is. But. I was that close,
man, bro. That close, man. And. Have you ever
thought that. Not meant to be. Yeah, in the bigger
scheme of things. I knew that was coming. Because
I'm sitting here and all I can see is Chris Henson
conversations. And it is dawning on me. Do you
remember a long time ago when I said I listened
to your first show, I said you were born to do
this. Right. Remember I told you that? Yeah,
I do. And where I'm looking now, all I see is
Chris Henson conversations. My firm belief, having
sat here now and done this. that's the reason
you never got radio. Because, because if you
had, you would have been torn between that and
this. And for some reason, whatever it is out
there doesn't want you torn from this. You think
so? I think so. I really honestly think so. I've
been struggling with this thing because I've
been, you know, speaking to the wife and asking
the wife like, hey, what do you think? What,
you think they're scared of me or what? Why should
they be scared of me? Because what? You know
why, brother? Let me tell you this, man. This
story, I'm going to tell you this shit. I can't
believe we're really filming this. I don't care.
I was told I would not mention names. Thank your
producer for this. He's got a lot of editing
to do later. So what's this shit you want to
tell me? Okay, I'll tell you this shit. I was
told, and I won't mention names, that... Some
shows I don't get because of this show. I'm talking
about live shows. Oh, yeah. I can believe that.
Because people tend to be such numbnuts and dingbats
that they would assume, generalize, that because
I'm free with my linguistics on this show, that
I will bring the same on live shows. I get the
same thing. But you get the same thing. Yeah.
But you don't do this on radio. You can't do
this on radio anyway. No, I can't. But I do make
fun of people on radio. So a lot of people don't
want to hire me because they don't want me making
fun of their people. Yeah. Stupid. And I'll say
this to the people listening to this. We wear
many hats. Correct. We take them off. We put
them on. We're different people with each hat.
And that's what you need to realize. And that,
that is talent. That is tough. You and I have
been at this game, man. I mean, you 50 years,
me 40 years in terms of the MC world. I remember
the days in the 90s. Oh, my gosh. When you were
with Megaforce. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Megaforce,
man. Everyone wanted a top -old Megaforce. And
I was with Spectrum Promotions. That's right.
Yeah. And I remember ever so often, the 90s was...
That was my A day. That was my A day. It was
yours. Because back then, you were not known
on stage as a Flying Dutchman. No. You were known
as Mark Van See. Yeah. So every time I walk in
the Spectrum's office, I will hear, hey, we got
this show. We are pushing your name. Yeah. And
I really got to fight very hard for this. So
Chris, can we negotiate your rates? I said, why?
Because it's up against Mark Van See. Ah, crap.
I said, do I have to really negotiate my race
because we're against Mark Fancy? But you know,
brother, back then, I'm proud to say, man, I
think it's safe for us to talk about this, in
that most of the big gigs, most gigs, I won't
say, big and small, yeah, big and small, back
then were dominated by you and I. Pretty much,
pretty much. We go for a gig. So I remember there
was once, I can't remember, but where was it?
Pan Pac? Was it Pan Pac? I think it was Pan Pac.
You in one room in. Yeah. That was only one of
many occasions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. I
mean, but it was quite, to me, it was, I didn't
look at his competition, man. I would say the
market's big enough for everyone, right? So for
me, it's like, hey, all right, man. You know,
it's like I'm buying gigs. against every day
it was fun but it was you made the money i made
the money so what the hell right but with all
that behind us man in the mc academy we had for
seven eight years i can't remember exactly how
long if i were to ask you bro one skill that
is absolutely needed as an mc in the past that's
completely useless today what's that one skill
Useless today. Useless today. Useless today.
Yeah. Well, I really got to hear what you got
to say. Wow. Yeah, man. One skill in the past
that we had. Yeah. What? Yeah. What? An MC who
knew how to DJ. Useless today. Useless today.
Because how many MCs today can DJ? Not just that.
Do you remember? I won't mention names. It's
all professional courtesy. Don't mention names.
There's one guy, if you remember, back in the
90s, he used to DJ and MC behind the console.
So did I. He never moved out of the console.
Oh, no, I used to go on stage. This guy didn't,
bro. He was playing games, spinning on a mic,
and he was conducting the whole damn show, the
whole program, like that. So. Yeah, fucking brilliant.
Do that today, you're dead. You're dead. But
I will say, particularly among the females, there
are some really good up -and -coming females.
Now? Like who? A lot of them. For one, a lot
of the owls that we have on SPH, when you take
them out of radio and you put them on stage,
they're good. We've got to shout out for this
person. Come on. I'm proud of her because...
She worked really hard. And she was one of ours.
Sylvia. Sylvia. Sylvia Tam, shout out to you.
Good job, girl. She has done really well for
herself. Yeah, and she's doing great. I think
she's everywhere now. And she's on LinkedIn.
She's very heavy on LinkedIn. And she's giving
talks as well. I mean, it's freaking fantastic,
man. It is brilliant. So we do have that. And
I think a lot of people don't give them credit
for what they do. Yeah, yeah. What's one new
skill? New skill that today's MC just can't live
without. How to be politically correct? Huh?
I think a lot are. I think too many of them are
politically correct, man. I think a new skill
that we need to learn, and it's ongoing because
I'm still learning, is how to walk that line
between what is funny and what is... politically
incorrect. It's that very thin line. And that's
a skill you've got to learn. We didn't need it
before. Because the audiences were different.
But now you've got to learn to walk that line.
And that only comes with experience. You're going
to fall. You're going to fall. You're going to
have to pick yourself up, learn, go again. Then
what is the biggest mistake you see younger MCs
make? They forget that Again, it's aspirational.
You don't need, how do I put this? You don't
need to be Singlish. Speak English. Singlish,
this is me personally. Singlish is for comedy.
But when you're doing, this is why I worry for
so many MCs. They're so Singlish. I don't know
whether they'll be able to evolve into the conference
convention market. But what if they could code
switch? Well, if they can code switch, great.
But there are not many that can. Okay, let's
get that right then. So the key factor here is
the ability to code switch. Yeah, because I would
tend to disagree with you a little bit because
sometimes, you know, us guys, we have to be funny
too. No, we've got to be funny. And we have to
be relatable. Yeah, we have to be relatable.
But you're not speaking Singlish for four hours.
No, I mean, of course not. And I find a lot of
people do that. I'm not going to mention names.
There was one guy whose English was really good,
but he would fall into Singlish. he would have
me in stitches uh he used to host all the readers
digest awards when they came to singapore he
was i'm not going to mention names you know who
you are uh but he's super funny super funny after
we after we cut this show i want to find out
who that guy is he's funny i don't come to work
i come to play your great philosophy yes i do
not go to work after 44 years what is one thing
about this game that still genuinely surprises
you Never knowing what my partners are going
to say. Really? Yeah. Because, you know, yes,
we prep what we're going to do. But as the story
develops, as the conversation develops, neither
of us really knows what the other is going to
say. And that, to me, is the secret. Back in
Joe's day, I could end a sentence for him. He
could end a sentence for me. Same thing happened
with Glenn. But today it's that surprise. I don't
know what my partner is going to say. Okay. I
absolutely don't. So you guys don't really do
much prep together? No. The partner has their
bits. I have my bits. It's all parts. Yeah. And
we are expected to bounce off each other. Okay.
You always say that. You said this to me many
times too. But let's bring it on here on the
show. You joked about wanting to die on shift.
Yeah. Absolutely. You're 69 bloody years old.
Yes. And how long do you want to continue doing
this? Because you're talking about dying on shift.
You're fucking morbid, dude. No, but think about
it, man. Flying Dutchman dies on air. It's front
page Street Crimes, bro. So that's what you want.
Go out with a bang. What, a free obituary? Yeah,
you know, if you're going to go out, you go out
with a bang, dude. No. How long am I going to
do this? I have been thinking about that a lot
more lately. Do I want to retire? And here's
something I've said on air, and I don't know
whether you guys know this, but you'll know it
now. I have a massive fear of retirement. Why?
I live in HDB. Yeah. I see the uncles go to the
coffee shop in the morning. Yeah. Drink their
coffee and have their two soft boiled eggs with
toast and talk to six fellas. Right. Then they
go home. Yep. In the evening, they go back to
the same coffee shop. Yeah. And they drink their
stuff. Fuck, sounds like me. With the same six
fellas. I do that. I cannot live a life like
that. Okay, but I do that. Because I have spent
so much time on my career. Yeah. I don't have
hobbies. Right. I have very few friends. I have
a lot of listeners who know me. Okay. I have
very few friends. Okay. So what the hell am I
going to do with my retirement? What am I going
to do? So you're saying you just don't want to
be bored? No, I worry about losing my faculties.
Okay, so keeping you sane. Yeah. Keeping freaking
dementia away. I don't think retirement will
keep me sane. I have to find something before
that. That time comes. So do you think radio
helps you out that way? Absolutely. Because your
brain's got to move. It's got to move every single
day. For four hours in the morning, I go home,
I rest, I have meetings, whatever. In the evenings,
I'm doing prep, I'm thinking again. My mind is
working. You know, brother, you see, that's the
reason why we're such old friends, man. The reason
why I got this set up here is because I fear
the same shit. Same stuff, right? I got to think.
Yeah. What do we do if we retire? You're great.
You got your dog. You have your rabbits. I get
a rabbit. Sometimes it wants to play with me.
Sometimes it doesn't want to play with me. That's
a rabbit. That's a rabbit. And I love the thing
too much to make stew. So what can I do? Gamey,
man. Rabbit stew. Gamey. Nobody should be eating
rabbit. No, no, no. Don't even go there. I don't
want to know. I don't think I have. I don't want
to know. I don't think I have. Now you're a mentor
to the next generation of DJs. Yeah. Right? That's
what's happening, right? That's what's been happening.
Yeah, yes. I don't know whether I'm a mentor
or not, but some of them do look up to me. But
do you officially take them on and teach them
and stuff like that? No, I've never been given
that opportunity. Sometimes they come up to me
and they ask me questions. And the one thing
I tell them is, You're paid to give 100%. You
give 100%. That sounds like Uncle Brian. Yep.
You're paid to give 100%. You give 100%. The
show is yours. Own it. Own it. Don't come to
work. Come to play and own that game. Okay. You
got that same advice from Uncle Brian, didn't
you? Because it's so reminiscent of what he said
before. I remember him saying that. Brian, myself,
Larry Lai, we all grew up that way. We all grew
up that way. Reliability, my friend. Yes, absolutely.
Yeah. Reliability. Don't be a star. Yeah. Reggie
Leo on the show, right? He's a guitarist, right?
Yeah. He's got his own band, right? He was lamenting
about. He didn't mention names, of course, and
I still don't know who that person is. He says
there's this singer. The show starts at 6, and
she turns up every day at 5 .55. And then you
don't sound check. You don't do anything. So
this is across the board, man. I think where
entertainment is concerned, if you are a professional
in our field, you've got to be reliable. I know
young DJs now who are on at 4 o 'clock in the
afternoon. They're in the studio at 1 .30. Wow.
Every day. That's cool, man. Prepping. That's
cool, man. That's cool. That is cool. I used
to say to you before, video killed the radio
star, but it did not. You said nothing will kill
the radio star. Nothing can kill the radio star.
AI? Nope. Why? Because we've heard AI radio.
It's boring as hell. At this moment. Yeah. But
you know that it can evolve. Okay. It can evolve.
But how far down the road are we from a point
where AI can carry on an intelligent conversation?
Brother, I tell you, man. Let me tell you how
fucking scary this is. I don't know if you've
heard. I don't know. If you haven't, maybe it's
good for you to find out. It can be a good topic
for your show, man. On Spotify, there is an album
belonging to four or five guys. I don't know.
I can't remember, but it's a band. These four
or five guys, they got, of course, pictures on
the sleeve, right? They got songs on there. And
the songs are so well written. Oh, yeah. Everything's
perfection. Yeah. Orchestration's all done. The
images of these guys, they even have their own
MTV. Bro, it's all fucking AI, bro. Absolutely.
And there have been some musos, musos who've
been around a long time, who watched this, listened
to it, and said, no, fuck, it's so good. Granted,
but that's someone singing, dude. Yeah, I know.
But when it comes to AI and my own personal experience,
yeah, I have no... Look at this show. I can't...
I'm alone in terms of... I'm not saying Kai is
great, but I've got to prep thumbnails. All the
thumbnail designs are mine. I've done it myself.
I pride myself. I don't even have to think. The
design comes out on its own. It's like, oh, man.
I love it. Good. But in terms of, in terms of,
lack of a better term, talk sets, in terms of
my talking points, in terms of research, deep,
deep research, right? I got to make sure my guests
have been deep researched. I actually pay for
a subscription to my AI. Yeah. We all do. But
bro, the deep research is ridiculous, man. Fool.
The information I get is out of this world. It's
nuts. But what I'm saying is why AI is not going
to replace the DJ anytime soon. It can replace
the DJ in certain time belts. Yeah. It can replace
the DJ during an afternoon. On a weekend, maybe
Sunday. Maybe. Late at night if you want your
midnight to 6 a .m. Yeah. But when it comes to,
and this is because of people. Maybe not the
young because to the young, AI is cool. So I
want AI. But to any discerning person, I want
a human. I want someone with feeling who understands
how I feel. That is for your demographics. For
the 1FM demographic. Correct. But for the younger
demographics, the younger lot, let's say the
listeners of KISS92. Only a segment of them.
Yeah, you see, as time goes by, you're going
to have more and more and more of these guys.
Because, you know, we get older, the world gets
younger, right? Well, actually, that's not quite
true. The world... Most of the world is aging.
Yeah, but you're going to have people... See,
the marketplaces, man, commercialism is such,
right? What would they focus on? They would want
to always focus their business revenue generation
on the youth. It's always the case, anywhere.
You listen to radio. Do you ever want to meet
the DJs? Yeah. Yeah, so you're not going to be
able to do that with AI. Well, yeah, but the
younger lot might not see it that way as the
years progress. But that younger lot's going
to get older and they're going to want that.
human touch. You think so? You reach a point
in your life where you need a human touch. But
the new generation, I don't know whether they're
going to be, you know, where social psychology
is concerned, are they going to be like us as
they get older? You know, they all start getting
mellow. They want to have human touch. They would
need to have this social circle still around
them. When I was 12 and 15 and 16, use a computer?
What the hell is that? I'm never touching that
stuff. Now live without it. Correct. That's what
I'm saying. But we have learned that that's only
a part of our lives. There's a whole other part
of our life that needs interaction. Sure. Physical
interaction, which AI cannot give you. You, me,
both. Yes, I agree. You, me, both. People our
generation, your generation, my generation, the
generation after mine. But the young ones today,
younger than my son. So you're talking about
eight, nine, ten years old. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. You know, as they get older, right, the
next two, three generations ahead, they might
just not want to have what we want to have. Then
I say their life will be missing something. Definitely.
It will be missing something. But it can go that
way, can't it? It can. Exactly. I'm not condoning
it, man. I've always believed AI should always
remain a tool. AI needs to be controlled by man.
Yeah. And unfortunately, people are taking it,
some people, certain parts are taking it too
far. Look at the VO marketplace, man. How's it
been for you? Because for me, it's been like
dead. Yeah, I don't do very much. Because two
years ago, we listened to AI online, right? You
can tell. That's fucking AI doing voiceovers,
right? Now you can't. Today, you can't tell.
It has gotten good in two years. And this year,
I've only had one. Oh, one lousy VO job. Oh,
well, that's all I had. That's tough. In the
last couple of years, no issues. You know what
I'm saying? It's very decent. You know, very
decent. A couple of times in a year, it's a lot.
Yeah. A number of times in a year. Now, it's
one. This year, one. It's ridiculous. Yeah. So
it's getting really, really scary. But again,
video didn't kill the radio star. AI ain't going
to kill the radio star. You're only saying that
because you're on radio, okay? Not in the next
few generations. Come on. Not in the next few
generations. Ain't going to happen. Ain't going
to happen. Okay. Last question, my friend. Given
our longstanding friendship, fast forward to
a hypothetical scenario. You're not going to
like this. If we were, hypothetically, partner
a radio show today, what would our, you and me,
on -air dynamic be like? How do you think our
show would rate? Could we have the muttons for
breakfast? No, let me rephrase that. Could we
have mutton for breakfast? Yeah, otherwise you're
going to slime, aren't you? Yeah. Number one,
if you and I were on a radio show together, no
matter what time belt we were on, we are a court
case waiting to happen. That's the first thing.
No, I won't be so bad. No, the second thing is,
I personally feel. Yeah, yeah. In Singapore,
people go with what they know. Are the muttons
good on their show? They're great. Yeah, yeah.
For their target audience, they're great. Yeah,
yeah. Dude, they're not young, you know. They're
not. They're not. But they're really good. There's
a whole segment of Singapore that likes that
sort of almost slapsticky radio. They do like
it. Perhaps it's not something that I'm totally
into. But sometimes I listen to it and I have
a damn good giggle. You then have the segment
of the audience that's very comfortable with
Glenn, Angel, and Tim, who are psychology and
business, and they have topics that stimulate
the mind. Then you have a segment of the audience
that enjoys the... So what's the best advice
that your parents ever gave you? which is what
we would do. So that some guy says, oh, my mother
told me this. No, your mother didn't give you
very good advice. That kind of thing. So for
you and me to come into the Singapore market
now and try and do a radio show, that's bloody
hard. Why? It's very hard. Why? Because there's
only one station that can handle us. And you're
not going to mention that station now? There's
only one station that can handle us. Okay. And
that station would mean we'd have to tone down.
Okay. Yeah. What do you mean by tone down? How
hard are we going to be anyway? So I couldn't,
for example, on that station say, well, it's
going to be a hot and wet day. It's just the
way I like my women. I couldn't say that. Okay.
And that's the only station that you think we
can be on? Yeah. Because that station accepts
risque stuff but not as risque as we would. What
is it? It's our age. Oh, come on. It's our age.
I think, I think, I think we would actually give
quite a lot of shows a run for their money. Thank
you for finishing that sentence for me because
I was wondering whether I should say that or
not. A run for their money, mate. But remember
that giving a show a run for its money doesn't
mean you overtake it. Would that mean one and
the same ratings? No, no. You're pushing them.
You're not necessarily overtaking them. But we'll
give them a good fright. We'll give them a good
fright. A good fright. We'll give them a good
fright. Yeah, we will give them a good fright.
I think so. What do you guys think? You know,
let me know your comments. I really would love
to find out what you guys think. It'd be quite
interesting. Do you think that FD and I should
have our own radio show? I mean, it's not going
to happen, but just for shits and giggles, just
put it in the comments. Never say never. Hey,
bro. If the day it ever happens, man. I will
be jumping up and down. I think the day it happens
is the day insurance companies begin to insurance,
insure radio shows. Because the fines will be
ridiculous. No, la. You know, at the end of the
show, I just want to say this. I was told by
Mr. Ong, Glenn Ong, you know, I'm going to make
it quite public now because there's nothing to
hide, la. Yeah, okay. He told me one day. at
a dinner that was with your family. Yeah, yeah.
And he said, bro, he meant well. I know his intentions
are good. I want to tell you something once and
for all. I said, what? Can you please remove
the specter from your shoulder? Get it off. I
said, what specter? About being on radio. You
would not have lasted. Two months. And he did
say this, and also because you're not sheep.
Right? So I know he meant well, and I love you
for that, Glenn. But I will say this, man. I
think, yes, you said earlier, we all can wear,
we all wear different hats. Yeah, yeah. And if
it calls for it, man, to be compliant, I will
be compliant. We ain't toned down. We're toning
down. I think you and I will still be able to
up the ante a little bit regardless. Let me see
how we can try and put this together. Come on.
Don't say that to make me happy. I'm not saying
free to air radio, but let's see how we can make
this happen. You mean there's other things besides
free to air radio? That's a thought. Brother?
I got to tell you, I love you, man. I love you
too. And my tribute to you, bro. For all the
years you've given the radio, for all the years
and all the stuff, the years and stuff you used
to do on stage, still doing on stage. And for
inspiring someone like me. And I'm pretty sure
I'm not the only one. Through the years, man.
I mean, someone's got to say this. And if it
has to be me, then it will be me. And it is right
now. Thank you, bro. You're most welcome. Really,
man. I just want to say one thing before we go.
The Flying Dutchman is the Flying Dutchman. The
Flying Dutchman is nobody without his listeners.
So if I'm popular, it's because of you. If I'm
a brand, it's because of you. So if anybody has
to thank anybody, I thank you for giving me this
career. And there you have it, everyone. That's
the Flying Dutchman, our guest for this week.
And nice to have this conversation with him every
now and then. All right. See you guys next week.
Same time, same place. Until then, stay safe,
everybody. Bye -bye. The Chris Hansen Conversation.
Real talk, no filters. And a growing community
of more than 80 ,000 subscribers across ASEAN.
right here from Singapore.