Organization
Asian-American Broadcasting Company
The Asian-American Broadcasting Company is a Khmer-language cable television channel in Long Beach, California, started in 1994 by Ratanak Roth Oeurn.[1]
History
Oeurn came to the United States in 1981. Before television he ran an interpretation and legal services business and founded a charity, Khmer Orphan Relief of America, which took food and supplies to Cambodia from 1989.[1]
A karaoke singer in his spare time, he bought a camera in 1991 to make karaoke videos. In 1994 he persuaded the local cable company that Long Beach's Cambodian community was big enough to justify a channel of its own. With little experience, equipment or money, the station began with 10 hours of programs a day.[1] By 2002 it ran 16 hours a day on cable channel 22, and The Cambodia Daily described it as the only Khmer-language channel in the United States.[1]
Programs
In 2002 the channel showed karaoke videos, comedy and Khmer-language films, including films made by King Norodom Sihanouk, along with news and interviews. Oeurn interviewed Prince Norodom Ranariddh when the prince visited the United States after the factional fighting of 1997, and the channel aired debates before Cambodia's commune council elections in February 2002.[1]
Oeurn told The Cambodia Daily that viewers, mostly over 35, watched for nostalgia, to stay close to their heritage and to follow news from Cambodia, where many had relatives. He hoped karaoke would draw children to learn Khmer, and that young viewers of his news and politics shows would take part in public life.[1]