Penang heritage: Kee Huat Fantastic Facts and Fancies

This is one of those newly restored buildings along Beach Street in Penang. It now looks very nice and bright, but it has a very long history.

I believe it would have been the 1950s or 1960s that Kee Huat Radio began operating from here until, I think, the late 1990s. Kee Huat Radio wasn't a radio station but a shop that was selling electrical appliances like refrigerators, washing machines (Zanussi, of course), and yes, radio and television sets.

But the real claim to fame for Kee Huat Radio was that in the 1970s, it sponsored a series of fun radio programmes at 10am on Sunday mornings called Kee Huat Fantastic Facts and Fancies. The programme featured a countdown of the most popular songs of the week and had a contest for listeners.

The ever-popular DJ and host of the show was Patrick Teoh. And most Sundays, my radio would be switched on to the English Service (later known as the Blue Network) to listen to this bright and breezy guy. Wahh, his England was so powderful, speaking like an American. Patrick really knew how to spin those vinyl discs. Ah, those were the days.