By Ada Tseng

ImaginAsian TV is NEW, and it's the first and only 24-hour Asian-American Television network in the US. Come read about what makes this station so fresh and unique and ground-breaking and exciting, and 99 other reasons you all should be talking about it at the water cooler.

(http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/041015/imaginasian.ram)

If you're like me, when you first think Asian TV station, you think, "Sure! We have a ton of those in America! My parents and cousins watch them all the time!"

Now, I'm assuming most of you are smarter and more worldly than I am--and probably don't always speak in exclamation marks--which is why it blows my mind that not everyone knows about the amazing breakthrough of ImaginAsian Television. It's completely different from any other Asian station that is out there right now.

It is an Asian-American station, which might sound very similar at first, but here are the key differences:

1) It covers all Asian nationalities (unlike the existing stations that are more narrowly focused on the Chinese or the Japanese or the Korean markets, for example) 

2) The emphasis is on American.  It's not only the first-generation Asian Americans who can appreciate it, but also the Asian-Americans that are more assimilated into American culture, who might not be as familiar with Asian programming but would love to get in touch with their heritage. As well as the Americans that aren't Asian at all, who are starting to realize how ridiculously amazing and kick-ass we are, and want to learn all about the cool things that we represent.

Led by CEO Michael Hong and his team, ImaginAsian is about bringing Asian content to the mainstream public. Whereas other Asian stations are usually broadcasted in their individual native languages, ImaginAsian is taking all types of steps to accommodate English speakers without destroying the quality and truth of the original content. The shows will all be subtitled, not dubbed. As funny as it is watching George Clooney speak Chinese on ER when you're in Taiwan, this is not what ImaginAsian is about.

Launched August 30, 2004, the programming features movies, anime, documentaries, drama and music. A few examples: Address Unknown from Kim Ki-Duk; anime from Right Stuff; Melody of the Heart, a NHK Japanese drama series; Newsweek South Asia; Weekly Championship Kick-Boxing Series from Cambodia; Show Music Tank, the TRL of Korea; and much much more.

There will be fun, hip hosts introducing segments, keeping us informed about what we're watching and making the experience even more interesting.  Pooja Kumar and Jackson Loo host Movies for the ImaginAsian. There's The Lounge where Emily Chang and Ryan Lee talk about dramas in Asia. And on the documentary front, there is Asian Reel, hosted by Robert Chu.

In addition to iaTV, ImaginAsian Entertainment, Inc. has also opened New York City's only Asian-American theater dedicated to Asian and Asian-Amerian cinema and culture.

Now that they've done all the hard work in creating this gem of a network for Asians and Asian-Americans, all we have to do is help spread the word and get ImaginAsian TV up and running all over the nation, catapulting it into "household name"status.

APA Interview with ImaginAsian CEO Michael Hong (http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=15899)

APA Interview with Pooja Kumar (http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=15901)

For more information, check out their impressively elaborate website, where you can see video clips of the hosts as well as descriptions of the specific programs they offer: www.iatv.tv (http: //www.iatv.tv/)

Published: Friday, October 15, 2004