Brian Chan
Words by Alan Ng
Photography by Andy Fang

We got the chance to sit down with Brain Chan, a local radio host and event emcee to talk about his experiences working in the Fairchild media, his interests in fashion and also what makes Vancouver such a great city. The interview took place at a local Gas Town “Amsterdam Café”. It was a fun place to chat as it really felt that we were in the city Amsterdam.

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi I am Brian. I just graduated from UBC this May. I am currently doing a fashion merchandising diploma at Blanche Macdonald. Beside school, I work at Fairchild Radio and Fairchild TV. At Fairchild Radio, I am a part time host and staff. At Fairchild TV, I am a TV host and I do functions as well, I usually emcee for them.  Events I have I did in the past include: Chinese Vancouver Pagent, the New Talent Singing Competition Vancouver Audition , and the Chinese New Year count down show at Aberdeen Center.

What made you inspired to become a Radio Host, furthermore what made you step in Fairchild TV?

I actually wasn’t inspired by anything. Let’s just call it a happy incident. I went for DJ course, hosted by Fairchild radio back in 2004. It was in the summer and I had nothing to do. I was still in UBC and I don’t do anything in the summer since I had four months off. So I decided to take that course. For the finale of the course, they have something called the DJ idol, which is something like the American Idol but DJ radio host version. Basically they put you on the stage and you have to demonstrate what you have learned in throughout the course. The DJ idol competition show is basically a demonstration of what you have learned … we had to learn how to operate the panel, how to control the volume of music, how to control your voice in relation to the microphone. You also have to do some acting; basically it’s a radio drama. You also have to take care of the audience, so it’s basically you have to evoke emotions and so on. There was also other stuff that you have to learn. I went through that…

After the whole competition, we all got a chance to work at the radio station; we start with the graveyard slots which go from 2 to 4…AM, not PM.

That’s pretty tiring; especially with have school on your hands too right?

Exactly! Especially when you have school on the other day… In UBC, classes can start as early as 8 o’clock. Unfortunately I had a class back then every Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 o clock, and I had to do a show every Monday midnight – Tuesday morning from 2-4AM , so I don’t get much sleep. So it was very tiring for the first year but after one year, I got promoted to an earlier time slot, 12-2, which is the spot I am doing right now. So its better, I also don’t have any more 8 o clock classes so it’s pretty cool. Every new host if you join any radio station, don’t expect to be doing the golden time, that’s impossible. The prime time is for the 10 year host or whoever that owns the radio station. If you are coming in as a new radio host, you really have to start at the bottom, very bottom. You will probably start off as an office boy, doing odd jobs like photocopying and things like that… If you have the opportunity to do a radio show at midnight, you do that. You have to really start at the bottom.

You said earlier that you are perusing a diploma in Fashion Merchandising; can you tell us a bit more about your interest in fashion?

I use to work at a retail store, and I was introduced to that from a friend. She told me that one of thei

r male workers had to leave for Hong Kong and they needed a guy for the store. They approached me and asked me, I gave it a shot because I needed money. I told them “Sure, I’ll try it out and see how it works out.” Yea, it worked out pretty well. I love retailing a lot. I should say that I learned so much from retailing that I didn’t want to do it anymore. You see and know how people run business and how the customers think that you don’t know what they are thinking because customers always try to outsmart the store owners… it’s really complicated. During my time there, I learned a lot about how people do things, and something that I really enjoyed doing is going out buying products for the retail store. Like going to the supplier and distributor to see what’s coming up for the next seasons. You take a look at the budget, “factor in” the consumer’s behaviour; let’s say when you see an item, you see item, you have to know which customers would love that item. So you obviously have to think about the quantity you buy as well because as a small boutique you can’t have a zillion amount of money like Holt Renfrew where they buy whatever they want. You really have to think about a certain style that fits the customer base that you have. It’s like a psychology game as well. It’s called psychographics. Think about what the customer base is and understand what they want and like. I was very fortunate to work with Diesel, Anna G, Miss Sixty; those are really popular and hit brands right now. I get to meet a lot of people and that’s pretty cool!

Right now you are definitely doing well in Fairchild; you are getting a better show time, and a lot of experience and exposure…

Yea, exposure unfortunately *Brian laughs*

What do you think is the future of Brain Chan? Where would you like to take your fashion and media experience to?

Well… as far as the media opportunities I have been experiencing, it’s great. I love meeting new people and building connections. Although I really see fashion as a natural thing to me. I am passionate about it, I like it and I enjoy doing it a lot.

If one day I get to put those two experiences together, that’ll be really cool. I really want to work for a fashion magazine, as an editor, but the problem is I am not good at Chinese. Well I can write but somehow I think I am not at that level to be an editor yet. I am trying to go for that.

One day if I can combine my fashion and media experiences together that’ll be cool in a magazine kind of way, not in front of cameras. If there’s the opportunity, I won’t turn it down. I’ll give it a try…

There are a lot of fashion magazines out there, which ones do you read and why do you read those over the others?

Haha, well there’s a difference between “like reading” and “willing to buy”, okay because let’s say as a student doing a fashion merchandising degree, there’s lots of course that requires you to have access to magazines because you know we have to do research in looking for trends in magazines. So, I go through magazines a lot, like weekly. I have a lot of magazines at home. You can’t believe the mess I have.

The magazine that I like to read is probably Vogue Paris and Vogue Japan. They both have fantastic editorial. It’s also very avant-garde… though I have no idea what they are writing, like absolutely no idea…Haha. I can guess French. Sort of guess a bit of Japanese. But in terms of the holistic view, I don’t understand what they are saying fully, maybe 50% of it max.

In terms of magazines that I am willing to buy…you will be surprised by the amount of magazines I buy. Actually I buy a lot of men fashion magazines that you can’t really find in Vancouver. There’s one magazine, I only brought one actually because you can’t find it in Vancouver right? It’s from Hong Kong. It’s called Mister… “MR Magazine”. It’s a men’s version of Vogue. It’s a lifestyle magazine which features athletes and people, and also I buy men’s Uno, it’s also an Asian magazine. The Chinese version is pretty good. The Japanese version is okay because I don’t really understand it but I buy the Chinese version.

When you read through magazines, do you pay attention more to the photos or text?

First of all, it’s the photo for sure. After flipping through the entire magazine, when I feel like I haven’t been though this part yet, then I’ll read through the readings. First thing I always go for is the editorial, the Editor’s Pick. It’s usually the front half of the magazine.

What do you see about the trend of fashion in Vancouver? Is there a trend or style in our city?

Vancouver always gets bad reputation for being a follower in fashion which is somewhat true because we don’t have a big fashion market here. We do have fantastic weather here during the summer. In the summer time, people become trendier because they can wear whatever they want. It’s dryer. In the winter, it’s all about durable fashion; waterproof and so on. You won’t see sway shoes, you won’t see lots of fur which are two very big popular items in the market today. Vancouver has a really interesting mix of sports which are incorporated into fashion, like snowboarding and skiing. I would say that Vancouver is on the level of medium fashion. Vancouver has a mix of the Asian and European trend; we have a very balanced mixed here.

What do you see about this trend of street culture penetrating into high fashion?

Honestly, I think the fashion industry is really forgettable. Maybe this year, street fashion is in, and maybe next year, street culture is out. It’s something that I guess…you can’t really say it is for here to stay, since it’s here, you cherish it. If it’s in this season, you go for it.

I think Kanye West is doing pretty well with the LV line, it’s expensive but they are nice. The whole cross over thing has been done along time ago but they are just revising it by implanting hip hop artists into the game.

What kind of music do you listen to?
I like R&B and ballad a lot. I am not really big into that whole hard metal or hardcore hip hop genre… but something that is more leaning towards the R&B and ballad side because I host a midnight radio show. I can’t really bomb everyone with hard rock songs every single night. I can play a couple, but I can’t do it entire night so I like to stick to my preferences in music in terms of R&B and ballad. I am a big Korean music fan. I use to be a big Japanese music fan but yea it’s kind of going down… Switch over I guess, Haha. Korean music is very interesting. They have lots of dance and heavy beat music and they also have a huge collection of ballad and R&B music.

When you look at the Chinese music industry, 80% of the songs they put up are ballads, like slow tempo. 20% are dance beats. But in Korea, it’s different; it’s almost like the other way around. They have elaborate stage designs and cool outfits for their artists to perform in. The entire concept is really cool. They set up their whole music industry as a colourful energetic scene. In Chinese music scene, they lean towards the mellow side.
In terms of North America, they have a pretty good well balanced scene as well. I like European music more, because in European music, they are lean towards the more edgy techno side, which I think is perfect.

What do you talk about in shows? What sets your show apart from the rest?

Well, because before when I first started doing Radio shows. I spent 3 years doing a talk show with another guy. The style of the show was about trend, trend in terms of new technology, fashion and lifestyle. We have been going to that hip and trendy talk show before. I think that has tied to my image on air, so I didn’t want to sway away from that. Now I mix in a bit of lifestyle as well for my show, I don’t want to call it fashion but styles. Sometimes I mix in other stuff as well, things I come across in life. I like to read a Chinese newspaper called Ming Pao, and then the Hong Kong version of it, there’s a section called “mp+” it’s fantastic! It’s like all sort of odd beat news and it’s really cool. I always go for news like that, beside that also a lot of music. I always try to do a count down every week of things that I’ve found. This week we are doing a countdown on Ten things you should bring to a Thanksgiving dinner.  I try to find things that are timely, and I arrange it in a list, sometimes I look for lists, if I can’t find a top ten list for a specific subject out there, I would do research and make one up myself.

Things you like and dislike about our city.

I really like the laid back style of Vancouver. It’s easy, not slow- but pace is just right. It’s relaxing enough.

What I don’t like is that sometimes it’s really slow, like really slow. When you go to a restaurant, you don’t want to wait for 30 minutes for an appetiser to come, like seriously. If you have the time for it, you would appreciate it, but sometimes I just don’t have that time.

What’s the thing about Seattle that always keeps people in Vancouver from always going there to shop?

I think the reason that I go to Seattle a lot is because of the currency exchange. It’s a really good rate. It’s also one of the irrational things that people thing, that Seattle has more stuff, that they have more style, more shops… but I think that’s untrue.

We have lots of great shops that Seattle doesn’t have. We have H&M. We have lots of great stores, Vancouver is a fantastic shopping distract as well. We have a very good selection of shops.

We do think Seattle’s boutique is a bit better. They have more of a style which I like a lot. I guess the shops in Vancouver generally, they cater to specific markets. There’s not something that really interest me. I tend to go shopping over there a lot, but I think Vancouver is doing okay but I think there’s always room for improvement.

I think Seattle isn’t something that you really have die for it…I know people that go there a lot, way too much. Keep the money in Canada. Haha

What other interests and hobbies do you have other than Fashion and Music?

I was a pretty big time snowboarder… but I haven’t been snowboarding for two years already. I don’t have the time for it seriously. I do want to go back to snowboarding. I think I sort of grew up under that “Much Music” environment. Actually 4 years ago… the whole snowboarding culture was really big. I got sucked in and enjoyed it a lot. I do like snowboarding a lot.  You can’t really tell I snowboard because I don’t dress up like a snowboarder, I dress like a typical Asian, but hey, I do snowboard!

In terms of other things, I do like photography a lot. I don’t use those huge SLR cameras because I don’t need it. I think it’s heavy. I like to take photos of things that are architectural, things that have a structure, I like lines, I like to take pictures of buildings. I like to see a different side of the city. When you go downtown, Vancouver has fantastic buildings. We have a beautiful skyline;. Sometimes there are gaps between buildings right? I try to get an angles of different building crossing over and. I am also starting a collection of license plates. Like different license plates from different states and provinces.

I think the whole blogging thing has contributed to this boom of photographers because when you blog, you don’t just write, you will usually add photos or videos to attract readers. Because of the increase popularity of blog writing, it has really changed- not change – but really push the photography industry a lot.

You have a blog as well right? Can you tell us about what you blog about?

Yea, it’s kind of a recap of my radio show. I put things that I’ve talked about in the show. Let’s say the count down thing right? I shorten and summarize it and put it on the internet. I also like to share the news that I find.

Are you single or in a relationship?

In a relationship.

What is the most important feature that you look for in a girl?

Confidence. I think it’s a girl’s confidence that make them look beautiful.

What are some characteristics of Vancouver Girls?

I think Vancouver girls are a bit more outgoing and energetic. It’s different compared to the girls in Asia because they are trained to be more inert, they are trained to be more family orientated. They are not brought up to pursue on what they really want. Because it’s traditional in Asia for girls to stay in their family, but things have changed. I still see Vancouver girls as more outgoing and energetic, I don’t want to say that they are happier but they definitely have more of the optimistically view.

With the evolution of digital age from print to radio to internet, what do you think this technology has allowed to do and how has it changed media in general?

Right now if you want to survive in the media game, you have to be multimedia, you don’t just do radio, you have to put yourselves out there to make people notice you. But of course, if you have been doing radio for 10 years or 20 years, people are going to obviously going to recognize you as being established. But if you really want to step up the game, or stay in the game, I guess. You really have to go multimedia especially towards the internet and pod casting. I guess the whole media industry is shifting towards the internet. Well, the TV and Radio mediums will be here, it won’t go away. It’s been a stable for along time. Let’s just say that the internet, or internet media is really thriving right now and it’s very important.

What is HYPE?

HYPE is something that I think people will go after. It’s not necessary a flavour of the week thing. It’s a collective interest; like that a large group of people will have in the same time. Sometimes it starts by one person; the people around that person will lean towards that, creating HYPE.  I think HYPE is not a bad word, some people think HYPE is just a very short time. I think if it’s a good HYPE, it will be a fantastic trend.

That’s always why we are called justalilhype!

Just a lil, you don’t want too much! Just a little is fine.

*Everyone laughs*