Thanks for visiting the first Penang style Hokkien podcast. First of all, I am John Ong. I was born and raised in Penang. I left Penang for school the USA and ended up living here. I DO miss Penang. Especially beautiful and witty language of Penang Hokkien. That was my inspiration to start this show.
This podcast started when I was chatting with my long-time friend K.E. over the phone. There were just too many silly and fun stories we exchanged. And it’s a waste without sharing them with more people. So, I started posting some our recorded conversations on my first podcast, Ongline Podcast.
Since most of listeners on Ongline Podcast do not understand Hokkien, I thought I’d start a new podcast dedicated to Penang Hokkien in 2005. After a few trial shows on this new podcast, I posted the first official episode on August 18, 2005 – PGHK #1 Tsunami Rumor.
A year into doing this podcast (2006) and as it started to get to gain some attention from local media and listeners, I realized I could ride on this opportunity and bring up the real threat of the extinction to this beloved language of ours.
With the support of the listeners over the years, we feel like we may have made a difference in the pride of this language amongst Penangites as we see a wave of younger content creators from various social media platforms embracing Penang Hokkien with pride.
Ultimately, the most important goal is for the future generations to continue using and loving Penang Hokkien. We hope with our podcast and other content creators embracing the usage of the language, would ultimately inspire you to speak the language to your children and their children.
Updated: February 9, 2025.
