Ray Cordeiro
Article by Daniel Gomes first published in the UMA Bulletin Fall 2012 and republished in Casa Newsletter Volume 35 Issue 1 March 2023
Reinaldo Maria Cordeiro MBE SBS was born on 12 December 1924 and died on 13 January 2023 aged 98. Known professionally as”Uncle Ray”, Ray was a Hong Kong broadcaster, disc jockey and actor. He was known for hosting All the Way with Ray on RTHK Radio 3 from 1970 to 2021, which was the longest-running radio programme in Hong Kong. In 200, he was named by the Guinness Book of World Records “The World’s Most Durable DJ”.
Uncle Ray was born in Wan Chai – one of six siblings and was of Portuguese descent of immigrants to China with his paternal grandfather being born in Shanghai and met his grandmother in the Portuguese Colony of Macau before moving to Hong Kong in the 1800″s.. Ray’s father was born in Hong Kong while his mother immigrated from Macau to Hong Kong in the early 20th century. When Cordeiro was six, his father abandoned the family and his mother was left to raise the family, taking on extra work to care for them. The family lived in poverty.
Cordeiro attended St Francis’ Canossian School as a child.
During World War II, his mother and sisters moved to Macau while Ray stayed in Hong Kong with his father who happened to work with HSBC. In 1943 Ray joined the rest of the family in Macau and lived in a refugee camp. At a New Year’s Eve in 1944, a “big band” performed at the camp and sparked his interest in the drums. It is also interesting to note that in his younger years, Ray had a stutter which he overcame with the help of his mother.
When the war ended, Ray worked for a time as a warden in Stanley Prison. When he left the job after refusing to help a prisoner he befriended to escape, he then went to work at HSBC. He also moonlighted as a drummer at that time, but he had “four boring years”at the bank.
His radio career started at age 25, when his broadcasting career began as a scriptwriter with Radio Rediffusion. Who doesn’t remember redifussion!!! Ha Ha. He then joined Radio Television Hong Kong (then known as Radio Hong Kong). His radio series “All the way with Ray” ran for 51 years and he also featured in cameo roles in various Hong Kong Films in the 70’s and 80’s.
Although never having interviewed Elvis Presley, he was recognised by Elvis Presley Enterprises for his lifelong contribution to Elvis. Many other artists were interviewed in his career but not Elvis. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Ray and MBE in Buckingham Palace in 1987. An honorary fellowship from the Hong Kong Academy of Performance Arts was awarded to him in 2012, as well as an honorary doctorate of Social Science from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2022. Cordeiro was honored with Hong Kong’s Silver Bauhinia Star in 2022.RTHK presented Cordeiro with a lifetime achievement award in 1997.
Ray’s late night show featuring radio classics and nostalgia, All the Way with Ray was listened to by many taxi drivers. This late night show “taught taxi drivers their English”. Some callers regarded his show as a chance to practice conversational English and he often helped them with their pronunciation.
The Hong Kong diaspora in Vancouver and Sydney tuned in to link with their other home and also helped Filipinos in Hong Kong feel a little less homesick. For decades this was a fixture for Uncle Ray from 10pm to 2am. Peoples request on the show would see him dash off to the library to find them, then came along CD’s and MP3 with which he was helped in later years by his godson Andy Chow.
Besides playing records, he hosted live music shows like “Lucky Dip,” on which local singers took audience requests. They mostly sang covers of Western hits, which had more cachet in Hong Kong in those days. But some of his guests – notably Roman Tam and Sam Hui – went on to be major Cantopop stars.
He would always start his show with Elvis Presley, and as midnight neared, he would move further back in time, to the likes of Steve Lawrence and Doris Day.
Here is some information from when Daniel Gomes of UMA, California USA interviewed Ray in 2012. These are excerpts from an article which appeared in an UMA newsletter published in 2012.
“He (Uncle Ray) also introduced many young musical talents to the Hong Kong Music scene”.
“As a teenager Ray was attracted to the drums, and found plenty of opportunities to practice on the cooking pots and pans in the kitchen at the refugee centre in Macau, where hismother was the head cook.”
“After the war, Ray worked for 4 years at the legendary Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation and moonlighted as a drummer with his own jazz trio at the Chantecler Restaurant, near Hillwood Road, in Tsim Sha Tsui.”
(Ray said) “and they let me host The Diamond Music Show (weekly) sponsored by Ren da Silva, and The Shriro Hit Parade, the top 10 hits of the week.”
“After I became famous as a DJ, I was allowed to take charge of two popular live shows, Talent Time and Rumpus Time.”
“Both shows featured live performances in front of live audiences. Ray used these two shows to find and launch new musical talent. That was more than half a century before America’s Got Talent. A few who performed for Ray became famous. Terry Parsons showcased his fabulous voice and won so often that Ray offered him his own one-off show, on the condition that he would not take part in Forces Talent Show again. He accepted the offer and, on June 27, 1953, performed his first concert on air. Two songs from that show are featured in the Matt Monro Special Reserve Collection, recently released in Britain. Terry Parsons was Matt’s real name, and he was in Hong Kong for a two year stint in the military. He loved Hong Kong and remembered his good days there and came to my show whenever he was in town.”
“Rumpus Time produced The Fabulous Echoes, a pop group made up of young Filipino men that became a sensation in Hawaii for 25 years under the name Society of Seven, aka SOS. They were the first and, arguably, then most successful pop group from Hong Kong. “Rumpus Time” and “Talent Time” with audiences were both Rediffusion presentations but later transferred to Rediffusion Television when TV was introduced in Hong Kong. In 1960 Ray joined Radio Hong Kong, following the expiration of Rediffusion’s 10-year broadcasting franchise. It was there that some iconic musical figures made their debut, such as Joe Junior, Teddy Robin, the Playboys, Roman and The Four Steps. “Teddy Robin came in one day with an open-wheel recording of the hit Six Days in May. It was home-made and the quality was poor. Ray suggested Robin do a proper recording at the RHK studio, which he took to Ren da Silva owner of Diamond Records. Teddy Robin was given a recording contract and Ray went on to produce the song”. “[Joe Junior’s] father, Rodrigues SR, was my friend at St Joseph’s. One day he said to me, ‘My crazy son wants to be a pop singer, and you as a DJ, can you help?’ So I recommended him to Diamond Records, which ended up signing him and producing his first hit, Here’s a Heart, a song that was No. 1 for seven weeks. I must say Joe’s popularity was because he was naturally friendly with teenagers. After every show, no matter how late it was, he would stay until the last [fan] left. That’s why he has a lot of loyal fans over the years.” All the Way with Ray has been Ray’s longest-running radio program to date. Its launch owed much to the 1970 Osaka Expo.”
(Ray said: “I was selected as the road manager of a local pop group to perform at the Hong Kong pavilion, which was next to the British site. I picked Joe Junior, Irene Ryder, Michael Remedios and other top musicians from Hong Kong.
“We are proud of you, one of the shining Stars of our community.”
