A PR guy, podcaster, former radio and television journalist, and tech nerd with 22 years (and counting) in Asia.
Hi, nice to meet you. This is my blog. Thanks for stopping by and reading, because I'm never quite sure how people end up here! There's something quite comforting about writing, even if one assumes that nobody reads it. This site also contains work I've done over the years in radio, television, corporate communications and digital.
Many years ago, when I lived in Shanghai, I launched a rag-tag blog called Zhongnanhai. It happened a few hours after I arrived at work that morning at an upstart internet company called Jongo. After sitting down at my desk and pouring a morning coffee, I was summoned into the managing director's office and told investors had pulled the plug, that the site would close, and that I'm free to go home. After leaving the office for the last time it occurred to me that this was the first time in my adult life when I had absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to be — so why not enjoy a pint and write something?
By pure luck, my timing to start a blog was nearly perfect. Blogs were booming, social media was still in its infancy, and the original iPhone was set to launch a month later. It was also a very optimistic time in China, with millions of people entering the middle class, buying cars, and enjoying the fruits of the country's renaissance. The global media spotlight was fixated on China, too, as the world prepared for the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in a country without a free press and still run by authoritarian leaders.
I spent four years in Mainland China, living in three of the "big four" first-tier cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. I was so fortunate to pack so much into those years. I first worked at China Radio International hosting news, sports, and language learning shows before moving on to China Central Television to write and voice news stories and documentaries for the country's international news channel. The next stop was Guangzhou, a city I still adore. I was part of the launch team and hosted a daily news program for Guangzhou Television's English Channel, the country's first municipal English-language television channel.
The Beijing Olympics served as a perfect bookend of my time in Mainland China. It was the first time I had been in a city hosting the Olympics, and the two-week party seemed almost magical. The city had an energy that I haven't experienced anywhere else. Once the games ended, it was clear that it was time for me to get more serious about life. I had my heart set on Hong Kong, and I landed here on Halloween in 2008.
After a two-year stint at MTR, the city's subway operator, I spent just over nine years with HKEX, the company that owns and operates the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, London Metal Exchange, and other trading venues. I joined as a kid and feel like I left the company, in early 2020, as an adult. By the time I resigned, I was the head of its digital communications department overseeing its web properties, social networks, and anything remotely digital.
These days I'm the Senior Director of Global Communications for a large, listed internet and technology firm — an incredible job at a fascinating company. My team works in the global media office, building out the company's international communications capability, boosting engagement online and with media, and ultimately building relationships with stakeholders to help demystify the company and build trust.
I still have a freelancer spirit, and continue to work with the World Economic Forum on its Annual Meeting of New Champions held in Mainland China each year. I speak semi-frequently at professional events and on university campuses on digital communications, social media, the internet landscape in China, and developing one's personal brand online. And although I've been out of the journalism game for many years, I still receive calls from overseas news organizations whenever news happens in Hong Kong.
A little update about what I'm doing now. It was inspired by Derek Sivers. If you have a website, you can create one too.
I started blogging in the mid-2000s and have kept at it on and off ever since. What follows is everything I’ve published recently — tech, China, journalism, AI, travel, and the occasional detour.
It was 1979, and CBC News in Canada needed parents to profile in a series on pre-natal care. Murray and Maureen MacMurchy were happy to oblige.
Read article →It’s actually not AI slop — it’s AI-generated video that brings the past to life in a real, vivid way.
Read article →A simple – but useful – report to keep track of the constant flurry of news related to artificial intelligence.
Read article →Host Jack Rhysider's superb storytelling shines a light on the darkest corners of the internet
Read article →Even though it's an 'old tech', don't overlook the power of RSS
Read article →I found a super handy little utility app that gives the user full control of connected displays, including the ability to flip the screen for teleprompters.
Read article →It might just be one of the best podcasts out there.
Read article →You can have some fun on holiday with a 360-degree camera.
Read article →I guarantee a few tips will surprise you
Read article →Sometimes it's better just to laugh at the absurdity
Read article →What we're doing now just isn't working.
Read article →An iOS mock-up shows phone calls with subject lines to give people a heads-up before answering.
Read article →A real-time feed containing small, quick observations and experiences while out and about.
The Playdate has finally arrived about two years after ordering. I’m not a gamer, but looking forward to taking this on a trip next week. Thoughts to come…
First time my hotel room includes at little “tea nook”? Did I just coin that? Shenzhen JW Marriott.
Next stop: PEK (for a work event this week)
Also while on podcasts, I came across a list of the best podcasts on the media biz. If you’re interested, you can find the list here: https://x.com/thefixmedia/status/1692499576157040853 I can personally vouch for numbers 11 and 12.
While on the topic of recommended podcasts, check out the new show Search Engine. It’s hosted by PJ Vogt of Reply/All fame. In particular, the two part series on fentanyl is well done. Find it here: https://overcast.fm/+BBVQTgVvEo
Gut-wrenching images of Kelowna, an otherwise spectacular city in Canada filled with friends and family. The fires seem to get worse every summer…
I am slowly getting annoyed by how often the word “immersive” is thrown around, to the point it has basically lost meaning. How could a 5 inch screen be immersive?! #pedant #grrr
I’m not *that guy*, but received this as a Christmas gift this past year. I actually love it more than I thought I would!
Live streaming studio nearly done. Looks like a teenager’s bedroom.
This is, without a doubt, one of the best gifts I’ve received in the last decade or more. Love it.
And just like that, Christmas draws to a close. My first HK Christmas Tree will be taken down in the morning.
Hong Kong’s normally bustling In Town Check In on Christmas Eve in a post-protest, global pandemic era.
A strange Christmas this year. First one in Hong Kong and very low key. Stay safe out there.
Thursday night, 11pm: Hong Kong on lockdown from COVID-19.
A Tiger King and Carole Baskin sighting in Hong Kong (not to mention their tiger friends). What day is it again?
Weekend project: a home teleprompter. A Sony A7R4 sits behind that screen. Finally figured out how to reverse the screen (not shown obviously!)
You can’t tell from the photo, but the humidity is finally dissipating. Fall/winter is the best time of year in Hong Kong.
Weekend comfort food: a classic skillet w/ hash browns, onions, green peppers, cheese, steak and eggs @ Green Waffle Diner. #yum
A #steampunk Bluetooth keyboard. #retro #hipsterkeyboard #keyboardfashion Get one.
Believe it or not, this actually tastes even better than it looks. Possibly the best brisket I’ve ever had. Love Smoke and Barrels.
This show is a train wreck that is absolutely captivating.
The “shelter in place” directive in Hong Kong has resulted in beautiful clear skies.
Spectacular day. Feels like summer is here. 28 degrees.
A Hong Kong morning routine when word spreads of a new shipment of masks. #coronavirus
Versatile business.
This has been making the rounds. Wuhan, basically unknown in the west prior to December, will be linked with this virus for a long, long time.
Went looking to rent a bigger apartment today and was shown this, the view from my prospective new living room. Scenery is great, price still isn’t.
Supermarket in Hong Kong today, February 2. I’ve never seen it like this before, even in the most severe typhoons.
I know this says “Promoted” and mentions “with Brand HK” in the title, but are you okay with legitimate news organizations doing this?
Living in Hong Kong means lunchtime hockey. Timing works quite well!
The Red Book Podcast is a bi-weekly show we launched in 2026 to bring stories about China — and Asia, more broadly — to a western audience. We look at what's happening in the AI ecosystem in China, how e-commerce in Asia developed much differently than in the west, and how the balance of global power continues to shift eastward.
You can watch the show on YouTube. Audio-only versions are coming soon.
Fathers helping out in pre-natal classes was quite new back in 1979, so Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, decided to do a profile on this changing trend. In a three-part series, they interviewed Murray (my dad) and Maureen (my mom) about how they were preparing for the birth and to become parents.
The series culminated as you would expect: with video of the actual birth, shot through the delivery room window at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Canada.*
Apologies for the degradation in some of the footage — this was copied from a 40-year-old beta tape (remember those?!) relatively recently.
*While I was born in Calgary, we moved away when I was five years old. So I consider Victoria, British Columbia, where I grew up, as my home town.
I spent nearly four years at News1130 from 1999, when I was hired as a student intern, to 2003 when I resigned from the station as the morning show reporter. Along the way I covered the Winter Olympics being awarded to Vancouver, a deadly sniper investigation in the United States, and the first ninety days of a new BC Liberal government.
Since then I've remained a regular guest on Canadian talk radio — primarily on Charles Adler's nationally syndicated show and on Vancouver's CKNW — covering China's growth and its impact on the world.
Canadians in China are on edge after Beijing retaliated for the arrest of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. A live discussion of what the death sentence signals for everyone else.
Pro-democracy protests roiled Hong Kong in late 2014, drawing worldwide attention for the first major protest against the Communist Party of China since 1989. A talk-show discussion from October that year.
China's Olympic torch relay was hit with protests in several countries over the country's human rights record. One of the most notable incidents happened in France, where protestors attacked a torch carrier.
The photo of Tank Man may be iconic in the West, but the Chinese government has yet to come to terms publicly with the events in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
The IOC announced the finalists for the 2010 Winter Games, and Vancouver was on it. A jolt of energy went through the city as people began to realize the dream might come true.
The opening of the major 8:00am newscast broadcast live on News1130 with co-anchor Dianne Newman.
A sniper was terrorizing Americans along the East Coast in 2003. Filed from Bellingham, Washington, where the suspect had spent time and was well known.
As the investigation into the East Coast sniper gained momentum, the focus turned to his years spent in Washington State, just south of Vancouver — and the suspect wasn't the only high-profile accused killer to spend time in the area.
A look at the big winners from the 2002 Juno Awards — Canada's version of the Grammys.
An abduction of a teenaged girl from a Vancouver suburb made headlines, with the accused driving into BC's interior to evade police. The woman managed to escape; law enforcement were searching a forest for a sign of her captor.
A cabinet minister in the British Columbia government made startling comments about the pay gap between men and women in front of reporters. When she was confronted, she said her comments weren't reflected accurately in the media. But which parts?
Radio is my first love, but I have spent time on the television side over the years. I studied television journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, which included an internship at CHEK Television in Victoria, Canada, just before my 21st birthday — a demo from which can be viewed below.
Most of the television work has been in Asia. I worked at China Central Television's International channel from 2005–2006, then re-located to Guangzhou to launch the first regional all-English television station in China. In 2007 I co-hosted Business Traveler on Tianjin Television, travelling to cities across the country to record episodes.
A live update by phone to anchors at BC1, an all-news television station in British Columbia operated by Global, during the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's MTR Corporation won the right to operate Melbourne's Metro Trains in 2009. As an MTR media relations rep at the time, I gave a brief tour and a few comments to the reporter from Channel 7 Melbourne.
A year of recording episodes of a new business and travel show on one of the first English-language television stations in China. Launched December 2007, geared towards English-speaking business people living and working in (or travelling to) China.
Recorded at China Central Television's English news channel in early 2006. Primarily voicing news reports and documentaries, plus copy editing. This particular demo never aired.
Recorded at age 20 in the studios of CHEK Television in Victoria, Canada, during a practicum from the British Columbia Institute of Technology's Journalism program. Also never broadcast.
A small personal channel — a mix of journalism throwbacks, travel notes, and short experiments with new cameras and formats. It's where I park the kind of footage that doesn't fit anywhere else. A few highlights below; the full archive lives on the channel itself.
As a news junkie, I often come across thought-provoking articles, excellent long-form journalism, or other pieces that are too good not to share. They are posted here regularly, so check back often.
A directory of every platform I'm on — primary networks at the top, archive and legacy accounts further down. Click any tile to open in a new tab.
An integrated stream of everything I post across all channels, in one place. Currently in development.
For media enquiries, podcast guesting, speaking, or just to say hi — the form on the right reaches me directly. I read every note.