Inuyama Inuko's Pokémon Hour
Inuyama Inuko's Pokémon Hour (犬山犬子のポケモンアワー), also known simply as "Pokémon Hour", was a radio program produced by Nippon Broadcasting System and broadcast nationwide in Japan, hosted primarily by Inuyama Inuko, the voice actress for Team Rocket's Meowth. It ran from October 12, 1997 through to March 29, 2001.
While the broadcast was popular, and home-made recordings of a number of the broadcasts exist, there has never been an official home media release.
Description
Despite being named the "Pokémon Hour", broadcasts were typically contained to 30 minute time-slots outside of special program broadcasts, which range from two to three hours. Throughout the program, Inuyama Inuko would present a number of segments focused on the Pokémon games, merchandise, and news. Occasionally, broadcasts would feature a special guest, often a voice actor of the Pokémon anime, such as Rika Matsumoto, and Megumi Hayashibara.
Between segments, pieces of music from the Pokémon anime would play (for example, Kaze to Issho ni), as well as promotional advertisements for upcoming or recently released Pokémon CDs, TCG sets, merchandise, and events.
Broadcast Time
Throughout it's life span, the radio program held a number of different time slots, as well as having a number of special programs to commemorate movie releases. Episodes were first broadcast by Nippon Broadcast System, then subsequently re-broadcast on other radio stations nationwide such as STV Radio, Tokai Radio, and Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting.
Nippon Broadcast Systems airing schedule ran as follows;
- October 12, 1997 - March 29, 1998: Sunday, 21:00 - 21:30
- April 6, 1998 - September 21, 1998: Monday, 20:30 - 21:00
- October 11, 1998 - March 28, 1999: Sunday, 21:00 - 21:30
- April 26, 1999 - September 27, 1999: Monday, 20:30 - 21:00
- October 7, 1999 - March 23, 2000: Thursday, 21:20 - 21:50
- April 3, 2000 - September 25, 2000: Monday, 20:30 - 21:00
- October 12, 2000 - March 29, 2001: Thursday, 21:20 - 21:50
Special Broadcasts
| Broadcast Date | Broadcast Duration | Program Details |
|---|---|---|
| July 18, 1999 | 13:00 - 16:00 | A 180-minute special commemorating the release of the second Pokémon movie, which debuted in theatres the day prior. |
| July 13, 2000 | 15:00 - 17:00 | A two hour special commemorating the release of the third Pokémon movie, which debuted in theatres the Saturday prior. |
| July 8, 2001 | 13:00 - 15:00 | A two hour special commemorating the release of the fourth Pokémon movie, which debuted in theatres the day prior. |
Structure
Throughout the half-hour time slot, Inuko would host a number of segments, though not every segment appeared in every episode. An example of some of the segments are as follows;
| Segment | Japanese Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Latest Pokémon Information | ポケモン最新インフォメーション | News on upcoming video games, TCG sets and events, and other Pokémon media. |
| Pokémon World Satellite | ポケモンワールドサテライト | Discussing Pokémon news from outside of Japan. Later versions of this segment would play snippets of dubbed Pokémon anime audio. |
| Ask Professor Yoshikawa | プロフェッサー吉川に聞け | A Q&A segment hosted by Professor Yoshikawa, played by Chōji Yoshikawa, an associate producer of the Pokémon anime. |
| National Pokémon Cry Quiz | 全国ポケモン鳴き声当てクイズ | A call-in quiz segment where a participant was played a number of Pokémon cries and must correctly guess which Pokémon the cry belongs to, with a cash prize depending on number of correct answers, up to a maximum of 10. The participant had 1 minute in total. |
| New Pokémon Merchandise Development Research Institute | ポケモン新グッズ開発研究所 | A segment which encouraged listeners to submit concepts for new and interesting Pokémon merchandise. The segment was retired in 1999. |
| Can you sing a Pokémon parody song? | ポケモン替え歌・歌えるかな? | A call-in segment where a caller would sing a Pokémon related song, this could be either a parody of another song, or a rendition of a pre-existing Pokémon song. Additionally, Inuko would sing a Pokémon-ized parody of a popular, pre-existing song; for example, Yesterday by The Beatles, in the September 6, 1998 broadcast. |
| 150 Pokémon Poems | ポケモン百五十人一首 | Listener-submitted poems relating to specific Pokémon. |
| I'm proud of my Pokémon | ぼくのわたしのポケモン自慢 | A segment where listeners could boast about their achievements in the Pokémon games, including completing the Pokédex, and high-scores in Pokémon Pinball. |
| Latest Pokémon Goods | ポケモン最新アイテムプレゼント | A segment discussing the latest official Pokémon merchandise releases. |
| Radio Drama | ラジオドラマ | An infrequent segment which played the radio dramas The Birth of Mewtwo and It's a White Tomorrow, Team Rocket! |
| Pokémon Gold & Silver Popularity Vote | 「ポケモン金銀」人気投票 | A popularity poll for the first 251 Pokémon. |
External Links
- Inuyama Inuko's Pokémon Hour - Wikipedia Article (Japanese)
- Pokéhour Segment Information (Japanese)
- Partial transcript of the September 20, 1999 broadcast (Japanese)
- Partial transcript of the July 26, 1999 broadcast (Japanese)
- Partial transcript of the March 01, 2001 broadcast (Japanese)
