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If you can identify the male announcer, we can be friends. If you can't, I think you can't claim to know much about Korean popular music. Learning the history of Korean music helps you to understand the why and how things have become like they are today.
Understanding Korean popular music begins when you go beyond the current top hits, and the current biggest companies, and see both how Korean music has evolved and also learn about Korean culture and society. You can't claim to know K-pop if your knowledge starts in 2020
And the answer is, it's Lee Sooman, founder of SME. Because he was a star in 1979. Because he became a very influential radio (and briefly TV) curator/announcer/taste maker for popular music. Everyone who runs every major media everything in Korea has known each other for decades
When SME debuts you in a group, you don't fail. And one reason is the behind the scenes power of Lee Sooman's connections/pull/influence in the media market. You can see this illustrated when JYJ was basically cut out of everything after the TVXQ split.
So, this really wasn't a trick question. Understanding Lee Sooman's influence in Korean media means going back to him as a young man forming a duo (April and May) and later becoming a solo singer. There are many Korean stars of the past who have disappeared, but he's still here.
Follow the lines backwards on any Korean media person and you find other Korean media people. Last night I tweeted about Jo Seung-u (조승우 sorry can't remember what romanization he uses)-- his dad was a star. Bang Sihyuk was part of JYPE. Everyone gets their knowledge, training
and their opportunity to shine, that breakout moment, due to other people. We don't exist in a vacuum. Neither does the Korean entertainment industry, and b/c of the small size of Korea, and the fact that most of it is in Seoul, it is VERY interwoven.
Add on to this the Korean cultural factors which emphasize creation of group feeling (so you have small and large groups of people who entered the company in the same year, the univ. department in the same year, people from the same hometown, the same hiking club, and so on)
and the importance placed on networking, and you start to see that behind the scenes operates this whole other level of "A and B graduated the same university and therefore some of B's opportunities might be because A had the power to choose someone and chose a fellow alum"
In Korea sharing membership in the same groups (alumni groups, etc.) is much more powerful than in the US. It wouldn't occur to me to ask for insider information from C because we both went to the same school (at different times). In the US, C wouldn't feel pressure to share.
In Korea networks can make or break the story of your life. Of course raw talent, drive, etc. are also important. Your success is determined by a combination of that talent and your networks. If you are debuted by SME you are part of an extremely powerful network.
