A New Look for Government FM Radio

PBS Director Rizal Giovanni "Sonny B" Aportadera, the man responsible for changing government FM radio.

IN ONE of my previous posts in this blog, I talked about how DZSR Sports Radio 918 khz -- the station where I got my first start in sports media -- underwent a massive overhaul under the Duterte administration, merging with DZRM Radyo Magasin to become Radyo Pilipinas 2 even as its mother station, Radyo ng Bayan 738 khz, became Radyo Pilipinas 1.

Now, we will explain how the government-run radio network Philippine Broadcasting Service rebranded government radio by launching two new stations.

When President Duterte named Martin Andanar as head of the Presidential Communications Office,  one of the first things Andanar did was to appoint Rizal Giovanni "Bong" Aportadera, Jr. to head PBS as its director-general.

It so happened that Andanar was a radio buff, having been a former DJ before he became a newscaster with TV5 prior to his appointment by the current administration.

Aportadera, who is known by his radio name Sonny B, previously worked as a DJ in Davao City before becoming the head of the tourism office under then-Mayor Duterte in the same city.

When Aportadera came to Manila, he became a DJ for the Tiger 22 radio group which runs such stations as Magic 89.9, Jam 88.3, 99.5 RT (later 99.5 Play FM), Wave 89.1, 103.5 K Lite and Mellow 94.7. He retired from the Vera group in 2016 when he was appointed by Andanar.

The first thing Aportadera did was to revitalize 104.3 DWBR, turning it into 104.3 FM2, which plays 80s and 90s music starting from 5 am until 12 midnight. Artists like Madonna, Prince, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, Rick Astley and Michael Jackson dominate this station.

Among FM2's DJs include former Jam DJ and sportscaster Eric Tipan, former K Lite DJ Monica Figueras, former Retro DJs Claudine Najera and Joey Pizza and former RT jocks Andrew De Castro (North Andrew) and Jeremiah Junior.

Aportadera also removed the old DWBR format which included business news and old classic standard music while also sending veteran news anchor and actor Bon Vibar into retirement. Vibar had been part of DWBR from the Cory Aquino administration until her son Noynoy stepped down as president in 2016.

Then, Aportadera, with the help of his deputy Carlo Jose Villo (also a former DJ with the Vera group), put up a new station, FM1 on 87.5, which specializes in playing current pop hits from Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and other top international young singers.

Villo then tapped several former DJs from Play FM, K Lite and Mellow to join FM1, including Mandy Nokom, Alyssa Esplana (daughter of former PBA player Gerry), Jada Hidalgo Pangan, Therese Garcia and Alex Sy.

Aside from playing current pop hits, FM1 also has a daily countdown Super 5 and its weekend countdown Weekly Top 30 which airs Saturday mornings.

Although I'm now in the US, I listen to both stations via the PBS Smartphone App and based on what I've observed, both FM1 and FM2 do sound like Magic, K Lite, Play FM, Jam, Mellow and Wave combined. Of course, the biggest difference is that FM1 and FM2 are both run by the government which means no ads are aired unless advertisers come to the station and the money earned from these ads goes to the national treasury.

With the changes Aportadera and Villo have introduced to PBS, government radio has surely changed from the time I was still with PBS as a reporter and announcer on Sports Radio. All PBS stations now have newer booths and newer equipment with computers used to play music. I still remember playing some of the songs FM2 now plays during my old Sports Radio program using my cassette recorder and a vinyl record player. Clearly, the Duterte government has spent a lot of money to rehabilitate government radio although many listeners still miss the old format of Sports Radio and Business Radio.

And let's not forget that Radyo Pilipinas 1 has the Tulfo brothers Mon, Erwin and Ben -- all supporters of Duterte who use their big mouths to praise the current president to high heavens.

I sure wish I was back in Manila working for FM2 since I'm an oldies buff and I had the DJ experience back then. But my mother feels that working and living in the US is a much better option since things in the Philippines won't change for the better.