Brief History of Philippine Radio Early Radio under the American Colonial Rule Radio in the Philippines was started out as a commercial enterprise pioneered pioneered by American businessmen as a way to further introduce American goods to Filipino audiences. This together with the American!style commentary and music that was broadcast by these foreign media men also a lso contributed to the proli"c spread of American culture among the Filipinos. #ost early radio announcers a nnouncers and talents were American American or Filipinos that ha$e near indistinguishable accents and mannerisms. Henry Herman is credited credited as being the "rst to conduct a commercial commercial radio broadcast in the Philippines using a %&!watt station based in Pasay #anila and a mobile station in '((). Two years later the three e*perimental stations were replaced replaced by a single '&&!watt station with the call letters +,+, in Pasay. Another notable station at the time was +,R# of the Radio Corporation of the Philippines -RCP with the R# standing for Radio #anila. The RCP was the "rst to broadcast outside of #anila by putting up +,RC +,RC in Cebu in '()(. The RCP RCP sold both stations to a broadcasting company owned by /. Amado Araneta who already owned a signi"cant newspaper conglomerate. These stations in$ested in shortwa$e transmitters that allowed Philippine radio to ha$e an international audience. As radio sets became more accessible ad$ertisers began using radio to reach broad audiences that newspapers wouldn0t be able to reach and would often sponsor radio programs. 1tations would sell airtime to ad$ertisers in '%!minute bloc2s who "lled the time with their own programs or resold their bloc2s to other ad$ertisers. 3n '(4' the colonial go$ernment created the Radio Control 5aw setting up the Radio Control Board which issued licenses fre6uencies and conducted inspections. The national Radio Broadcasting fund was also set up which "nanced go$ernment radio programs and pro$ided sets for go$ernment go$ernment o7ces and a nd remote communities through the license fees collected from set owners. 8artime Radio 8ith radio0s ability to deli$er news much faster than the broadsheets to a wider audience radio became a powerful propagandistic tool. +,9: -for 9ational :efense was set up by the colonial go$ernment was used to update listeners on the war e;ort. The
Freedom as they retreated from the /apanese forces marching towards #anila. As the /apanese too2 o$er #anila they set up the station P3A# which stood for Philippine 3slands A #anila. Programing usually consisted of Filipino and /apanese music and language lessons as well as a calisthenics program called Radio Tasio. #eanwhile =oice of Freedom was used by the resistance to counter the /apanese!controlled broadcasts in #anila deli$ering news of the war that was censored in /apanese broadcasts. The news was deli$ered in English by Reser$e ma>or Carlos P. Romulo followed by the Tagalog translation deli$ered by 5ieutenant Francisco 3sidoro. Another station the =oice of /uan dela Cru? was a portable station operated within #anila by a group led by Carlos #alon?o and his wife =iolet Brown until they were captured by the /apanese in '(@). Postwar and Commonwealth Radio
engaged listeners in personality!platter shows. Radio dramas also replaced the short comic s2its of before pioneered by 5ina Flor0s ulong ng Palad. 9ews co$erage was also much more populari?ed in radio with AB1!CB90s :,AG Radayo Patrol being the "rst )@&hour radio news station followed by their ri$al the :,HP =igilantes.
oyed the freedom and $ariety it once had. Radio is once again protected under the constitution as part of the citi?en0s right to freedom of e*pression and the freedom of the press. The +BP remained and became a truly self!regulatory organi?ation guided by a code of ethics. Commercialism is still rampant among stations as ad$ertising is still the number one way of "nancing the station. 9ew technologies allowed for greater access to radio with streaming ser$ices and listeners
being able to engage with the stations more $ia landlines mobile phones and the internet.
