2003: A good year for ABS-CBN — and how!

Most of the network’s activities hinged on its grand 50th anniversary celebration, for which ABS-CBN initiated ways of thanking the Filipino people for their continued patronage and help in making the network the country’s undisputed number one station for 17 years since its resurgence in 1986.

The 50th anniversary celebration kicked off with the all-star Kapamilya mall tour last February, which had a grand launch in the anniversary show of ASAP at the Araneta Coliseum. Major talents of the network’s shows and soap operas, as well as Star Records artists, went on nationwide mall appearances, complete with free shows, all the way through the summer months.

Memories of ABS-CBN’s glorious 50 years came in the form of another grandiose celebration when the network held its Kapamilya homecoming last August. Former network employees, executives and talents numbering over 4,000 trooped to ABS-CBN’s compound and studios and renewed ties with former colleagues to relive their ABS-CBN days. Nostalgia found its way to the sweet reunion as dozens of men and women took part in the homecoming held in their honor.

The network’s big bosses headed by chairman and CEO Eugenio "Gabby" Lopez III, president and COO Freddie M. Garcia (FMG), vice chairman Jake Almeda Lopez and EVP and head for entertainment Charo Santos-Concio came in full force. James Lindenberg, known as the father of Philippine television, being the founder of Bolinao Electronics Corp., also graced the event.

In line with the Kapamilya homecoming, ABS-CBN also held a Treasure Hunt contest, where participants brought old ABS-CBN souvenir items and memorabilia, as well as antiquated ABS-CBN equipment, photographs and print ads. Contestants came from different parts of the country and brought their entries from various eras of ABS-CBN, with items even dating back as early as 1930.

As the country’s leading media network, ABS-CBN was also at the forefront of programming and marketing innovation which has satisfied the network’s clients and viewers. As of mid-June 2003, ABS-CBN has a commanding 41-percent advantage in viewership over the nearest competition, consistently across the morning, afternoon and early evening time blocks.

In May, ABS-CBN started another viewing craze when it introduced Meteor Garden, which became a phenomenal success, signaling the Chinovela invasion on Philippine TV. The Taiwanese TV series dubbed in Tagalog captured a sizable chunk of viewer’s share in the late-afternoon time slot and contributed to the increased advertising revenues of the network.

The Meteor Garden stars – F4 members Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Ken Zhu and Vaness Wu, with Barbie Xu – become household names in the country. The F4 stars went from complete unknown to hunk-of-the-moment during the first three months the Chinovela was aired over the network. Meteor Garden later had a sequel, Meteor Rain, which was also widely followed by F4 fans.

The meteoric rise to stardom of the Meteor Garden stars paved the way for the network to present the highly successful Happy 50 TV concert last November. The show featured Jerry, Vic and Barbie with younger sister Dee, as well as ABS-CBN stars. Nearly 35,000 fans came to see the Taiwanese superstars perform in a show held at The Fort Open Field. In September, ABS-CBN also became a media partner to The Event, which brought Vaness and Ken to Manila for a concert at the Ultra Football Field.

In October, ABS-CBN made TV history with the biggest, brightest and most star-studded TV special for its 50th anniversary extravaganza, Kapamilya: ABS-CBN at 50, held at the PICC Plenary Hall.

The massive and spectacular TV event brought together many of the network’s stars from the past and the present: From the television superstars of the 1950s and 1960s, to today’s most bankable TV, music, concert and movie stars, and tomorrow’s biggest bets for stardom. The lavish celebration outdid all of the network’s previous pioneering and influential TV events in scope, magnitude and sheer star power.

For the show, aired as a two-part special on the network, ABS-CBN crafted exciting stellar combinations that included stars who have not been seen on the network for the better part of a generation. The guest list, meanwhile, included famous figures from not just entertainment, but politics, business, media and society.

Musical director was Ryan Cayabyab, who did new song arrangements that chronicled five decades of Philippine TV. The songs were interpreted by the 60-member San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra. Johnny Manahan directed.

Behind the news coverage and the entertainment eye candy that viewers see on TV are technical innovations initiated by ABS-CBN’s integrated engineering group, headed by its senior vice president Ruben Jimenez.

This year, ABS-CBN invested $3 million (P165 million) on state-of-the-art broadcast equipment that is now being used for remote coverage, pre-production and post-production work for news, current affairs and entertainment.

For its 50th year celebration, ABS-CBN also produced an exclusive documentary on the history of Philippine television, Limampung Taong Ligawan: The Pinoy TV Story. It featured the TV programs in various genres – drama, comedy, variety, musical, game and talk shows – produced by ABS-CBN throughout the 50 years.

The contents of the documentary were culled from ABS-CBN’s archive, considered the storeroom of the history of Philippine TV. Jeffrey Jeturian was at the helm, with Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala and Veronica Alcaneses-Pantig as executive producers.

Meanwhile, Sa Mata ng Balita was the news documentary that encapsulated some of the most unforgettable, remarkable and celebrated events of the last 50 years as captured by TV news. The documentary was an all-encompassing look at television news as seen through the eye of ABS-CBN. It traced the evolution of TV news and current affairs from being a mere source of information to becoming a tool for public service and a catalyst for change and nation-building.

Sa Mata ng Balita paid tribute to the men and women who have gathered, reported on and delivered the news to the Filipino people over the past five decades. Representing them were several generations of the country’s most memorable news anchors: Henry Halasan, Frankie Evangelista, Bong Lapira, Harry Gasser, Tina Monzon Palma, Angelo Castro, Jr., Noli de Castro, Loren Legarda and Korina Sanchez. Executive producer and head writer was Angela Blardony Ureta; director and cinematographer was Dik Trofeo.

Also in November, ABS-CBN left no stone unturned in throwing a big bash for the delegates of the 18th Philippine Advertising Congress in Baguio City. In keeping with the network’s 50th anniversary celebration, the Whatta Singkwenta party at the Ad Congress was a gesture of giving back whatever blessing ABS-CBN has reaped this year.

The network’s bigwigs – Gabby Lopez, Freddie Garcia and Charo Santos-Concio – danced the otso-otso onstage, with Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon. The network gave away nearly P3 million in cash prizes. And the party was graced by close to 3,000 delegates, the most attended in the 18-year history of the Ad Congress. Gabby Lopez was also the head of the 18th Ad Congress.

Irish jazz singer Siobhan Pettit was flown in by the network from Dublin, Ireland, to perform at the ABS-CBN party last Nov. 20, along with the top talents of the network.