My radio days

Curtain-raisers:
• To Johnny Revilla: The pranksters got us! The "wedding" of Keanu Reeves and Alan Cumming posted on the Internet was a hoax, intended to be an April Fool’s joke. We’ve been fooled, Johnny!

• To Mark Gil: You’re right. If their fathers are first cousins, then Jao Mapa and Alec Mapa (the Filipino in the Hollywood movie Connie and Carla) are second cousins.

• To Danica Sotto: Yes, of course, your boyfriend Mark Escueta is the drummer of Rivermaya and not an "upcoming actor" as Funfare wrongly identified him.

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Yes, I’m tuned in.

Here’s how:

• Mornings, my radio dial is on DZMM with Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon, although I often switch back and forth, too, between DZBB with Arnold Clavio and Ali Sotto and DZRH with Deo Macalma and Ruth Abao-Espinosa. How do I do it? Between commercials. I have to catch Lolit Solis’ showbiz reports on DZBB (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and on DZRH (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays).

• At 10 a.m. (Mondays through Fridays), I’m stuck with Winnie Cordero and Ariel Ureta on Todo-Todo Walang Preno (DZMM). Take note: By this time, I’m in the middle of the traffic jam on my way from Fairview, Quezon City, to wherever the presscon of the day is. I have to thank Winnie and Ariel for helping me keep my sanity and for getting my mind off the traffic mess. Along the way, I actually "exchange notes" with (mostly) Winnie and Ariel. I "butt" in with my two-cent’s worth during their discussion of current events and I try to text (to Winnie) the name of whoever is their "guess who said this..." game. Alone in the car, I join their one-minute "tawa time" along with millions of other listeners. Winnie and Ariel are such a fun radio couple. Listen to them and you’ll get addicted, too, like me.

• From 2:30 to 4 p.m. (Mondays through Fridays), I’m connected to Roselle "Miss M" Manahan and Jobert Sucaldito (who took over from Ogie Diaz, now a field reporter) along with Fernan "Miss F" de Guzman on DZMM’s Showbiz Mismo. As I do with Winnie and Ariel, I "intrude" into Roselle and Jobert’s on-air repartee either to share new development on the topic at hand to make slight corrections which the two welcome good-naturedly.

• When traffic to The STAR office at Port Area is very bad and I’m caught in the bottleneck in Quiapo or around the Manila City Hall, I catch portions of Angelo Palmones’ news report starting at 4:30 p.m. and the first part of the following program hosted by Karen Davila and Vic de Leon Lima (who "inherited" the show from Senatoriable Fred Lim and Kaye Dacer).

• On the way to wherever yet another presscon and/or coverage is, I turn the dial to Atty. Aga’s legal opinions on RMN DZXL, followed at 7:30 p.m. by Mar d’Guzman Cruz’s Showbiz Power with Kuya Mar which gives updates on showbiz hot goings-on, with Kuya Mar in phone interviews with the stars involved. Sometimes, Grace, Kuya Mar’s very efficient secretary, calls me for a three-way banter which, you guessed it, takes my attention away from the traffic mess which gets more messy during the rush hour.

• I do tune in (sometimes) to Ernie Baron’s Knowledge Power on DZMM (but only after Kuya Mar signs off) and I’m amused by his cure-all "cleansing diet" and how he is able to answer each and every question listeners phone in, including who’s got the longest nails in the world and who’s the shortest person who ever lived. I know Ernie Baron’s "secret" (how he manages to, well, know everything) but I’m not telling you.

• By 10 p.m. (Mondays through Fridays), I’m still stuck on DZMM with Jun Banaag’s Dr. Love which dishes out pieces of advice for the lovelorn and the lovesick, also offering the problem-ridden a shoulder to cry on. I love Jun’s prayers for the sick and his exhortation for the intercession of the saints on behalf of the indisposed, including St. Philomena (for whom the late Danny Holmsen, whose murder two years ago has remained unsolved, composed a spirit-lifting song – you know, Santa Philomena, pakinggan mo sana ang hiling ko...). I sympathize Jun during his "bad hair" days when he’s impatient with stubborn listeners who forget to tone down or, better, turn off their radio when they’re on-air because they either get cut off and the feedback can be irritating and painful to the (radio host’s) ears. Once, Jun made me cry during his extended conversation with a tearful old woman who complained of being maltreated by her son. I wondered if there were really people like that son who could be so cruel to their mothers.

• After dinner and watching a recap of the day’s events in the newscasts (switching from GMA’s Saksi to ABS-CBN’s Insider), I lie gently in bed reading a book (I’m into the last pages of Purpose-Driven Life) while, believe it or not, my portable radio is tuned in to DZMM’s Private Confessions (12 midnight to 2 a.m.) with Marie Gutierrez and Jenny Almazan who, I must say, has one of the sexiest voices on Philippine radio, a voice that caresses especially when she and Marie are dissecting such wake-upper topics as teenage sex, premature ejaculation and the like. I drift off to dreamland with Jenny and Marie’s soothing voices reverberating in my subconscious.

• On Saturdays, again on the way to the office, I get a dose of showbiz goddies from Cristy Perminute (DZMM, 2 to 3 p.m.) with Cristy Fermin. By 7:30 (to 8:30), I’m through with work and on my way home, singing along with whoever the singer-composer guest is on Mar d’Guzman Cruz’s Thank You for the Music on DZXL, after which I tune in to DZMM for Billy Balbastro’s It’s Showtime (9 to 10) which dovetails to Alfie Lorenzo’s What’s It All About, Alfie (10 to 11). And then I catch up with Tia Dely (Magpayo’s) Serenatang Kumbidahan on DZRH (10:30 until midnight) and breeze through the light traffic with kundimans, haranas and well-loved Filipino love songs.

You see, listening to the radio is fun. While doing so, you can do many other things (such as reading) and hang on to every word your favorite announcers are saying. You can even react if you want to or if you see the need. It’s just a dial away. Try it.

Aiko Is A True Sinta Ng Bayan

Yes, I’m voting for Aiko Melendez who’s running for her second term as Councilor in the Second District of Quezon City under the banner of reelectionist Mayor Sonny "SB" Belmonte (who’s being endorsed by Kris Aquino).

Aiko ventured into politics as a greenhorn and has emerged a seasoned politician and an effective public servant in the past three years. She’s called Sinta ng Bayan ("SB") by us residents of Quezon City – and what a sinta she is!

Although she has been dropped by some party members, Aiko has remained No. 1 in the surveys, thanks to her performance.

She has passed 52 ordinances and pushed for the construction of daycare centers (and centers for women and for the youth). She’s the chairman of the Committee on Women and Disabled and of the Commitee on Justice and Human Rights, besides being the second majority floor leader. She was also one of the five members of the council which passed a resolution for the appropriation of fund for the construction of health centers, and one of the main authors of the amendment of the business tax.

Aren’t those reasons enough for me (and you?) to keep Aiko in the Q.C. Council?

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