MANILA, Philippines - The station that rocked the 23-year-old legacy of NU Rock is more than just replacing the format known among 107.5 listeners since the late ’80s. It also presents itself as a “more decent” pop frequency as it censors itself from playing music with dirty lyrics.
“We don’t allow songs with double-meaning to be played in our station. We insist that we have to practice more responsible programming,” said Manny Luzon, EVP/COO of the Progressive Broadcasting Corp. which carries Win Radio as its flagship station.
Luzon is respected for his revolutionary ways in handling radio concepts. He was a brainchild of what is now known as Love Radio when he was still with DZMB. Then he created Energy FM where he instructed all DJs to speak in their local dialects. He retired from Energy last year and went back to shake the rock foundation of NU 107.5.
For him, NU 107.5 only catered to a segmented market composed mostly of male listeners and rock artists. He wanted to tap a larger audience.
At present, old and new songs, dominated by OPM music, can be heard over Win Radio, its slogan “Pinag-iisipan pa ba yan?” is fast-becoming a regular expression, though some quarters think of it as ultra-inspired by Love Radio’s “Kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan?”
Truth of the matter is, the Win Radio expression originated from Luzon himself who usually utter the line when playing golf. He recounted that there is a hole so easy to deal with you won’t need to think about it.
Luzon, aware of the “grieving” heavy rock listeners shocked by their beloved frequency’s reformatting, is taking the matter with an open mind. “Business has to evolve. We believe that 80 percent of the listeners belong to the masa group and that is our audience.”
In a recent survey, Win Radio, which started airing just a few months back, already climbed to seventh spot among popular stations.
The impact it has given the listening public made its executives feel confident about reaching the Top 3 spot by the end of the year.
The new station’s current DJ stable includes Bon Bonito, Diwata, Dante Machete, Johnny Mo, Sisa Usisa, Sexy Bernie and Camille. Some of them are not new in the field, but were only absorbed after they were officially resigned from their previous stations. “We’re no to pirating employees and talents. That’s not good for business, it’s unethical,” Luzon argued.
There’s one more significant style popping over the latest of the masa stations. Listeners often asking if what they’re hearing is a mere cover of a past hit need not look for answers. Original versions of revivals in the playlist will be played closely to the new takes as well, in a way paying homage to the original voice that interpreted the song.
107.5 Win Radio uses a brand new 30kiloWatt Nautel Transmitter, with an 888 ft tall (above sea level) tower and an Orban 8500 Audio Processor. PBC’s provincial stations namely, 107.5 Cebu, 107.9 Iloilo, 107.5 Davao and 107.9 Cagayan de Oro were reformatted as well to the tune of the masa.
Win Radio studio, just like then NU Rock, is still located at the ground floor of AIC Gold Tower, in F. Ortigas Jr. Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig. Talking about pop culture taking over!