The State of Philippine Broadcasting - The Mass Growth of Masa Stations In this critique paper, I would like to critique

on the overpopulation of these so called Masa radio stations that constantly plaguing out the quality programming and eventually killing those niche formats of the radio stations in favour of large revenues and battle for ratings supremacy. Indeed, out of my passion for radio, it is my great pleasure to give out some thoughts on todays radio landscape. Istoryahee, Haya-hay, Kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan?, Hi Pangga!, corny or green jokes that cracked around every quarter of the hour, annoying stingers of laughters. Those are the tag lines and anything that usually we heard on the radio these days, that sometimes we are now adapted with our daily living. And these were aired by these socalled Masa Stations. In Metro Manila, the Philippines capital of all entertainment and source of most of the programming, these so-called Masa stations have occupied some parts of the limited frequency of the FM bandwidth. Leading to the Masa stations came from the radio giant, Manila Broadcasting Companys Love Radio; followed by ABS-CBNs Tambayan 101.9; Yes FM, another sister radio station of Love Radio; and Barangay LS 97.1 FM. Davao City was not even spared of these Masa stations. They were headed by the same stations with the exception of Yes FM which was converted to Easy Rock, which is another case of acquisition of MBC to its original owners. The stations that have been tagged as Masa and currently on top of the lists are Love Radio, Energy FM, and MOR. Definiton of Masa So how we define the Masa stations? As I have exhaustively researched its definition, it may categorically fall in the Contemporary Hit Radio format with the addition of Hot Adult Contemporary and Original Pilipino Music formats on its playlists. Radio broadcasting author, Michael Keith, describes CHR or Top 40 format as The basic concept behind hit music stations is quite simple: Confine the playlist to those songs that are currently the fastest selling and most popular (sales being a barometer of popularity) This is the same approach that CHR's forerunner, Top 40 employed. It simply plays the best of the music today, the DJs are frenetic are some of the characteristics that a CHR stations possessed. We got the purist approach of CHRs in the form of Magic 89.9. Here in Davao, although it doesnt carry the flagships station name, which is a common practice for most of the regional stations, the Killer Bee stations carry on its format. Another case would be the Monster Radio BT 99.5 which they fall on the CHR category. Its so unfortunate that these two stations have problems in their reception, in which disables them to compete equally with other powerful, clearer stations.

In the case of Killer Bee 89.1, the station is dismal in terms of audio fidelity and unstereo capability. Whereas, Monster Radio BT 99.5 was unfortunate that they have to resort on a makeshift and low-powered transmission due to renovation works at their broadcasting complex inside Gaisano Mall of Davao, which gives them limited coverage in downtown area. Just recently on first week of August, Killerbee restored to its high audio fidelity and stereo capability. Mix FM is a proud Davao formed station that has gained listeners and awards from the award giving bodies in the national level and is fortunate that they have an edge towards other CHR stations, the fact that its signal is stronger and much better fidelity compared to its two competitors. Back in 1995, in an interview with programmer Bill Richards, he predicted that the high intensity jock approach would give way to a more laidback, natural sound. And he further added that the days of the move over and let the big dog eat sweepers are over. Top 40 will look for more jocks who sound like real people and shy away from the hyped deejay approach in which it became a reality. There was no or little baritone voices that lorded over the airwaves, instead, the deejays became themselves. Talking just like your kabarkada. Hot Adult Contemporary format on the other hand contributes to the appeal of the advertisers. This is where the money is, as we call it. According again to Michael Keith, the format is strong towards the 25 to 49 years of age bracket, where they have significant income to dispose. This is where Elton John, John Denver, Natalie Cole, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and other Adult Contemporary artists have their soft hits played. Musically speaking, it has been a staple of Masa stations, especially in the working and late night hours. A purist approach to the Hot AC format is Home Radio. They hold on to the format of Adult Contemporary format for many years, although the station could be tracing back to the new format that came out in 2005, known as Jack FM. Playing what we want is the loud cry motto of the new format. With more than thousands of songs, shuffled and played on air, is a far cry to conventional formats that limit their songs to just 200. Mix them together with the Pilipino Music, and you came up with the format thats profitable yet gain a lot of audience share and of course, the never-ending rounds of annoying laughters.

Masa Leaders Leading on the fray is Love Radio. It is the home of the Hayahay catch phrase that continues to be viral, and the never ending guessing of what is the real age of Tomas, a naughty kid with a kick in giving punch lines in various situations. This is also the home of the top rated morning radio show, Tambalang Balasubas at Balahura, which is now broadcasted nationwide on its Love Radio stations. Papa Jack Wild Confessions, a wildly popular night time radio show was also broadcasted here. It is also the home for the Iring-iring sa Love Radio, a radio show for pimping out boys and girls for a possible date. At 1PM, everyone is glued to the diagnostics of Dr. Love and his Love Diaries, reenacting those unfortunate moments of their letter senders in a radio drama and afterwards, dishes out their prescriptions on air to their love maladies. And what concerned me when they have a program, Balitang Paki-at, which gives out sex news and information in the pre-lunch hours. I repeat, pre-lunch hours! Although there are warnings announced to the parents that kids must not listen to the program, but still it gravely violates the KBP code. Deejays on board like Boy Paslot, Sexy Terry, Inday Ki-at, Dr. Love and others have their stint there. Its so unfortunate that although theyre leading on the ratings game, most of the contents of the DJs are sometimes take toll on their responsibility as a radio personality. Next is My Only Radio 101.1 Davao. MOR is the regional FM station of ABS-CBN. It is more commonly known as the originator of Estoryahee, in which become as the basis of all catch phrase for radio stations. Eventually, it becomes the number 1 station in the city, primarily credited to the catchphrase and its key personality, Inday Tanini. His or rather her voice, can be traced back to an American DJ existed in the 60s and 70s named Wolfman Jack, whose trademark gravelly voice resonates in the afterhours, and in the rock and roll music. It became a catchphrase until such time it was overshadowed by the Hayahay catch phrase in the recent times. Energy FM can be considered as Davaos pride, since it was incepted in the city in 1996. Since then, it had been performing well in the ratings game and it had been multiplied to various cities and eventually landed in Metro Manila.

The Unfortunate Victims of Masa Reformats Masa formats have even killed some of the niche stations and formats in radio. Take in case of NU 107, Dream FM and DWLS-FM. DWNU-FM or NU 107 as what is commonly referred, was set up in 1987, playing alternative rock or NU wave throughout the day, after which, when they did announce the call letters and the number, the phone keeps on ringing for 3 hours. NU 107, throughout its existence has played rock and roll for the past 23 years. It even help the rock and roll community by playing the best local cuts of rock and roll as mandated by an Executive Order 255 Series of 1987, that mandates every radio station to play 4 OPM cuts every hour. Such beneficiaries are the rock bands Teeth, The Dawn, Wolfgang, Hungry Young Poets, Cynthia Alexander and Fatal Posporos. In November 7, 2010, NU 107 bid farewell to its listeners and it was one of the most covered, and most attended radio station closures in the history of Philippine radio. Musicians and recording industry have shown sadness over the closure of the station. Two days after the closure of NU, the station changed its name into Win Radio and its format. The reason of changing the format is due primarily to the lucrative income of Masa stations. The new management, under the helm of Manny Luzon, even prides the new station for being free from double-meaning songs. Dream FM on the other hand is a specialty station that caters to the upper class. It plays Jazz, RnB, Bossa Nova, and house music. Back then, it was known as Kool 106, a hot adult contemporary station that plays soft rock. Years have come and reformat after reformat, with the experimentation of Latin music with Rio 106 in which it becomes a commercial flop, the station gears itself as a masa station in 2002. Two years after the sold out from Edaward Tan and Roces family to the conglomerate of Tonyboy Cojuangco, the station embraces with the smooth jazz/adult contemporary format. It became a staple for a couple of years and garnered strong support from its discriminating listeners. Just recently, Energy FM Manila, which was on a weaker 91.5 Mhz frequency, moved on to the stronger 106.7 Mhz, much to the dismay of its followers with the formation of the anti-Energy FM Facebook page. Tonyboy welcome it as a new development to his station. DWLS-FM, the flagship radio station of GMA Network is also the victim of changing formats in favour of masa.

Back then, it was known as Campus Radio WLS-FM (Not to be confused with Chicagobased radio station). Much like to its fellow purists CHR formats, it plays the best of today and have a pool of classy deejays that suits well to the high school and college students. On a fateful month of February 2007, the station changed its format to masa, much to the dismay of its loyal fan base. "DWLS-FM was No.1 in its niche with the Campus Radio brand. The complete shift in 2008 to Barangay LS was brought about by the vision of expanding the stations coverage in terms of demographics. As it was, DWLSFM catered to a specific segment of the market comprised mostly of students and young professionals," the station said in a statement. Revenues of the pre-masa format of WLS-FM were pretty good and have a solid listener base, but since after the reformat, revenues are quite dismal. According to a Nielsen Media Research study in 2006, 45% of LS-FMs radio listeners were 20-29 in age, the highest percentage for that age group among all FM stations, so theres a question of why do they need to shift its already solid listenership into masabased? GMA Networks Metro Manila radio operations manager Fred Cortez told that WLS-FM hoped to appeal to a wider audience with the change. "GMAs Radio Group has rebranded its flagship FM station which is now known as Barangay LS... And one cant get any more mass or broad than by being barangay," he said. Mr. Cortez said they decided to reformat since research showed that listening and advertising trends favoured a happier and funnier sound for FM stations. "The listener is boss," he said. It tends to contradict what the ratings say and the statement of the execs. It implies that GMA Radio Division favours more on money-generation of Masa formats, over the already solid performance of its pre-Masa days to its flagship station. Does it simply mean that Radio GMA tends to catch up its top performer TV sister? Maybe. The Persons behind Masa Formats Manny Luzon is a well-known radio executive who turns the tides of Love Radio from being a high-end Beautiul Music radio station, into a number 1 radio station. After his stint on Love Radio, he brought Energy FM to Metro Manila and thus adding to the fray of masa stations in the capital. There is no denying that he is also an ace radio programmer. Such accomplishments he has done to the Ultrasonic Broadcasting Systems Inc., Energy FMs parent company are the following:

He expanded the business from lone AM and 3 FM Stations with further expansions of 2 FM stations He effected efficient sales and marketing system that able the company to rake profits and able to establish profitability for the company He brought the provincial stations ratings to the top of surveys with its scientific programming that was never been done by other stations He employed the best people, and gain awards from award giving bodies from 1996 up to present

He has also connections with the following broadcasting networks as a consultant on management, programming, and marketing Progressive Broadcasting Corporation (Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro) Negros Broadcasting and Publishing Corp (Dumaguete) Radio Pilipino Network (Lucena) Mabuhay Broadcasting System (Metro Manila)

While working for MBC FMs flagship station, he held the post of Network Programming Director and served also as the Station Manager. His Achievements are: DZMB-FM was on Top 3 among 25 radio stations in Metro Manila Awarded the Station of the Year by the KBP Golden Dove Awards several times, including various awards such as Best in Musical Variety Show, Best in Information Plug, and others In 1990 and 1991, the station was awarded by US-Based Pines Universal Awards as the Most Outstanding Radio Station in the Philippines. He also received the Most Outstanding FM Station Manager

To his defense for the rising trend of Masa stations, Papa Jack, a popular night time DJ and once a broadcasting professor at a certain university in Manila, which it can be comparable to shock jocks in the US like Howard Stern, well-known for his antics and unpredictability minus the vulgarity of his spiels quoted it as the new face of radio today. They capitalize on the Street tagalog language that most of the Masas have gain acceptance and great following. Conclusion No doubt that every radio station must make a profit out of their audiences in terms of advertising revenues to fully recuperate the huge expenses just to maintain a radio station and make it competitive to the already stiff and crowded market. Even the quality of the programming is sufficed due to lucrative amounts of spots played every hour and the derogatory jokes that affect the morality and mentality of its listeners. What laments me is that the competition is limited only to the masa stations, where as the niche stations have gain foothold to their loyal listeners, or worse, they may be a part of history, like in the case of NU 107 and Dream FM.

Thanks partly to the technology, those who have died may now be revived as an internet station or with the advent of High Definition Radio that can offer 2 or more subchannels in one frequency, but it feels different when it is being aired over the airwaves. The truth is, it is not healthy anymore. Comparing stations in America and the Philippines, it is true that we have inherited the technology and the music from our Western ally since its inception. But theirs are very diverse. They are balanced when it comes to the segmentation of formats to various stations. There are 25 FM stations in the city, and almost all of its formats are now in the playing field of Masa. Gone are the days of English-speaking jocks, good old and plain music, legendary stations that lorded over in the earlier decades, classy spiels and some of the good things that are living in the golden age of radio. But there is no denying that being nationalistic for the use of Filipino and other regional language is on the top priority, but sadly, they tend to lambast it with uneducated, if not the worse kind of delivery, totally degrading of what the medium intends to its audience for the utmost benefit of giving quality service. So what makes sense of giving those franchises and licences to all broadcast stations and talents? Instead of entertaining the public in good tastes and educating them in a massive way, it turns out that they are focusing towards easy money and capitalizing on our jolly nature, in an exaggerated way. Instead of giving chances to all raw talents with impressive quality, now, they are sorting to any talents who could give instant hits and ratings that convert into cash. We may call ourselves, having no sense of history. Maybe, it was right, like how pivotal NU 107 to the music and recording industry back then in its heydays. Or simply, we have diverted our way towards easy money, over the quality of the product. Are we going to the way that all of having idiotic society nowadays? Like in the storyline of the 2006 film Idiocracy starred by Luke Wilson and directed by Mike Judge, funny how it seems that all of the population there is having a very dismal Intellectual Quotience, although it does touches the medias role in shaping society. Its time for us to fully re-assess and overhaul not only the radio industry but the entire media community, as a future broadcast professionals, we must have something to do with it to fully counteract the idiocy of our population by these Masa stations.