Keeping track of “a bigger hit” on 99.5

Watch this page as we update throughout the workday regarding the events on the first day of 99.5 RT – or, should we call it, the third first day for 99.5 RT? Immediately below is something about the five-month history of its predecessor (or successor), Campus 99.5. Many thanks to our friends for making a few bits possible: James Habitan started the thread on PinoyExchange, and Yoanna Sarigan clicked the publish button when we couldn’t get to.

A new-ish radio station launched on beleaguered 99.5 MHz last March, and we all thought it would last. At first, the entry of Campus 99.5 seemed to be the answer to the frequency’s search for a format that would attract audiences and advertisers.

And how else could it go wrong? The Campus brand is, arguably, a well-loved one, with many listeners when it still had a home on 97.1 MHz. One can say that GMA pulling the plug on the station (and replacing it with a mass format) instigated a lot of changes in Manila’s radio scene as a whole, with listeners moving elsewhere, and stations trying to adapt to the newly-opened niche. I wasn’t an all-out fan of the Campus format, especially during its GMA years, but I thought that the decision to put them on the similarly-beleaguered frequency that Hit FM used to occupy will be a good one. I thought it will last.