Live-blogging one more new pop station

Well, here we go again. Another radio station launch. This time, it’s U92, a pop station taking over the frequency that, as of this writing, is being held by “smooth variety” station XFM 92.3. Yup, the same station that played chillout and electronica during one of its more interesting stages, and before that, as jazz-retro station 923 Joey.

A lot’s happened to that frequency since I stopped writing about radio on the blog. The chillout format, as we all know, didn’t last, and eventually NU 107‘s Mike Pedero came in to devise a smooth jazz format. In recent months, it’s evolved into what he called a “smooth variety” format, focusing on more accessible, upbeat, yet smooth tracks targeted towards females. But financially, the station wasn’t apparently performing well, and station owners NBC were looking for new ways to generate profits. The decision was made to terminate the station and transfer programming duties to a blocktimer. Cue Francis Lumen, currently head of All Youth Networks, the company in charge of MTV Philippines. He’s taking over, with a pop format that’s obviously very much tied in to the cable channel.

The station launches tomorrow, with an interesting mix of personalities, including former MTV VJs KC Montero, Cesca Litton, Marc Abaya and Sarah Meier; current MTV VJ Sib; Wave 89.1‘s Jimmy Muna, 99.5 RT‘s Joshua Yu, and perhaps the most surprising of all, the Brewrats – Tado, Ramon Bautista and Angel Rivero, who recently headed the breakfast slot on the resurrected RT after working the late shift on three iterations of the frequency. I’ve yet to gether details – apparently a print ad came out earlier – but tomorrow, I’ll be live-blogging here, talking about the station’s first twelve hours. Surely there’ll be discussion over at PinoyExchange. Let’s see how this goes.

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.

Maxville Idol minute-by-minute

Tonight on 103.5 Max FM, it’s Maxville Idol! It started as a joke on last week’s conference – I started it, I’m guilty – but now it’s a serious singing competition, with a lot of prizes, and Kitchie Nadal as a guest, even! It’s been almost a half-hour now, and we’re still waiting for the entries to get played. They’ve been uploaded early already, though… or, if you can’t listen, we’re going to listen and update this for you.

21.30 (27 May): If not for Sam singing at the town fiesta last Saturday, this wouldn’t have happened. Come Monday night, the biters were asking her to sing… and when Kelly was asked to sing, I said, “ano ito, Maxville Idol?” Things happened from there.

21.34: “I haven’t talked to her in a long, long time,” Kelly introduced Kitchie Nadal. The usual discussion about her album and what she’s been up to in between her last interview with Kelly. She’s been all around the world, it seems.

Nine-ty-nine point fiiive…

I quickly turned the radio on at half past five in the morning on Easter Sunday. Most radio stations were warming up their transmitters, after the customary Lenten break, and the music was sounding very familiar. Online, the forums were abuzz with eager listeners, waiting for word on what the station will sound like when the day finally kicks in.

Then the prayer kicks in. For the past four years or so, I have always heard that prayer during start-up, and every morning, at around five minutes before six, before Joe Schmoe or (eventually) Da Kid would take the console. This time, though, it came fifteen minutes earlier, and we were waiting for other voices to come on air.

After an ad break – which removed doubts from listeners that it is, indeed, a different station – a really tacky dance track came up, ruining the alternative-leaning tracks that were played in the warm-up process. Even before the song could kick in, though, they interrupted it.

Redefining the variable

It’s been more than a year since xFM was launched on the radio dial. It stood out for playing a really different mix of music- a combination of trip-hop, downtempo, indie folk and the occasional Coldplay – and listeners who tried the station loved what they heard. The launch may have been as discreet as it could be, but word quickly got out, and for those who were disenfranchised by the seeming lack of choice on the dial, it was a welcome addition.

But something happened along the way. Around three months after the launch, xFM started to revert back to its predecessor, 923 Joey. The music, at least, featured older tracks that otherwise was a distraction from what they have branded as a “liquid” sound. One hour went from atmospheric to Michael Jackson‘s The Girl Is Mine – and, for me at least, it was a little confusing. That state of affairs continued until, somewhat fed up with the disjointed feel xFM was starting to show, I left.

It stayed that way throughout the first year of the station. At one point, it attempted to define itself once again: one advertisement set itself to play jazz by day, and chill at night. A more familar sound, at least to older listeners, slowly invaded the entire day, to the point that the music that defined xFM initially was stuck on Sunday nights. Eventually, xFM flipped – from confused to smooth jazz.