97.9 Home Radio ceases to exist after 14 years.
The end of February saw another radio station in Metro Manila sign off for good. 97.9 Home Radio (DWQZ), owned by the Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, ended its broadcasts after a 14-year run. Its replacement has yet to be announced.
Home Radio’s format was basically similar to rival 96.3 Easy Rock (DWRK), playing mostly adult contemporary songs. But unlike Easy Rock, Home Radio’s playlist lean more towards the most recent singles in order to draw younger listeners. On Sundays, Home Radio eschews its AC format in favor of contemporary hit radio for ‘Variety Hits Sunday’. As the name suggests, the playlist featured dance, rock and pop tunes not normally heard on the station.
Home Radio also operated without the use of disc jockeys, but later in its run they would employ DJs to their staff. Despite that, the DJs at Home Radio speak less than other stations, as Home Radio emphasized its ‘less talk, more music’ style.
Sadly, the growing influence of the masa-based Manila Broadcasting Company to Easy Rock proved to be Home Radio’s undoing. With Easy Rock now playing a more ‘masa’ style, Home Radio simply failed to keep up, and on February 28, it was decided that Home Radio will be shut down, and a new station will take its place.
Home Radio tried its best to attract a new generation of listeners who crave a different brand of ‘light and easy’ music. But while it was never able to create a worthy following, its attempt to stay afloat amid the growth of so-called ‘masa’ stations will always be remembered. And Home Radio’s legacy as a station that ‘likes it easy’ will never be forgotten.
From the Tube 
this is sad. radio is becoming more like tv.. it’s killing our brains too 😦
I know. The niche stations are being killed because of money, and the desire to focus their music to suit the masses.
To tell you the truth, I prefer listening to RX, Wave, Magic and Play compared to the pang-masa stations.
By the way, DWIZ, the AM counterpart of Home Radio, hired Alex Santos as news director and fellow anchor for Rey Langit. Santos is back a year after he quit ABS-CBN. Maybe you can write about it in a future post.
Unfortunately I have little knowledge of AM radio. Other than DZMM and DZBB, there is not much to write about since most of the personalities there are not as well known as those in FM and TV. Thus my focus on FTT will always be on the more widely available FM radio and TV.
97.9 Home Radio “Natural”! xD It is now known as a masa station
Bumabandwagon na pala sila. 😦
I won’t be surprised if Alex Santos hosts a program on the new Home Radio now that it is a pang-masa station. Home Radio and DWIZ are sister stations.
Mas gusto ko ‘yung Home Radio dati.
Pero ganoon talaga e, Change is inevitable . . . hindi na talaga ‘yun maiiwasan.
I agree. But I hate what Aliw, keeping the Home Radio name for its masa station.
My thoughts exactly. I always used to listening to mp3s and never resort to FM radio stations because of their ‘masa’ approach. But by the time I heard Home Radio [89.3] is in town, being curious, I gave it a chance. I really love the music Home Radio plays. And now, its gone. The 89.3Hz was now replaced with news fm. Very, very disappointed.
I think 89.3 is under the Brigada name. Only Brigada and TV5’s Radyo5 operate all-news FM stations.
I dunno. Sorry, I forgot to specify my area: Dagupan City, Pangasinan. Its already replaced by DWIZ News Radio with a tagline “tunog AM nasa FM na!”
https://www.facebook.com/Dwiz893NewsRadioDagupan/
I see.
Home Radio merely changed formats to become a Hot AC/Masa station. It sounds upscale, compared to the idiotic MBC stations 90.7 Love Radio and Yes FM 101.1.
I don’t understand what you said. Sorry. Fix your grammar next time, if you’re really well-educated in English. Thank you.
September na ngayon. After their first 6 months on air as a “Natural” station, it seems na hindi sila masyadong naging consistent sa format nila (pareho na sila ng KLite) at sa official name ng station nila. At first, naging 2nd reiteration sila ng Home Radio bilang pang-masa station. A couple of months later, they dropped the “Home Radio” and they simplified it to “97.9 Natural” then after a few months, they reversed the name and they changed their logo into a greener look. Even sa format, mukhang sumuko sila sa all-Tagalog songs & medium nila. They changed it into Tag-Lish & their playlist seems to be so similar na sa Play FM.
Well, hindi natin masisisi diyan. Some FM radio stations nowadays are struggling not only due to competition, but also sa MP3s, internet and other new technologies that make it easier for people to listen to songs without any interruptions.
Yung mas viable na option ngayon sa FM ay ang news, like Radyo5 92.3 News FM. Kung kinuhan sana ng Brigada ang 97.9 from Aliw, mas makakabuti sa kanila kaysa sa 104.7 na low-powered ngayon.
I agree with you. 🙂 Mas comfortable na kasi ang mga tao ngayon sa Spotify, iTunes or Spinnr, or else nagdo-download pa sila ng .mp3 song files. We admit na konti na lang ang talagang may interes pa in listening to radio, esp. teenagers and up.
Brigada seems to have a problem too. Sobrang dami na ng ina-acquire nilang stations but yung programming nila “needs improvement”. As a News radio network kasi, their programming should cover all the sections, from Natonal headline to Showbiz at hindi lang dapat sila naka-focus lagi sa herbal products nila. To acquire 97.9FM by Brigada is a better solution kaysa naman na Mega Manila nga ang cover nila, pero nasa Batangas ang transmitter nila.
I agree. 104.7 is a low-powered frequency, and it won’t serve Brigada well.
nakafocus pa rin sila sa herbal products nila ang Brigada kahit nageexpand na sila. they are trying to promote their products, but their operations needs to be fixed, lalong-lalo na sa music, since wala na sina Dennis Padilla, Anne Landi at Baby Nichole (from Brigada Cebu, now moved to Love Radio Davao). they should acquire a full-powered station kaysa magrely sa 104.7 na napakalayo ng transmitter at sa 92.7 sa Pampanga.
True that.
According to PinoyExchange (PEx) forum member badofilada, 97.9 Natural “has just switched into CHR/Top 40 station.”
More recent information gathered on the PEx thread on the station formerly known as Home Radio:
– The station airs throwback/old music on weekends.
– The station no longer has a show that plays only Filipino music.
– The station no longer has female DJs and will permit only male DJs.
Aside from Jimmy Bondoc, Chin Alcantara of MYMP, and Duncan Ramos, some notable Natural DJs are Braggy Orange (ex-Barangay LS DJ; current network voice-over for PTV-4), Pineapple Joe (ex-LS DJ also), Rico Mango (Home Radio Production Specialist), and Juan Banana (ex-Love Radio/Star FM DJ).
Top 40 is not a bad format for Natural. However, they disgraced OPM music by cancelling their own all-Filipino music show, and they also committed a grave sin on gender equality by hiring only male DJs.
97.9 Natural has definitely gone from bad to worse since they got rid of the Home Radio name.
Braggy also does boardwork for DZSR Sports Radio 918 nightly except Saturdays and Mondays.
Right.
Ugh. The songs they play now are repetitive. Those nice contemporary songs are gone.. I miss their female dj’s especially ms jamie. The male dj’s talk about very perverse topics and their jokes are a bit out of line. My nights will never be the same again. Goodbye home radio. It has been fun.
Indeed. They lost their sense of unity and comfort with the change. Now they are scrambling to find the right fit.
After Holy Week 2015, nanatiling Top 40 station pa rin ang Home Radio, pero, they added another slogan called “Be You” and they changed their station ID. Tapos, yung hourly news update nila, naibalik sa English (even the DJ’s on-air spiels), and then naging 15-45 minutes ito imbes na every hour before the station ID (at inextend ito hanggang madaling araw), they finally scrap The Vault and The Pit, and they play one song from The Vault before the end of the hour, at saka, nawala na yata yung H20 nila.
Tapos, may nadagdagan sila na mga DJ pangalan ay RJ, Andie, Thee Captain Jai, and B. Taylor Cuick (ewan ko lang kung pandagdag yan sa mga DJ nila o rename ng mga pangalan nila on-air).
Now it’s a matter of keeping this approach for a long time. Sobra na kasi yung papalit-palit sila ng format at pangalan since departing from the AC format last year.
Um, I think yung likes nila RJ, Thee Captain Jai, at B. Taylor Cuick ang mas importante kaysa kila Marco, Johnny, at ni Adam. I think yung iilang beterano na DJ tulad nga nila Adam was replaced by the younger ones (yung sila B. Taylor Cuick). And recently, nagbabalik dun yung mga female DJ (pero younger din, starting with the name of Aliyah).
Basta, yung likes nila RJ, Thee Captain Jai, and B. Taylor Cuick are most important (ang mas importante) than the likes of Adam, Marco, Johnny, and Rico. Also I missed listening to Adam in the evening, and Marco delivering the hourly news update.
Indeed. Younger DJs could be attractive to an increasingly younger generation, kaya tama lang.
By the way, 97.9’s Home Radio throwbacks in music have returned, but now under a new name & timeslot. Formerly called The Vault happening every Friday, it is now called as Guilty Pleasures Tuesdays. They play music between 1995-2005.
Very similar to Playback of Play FM.
I do have a plug on Home Radio’s The Vault, which is their former retro block. If I have time, I might upload that on YouTube.
Ok.
Pero yung Playback ngayon sa Play FM, hanggang mga 2010 ang pinapatugtog.
That’s good. Very old school na rin ang mga songs from 2006-10.
Here’s the plug of Home Radio’s The Vault, which I recorded last March 26. Coincidentally, yan din ang final version ng The Vault before it was phased out after the Holy Week.
LINK: https://youtu.be/nLxn0tEW6ic
Nice.
Former Wave 89.1 DJ Anne is now with Home Radio. She handles the 6-10 am time slot with Braggy, who also goes on board on DZSR Sports Radio in the evening.
Already know that.
Radio is still business. More often than not, the market dictates the on-air product. For those who really understand the business, we have to accept the change no matter hard it is. The recent music being aired does not match the image “natural”. A mismatch. Better have a rebranding to suit the music and market. Or better yet change the music and jocks. Consistency.
True that. Home Radio learned that the hard way.
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