History of Philippine Broadcasting free essay sample

Beginning of Radio and Television Broadcasting in the Philippines Broadcasting means â€Å"to transmit a radio or television program for public or general use†. This also includes other media such as the internet. Broadcasting in the Philippines started as early as 1922. The first radio stations were established in Pasay and Manila by Henry Hermann in June 1922. Both of these were 50 watts. The Filipino businessmen then established their own radio stations to be used for advertising their products. In 1924, the first two call letters, â€Å"KZ†, was assigned to all radio stations in accordance with the laws of the United States of America. â€Å"KZKZ†, a 100-watt radio station, replaced the 50-watt radio stations. In 1929, KZRC, Radio Cebu, opened in Cebu. It was then closed down shortly due to problems with shortwave signals between Manila and Cebu, but was reopened after a decade and was utilized for guerilla movements. The Commonwealth Act No. 3840, also known as the Radio Control Law was founded in 1931. We will write a custom essay sample on History of Philippine Broadcasting or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This act created the Radio Control Division. It was then renamed Radio Control Office and lasted until 1972 when former president Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, and when the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas was established as the broadcasting policing body. Since 1927, six commercial radio stations were established. These were KZEG, KZIB, KZRC, KZRF, KZRH, and KZRM. The United States of America provided the Philippines with a shortwave relay station on December 28, 1941. Radio programs were compiled in Washington, sent out through the NBC network, relayed through KGEI in San Francisco, California, and beamed to five radio stations in Manila and to one station in Cebu. This radio signal relay lasted for six days until the Japanese forced interrupted. When the American troops retreated, all radio stations except KZRH were destroyed. The Japanese forces then reactivated KZRM and KZRF, thus, having three radio stations. KZRH was used by the Japanese Military Administration as a mouthpiece for the country. Station KZRH was noted in the United States as KAIN, PIAN and PIRN, and station KZRM was noted as PIAM and PIRM. On February 6, 1942, Gen Emilio Aguinaldo urged Gen MacArthur to surrender to the Japanese arms, through KZRH. After the World War II, the first radio station that returned on air was KZFM. It reopened in May 1945, and was operated by the US Army Office of War Information. After President Harry Truman proclaimed sovereignty over the Philippines and its people, KZFM was turned over to the Philippine government in September 11, 1946. It was renamed DZFM in 1947, which became a pillar in the Philippine Broadcasting. The first two letters â€Å"KZ† was replaced to â€Å"DZ† for Manila, â€Å"DW† for Luzon, â€Å"DY† for the Visayas, and â€Å"DX† for Mindanao. On October 23, 1953, the first official television broadcast was aired in the Philippines. It was an American engineer, James Lindenberg, also considered as the father of Philippine Television who saw the potential of television broadcasting in the Philippines. Lindenberg assembled transmitters and established Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) on June 13, 1946. He applied for a license to establish a commercial television station in 1949, and was granted a year after. However, the scarcity of raw materials and the strict importation policies forced Lindenberg to venture into radio broadcasting instead. In 1952, Judge Antonio Quirino bought 70 percent of BEC and acquired the franchise indirectly. He changed the name of the television station from BEC to ABS, which stands for Alto Broadcasting System, after the new owners, Aleli and Antonio. Lindenberg served as the general manager. Judge Quirino introduced the first television station in the Philippines when he opened DZAQTV channel 3 in 1953. â€Å"AQ† stood for Antonio Quirino. The first television broadcast went on air on October 23, 1953, with the occasion as a garden party at the Quirino residence. Television broadcasting then was more inclined to politics, as to the political campaigns of former president Elpidio Quirino, brother of Judge Antonio Quirino, were supported through it. Quirino lost the election despite this campaign. ABS  was later sold to the Lopez family, who later transformed it into ABS-CBN, which is still running up to the present. Another station opened in 1960. This was DZBB-TV Channel 7, or, the Republic Broadcasting System, owned by Bob Stewart. They started with just 25 employees, a surplus transmitter, and two old cameras. Their most popular program during that time was â€Å"Gabi ng Lagim†. In 1961, the National Science Development Board was established. It was behind the earliest initiative to use local TV for education, Education on TV and Physics in the Atomic Age†. During the time of Martial Law, ABS-CBN was the largest TV broadcasting network. It has been seized from the Lopez family when their president by that time, Eugenio Lopez Jr. was imprisoned. In 1973, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) was founded to regulate the Philippine broadcasting.