DZRH: 70 Years of Philippine Radio Broadcast

DZRH: Kaunaunahan sa Pilipinas celebrates its 70 years in Philippine Radio Broadcast. July 15, 2009 since its first broadcast in 1939 under the call sign KZRH.
70 years ago, at exactly 6 in the morning, announcer Hal Bowie took his seat before a microphone in a little studio at the top of the Heacock Building in Escolta, and bid his unseen audience good morning. Thus was born the fourth commercial radio station to operate in Manila. In just a few years, with the entire Philippine archipelago caught in the maelstrom of the Second World War, the fledgling station which took the call sign KZRH would buck the challenge of history and remain as the only surviving radio station in the country.
Its a suspicious beginning as the mouthpiece of one of the largest department stores in the Pacific must have laid the groundwork for the stations commercial viability all these years a major factor in the survival of the so-called stepchild of media arts.
New as it was, KZRH management led by Bertrand Silen was not just armed with the technical know-how in radio operations, but likewise had fundamental marketing knowledge down pat. They knew what radio listeners liked and disliked.
Musical variety shows, comedy skits, and short newscasts were the order of the day. Jazz and ballads became standard fare. Together with American wit, the English language spread. KZRH found itself as an advertising medium. Apart from 15-minute block time sold to advertisers, commercial spots mixing announcements with music were also produced. KZRH found itself amidst lucrative times.
Then came the grim shadow of war. The Japanese Imperial Army took over the sophisticated equipment, which eventually got blown sky-high by the Americans. And while Silens staff considered the best in the Far East found themselves either in Bataan at the internment camps of Santo Tomas and Los Banos, within the guerilla movement, or simply felled by enemy bullets, plans for the rebirth of KZRH upon liberation were kept alive.
Upon being released, Silen sought help from the National Broadcasting Company in New York to secure new transmitters, and with the financing the new operations at the Insular Life Building on Plaza Cervantes, KZRH was back on the air under the auspices of Manila Broadcasting Company on July 1, 1946 just in time to cover the inauguration of the new Republic.
Soon after, the International Telecommunications Union adjusted the call letters of Philippine radio, and all allusions to the western United States through the letter K were removed. Until today, all radio stations in the Philippines begin with the letter D.
Over a decade, the station embarked on a One Nation, One Station initiative, expanding its coverage to an unprecedented 97% of the Philippine archipelago. To date, DZRH is the only station in the country that is on the air nationwide 24/7 on stereo, simulcast via satellite to relay stations in key provincial cities.