DZRJ Radyo Bandido 810 khz AM

DZRJ Radyo Bandido 810 khz AM

DZRJ-AM (810 kHz Metro Manila), also known by its tagline The Voice of the Philippines, is an AM radio station of the Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc. in the Philippines. The station was located on the roofdeck and tower of the J&T Building along Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard (a street is otherwise known as "Sta.Mesa"). Its present location is at the Ventures Building-1, General Luna Street, Makati City, while its radio transmitter is located along Quirino Highway, Novaliches, Quezon City. DZRJ is a 24-hour operating station except on Saturdays where it signs-off at midnight and Sundays from 5:00 am to Midnight, and except Holy Week of each year where it signs-off at 5:00 am of Maundy Thursday and lasts until 5:00 am of Black Saturday.

Boss Radio

DZRJ-AM was originally found in the broadcast frequency of 780 kilohertz on the AM band. It carried the tagline, "DzRJ: Boss Radio", which later evolved into "DzRJ, The Rock of Manila" as it hosted a daily show called "Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm" (later shortened to "Pinoy Rock"), which was conceived by DzRJ's original station manager, Alan Austria ("Double-A") and its program director, Emil Quinto ("Charlie Brown"). DzRJ's radio personalities, the "Bossmen", then the "RockJocks", became celebrities in Manila's counterculture. The roster of trailblazing disc jockeys included: Alexander "Andy" Generoso ("Handy Andy"), Bernie Evangelista ("Steel Banana"), Jimmy Labrador, Jigger Labrador, Jake Taylor ("'Brother Jake"), Mike Llamas ("Stoney Burke"), Alfred Gonzalez ("The Madman"), Hoagy Pardo ("Cousin Hoagy"), Wayne Enage ("Brother Wayne"), Ronnie de Asis ("Baby John), Bob Posas ("Bob Magoo"), Peter Molina ("Peter St. John"), Ditos Diaz ("DJ Alfred"), Pancho Lapuz ("Captain Hook"), Benjie Munoz ("Big Freak"), Sonny Peckson ("Little Rock"), Larry Martinez ("Larry Mann"), Becky Zarate ("Brother Becky"), Bobby Mayuga ("The Unicorn"), Bob Sellner (The Bluesbreaker (DZRJ-AM)/Bob Sellner (DZRJ-FM), Mon Zialcita ("The Doctor"), Manny Casaclang ("The Mole"), Rene Trinidad ("Mystery Man"), Dante David ("Howlin Dave") and others.

Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm

The daily Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm radio show, which was hosted by Bob Posas ("Bob Magoo") and, later, by Dante David ("Howlin' Dave"), featured the early vinyl releases of pioneering Filipino rock groups such as RJ and the Riots', the Juan Dela Cruz Band and Anakbayan, as well as submissions (on cassette tapes) of recordings from Manila's unsigned bands and independent artists. The earliest contributions were from groups such as Maria Cafra ("Kamusta Mga Kaibigan"), Petrified Anthem ("Drinking Wine"), Destiny ("A Taste Of Honey"), and a fledgling Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society.

A mobile recording studio was set up by Alan Austria in 1974, using the station's 4-track tape recorder and mixing board, for "live-in-the-booth" recordings to facilitate the entries of contestants for one of its sponsors, RC Cola and its First National Battle of the Bands (produced by RC Cola's then COO, Cesare Syjuco). More than 200 new songs were said to have been recorded for the Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm show, and these entries were aired in succession through many weeks, as the participating bands worked their way into the elimination rounds. These recordings paved the way for recording artists such as Florante, Heber Bartolome of Banyuhay, Johnny Alegre of Hourglass, Bob Aves of Destiny, and many others, who thrived in the Philippine recording industry in later years.

DzRJ's premises, the J&T Building, was the site for rock concerts which were organized by the station; first on the building's roofdeck, and later in its open-air parking lot. The emergence of Pinoy Rock as a popular musical genre was the springboard for artists to emerge commercially, as their key recordings reached a wide listening public. The best examples of such artists and their hits are the Juan Dela Cruz Band ("Himig Natin"), Sampaguita ("Bonggahan"), Mike Hanopol ("Laki Sa Layaw"), and even Eddie Munji III ("Pinoy Jazz") and, of course, DzRJ's very own Ramon Jacinto ("Muli") .

The Rock 'n' Roll Machine

DzRJ was also known for a cross-genre, album-oriented midnight show, called The Rock 'n' Roll Machine, hosted by Hoagy Pardo ("Cousin Hoagy'"), which provided late night listeners with entire sides of advance copies of LPs from the United States and England. Its early morning program opened to a rousing drumbeat from a Ventures song with a pre-recorded tape cartridge of Howlin' Dave announcing "Gising na, RJ na!" ("Wake up, it's RJ time!"). It also aired the packaged US chart show, Casey Kasem's American Top 40.

Radyo Bandido

In February 1986, during the Philippines' historic People Power Revolution that ousted the iron rule of President Ferdinand Marcos, it was in DzRJ's radio station facility—hastily christened "Radyo Bandido"-- that the newscaster, June Keithley, and Fr. James Reuter, S.J. had sought refuge and commandeered its resources. Keithley's radio network, the Roman Catholic Church owned Radio Veritas, was bombed off the air by the incumbent's military forces. The Radyo Bandido broadcasts opened with the political jingle, "Mambo Magsaysay" (composed by Raul Manglapus), which was the theme music of Radio Veritas. June Keithley received the Medal of the Legion of Honor from President Cory Aquino following Marcos' fall.

To acknowledge the patrimony of its key role in the victorious and bloodless revolution, DZRJ AM rebranded as Radyo Bandido with a public service format. Meanwhile, the music format revived in FM as RJ 100.3 and later, RJ Underground Radio 105.9 (now Radio High 105.9); as well as their flagship TV network RJTV 29. DZRJ-AM has also a role on the EDSA DOS. DZRJ is known for some veteran broadcasters such as Johnny Midnight, Art Borjal & Zaldy Lenon. Since 2004, it began bringing news from BBC & VOA. The PBA Games on Radio was moved to DZRJ-AM from DZSR in 2009. UAAP on Radio started on DZRJ-AM in 2010.

The Voice of the Philippines

With Radyo Bandido's popularity waning during the recent years, the management decided to launch a unique brand in June 2010. Last July 19, it upgraded its transmitter facilities to 50,000 watts. Radyo Bandido signed off for the last time on August 22.

On August 25, 2010, DZRJ launched its English broadcasting with the slogan The Voice of the Philippines as a test broadcast, although it officially launched on October 4, 2010.[1] DZRJ is the only English-language AM station in Mega Manila. Its format consisted of English News from Philippine Star, VOA and the BBC, Lifestyle, Sports and Public Service.

Patrick Tulfo, Rey Hidalgo Santos, Gerry Cornejo & Johnny Midnight remained as the original broadcasters. The Radyo Bandido moniker used also on the RJAM provincial stations was taken out from its brand. However, they remain as Tagalog broadcasting.