Rock listeners will forever remember November 7, 2010 as the day rock radio died when FM radio station NU107 closed down, making way for a new pop-oriented outfit to take its place.
Within the next succeeding months, sister station NU107 Cebu went off the air. Then UR Radio 105.9. It seemed like radio stations playing real rock music no longer had a place on the FM dial.
Music analysts and listeners alike attribute this to the digitization of music, with discerning listeners opting to focus on making their own playlists. While this is in essence a good thing, the reality was that the Filipino artist lost avenues to promote his music on a wide scale. Social media can only do so much, after all.
Enter Pinoytuner.com.
According to General Manager Norman Bungubung, the website serves as an online portal for Filipino music to be heard all over the world. Its flagship channel, DigRadio, showcases modern rock in all its various forms via its live streaming shows and canned music programs which internet radio listeners can listen to on-demand. Its DJs might look familiar to people: they came from NU107.
The most visible personality from the defunct station is Programming Director Francis "Brew" Reyes who tried to have online shows to keep the NU spirit alive until he met up with Bungubung who had been trying to set up the foundation for a highly efficient online radio station. "It was all about the love for the music," Reyes said. "From the get-go everyone involved was on the same page."
More personalities jumped on board. Local indie vanguard Vin Dancel of the band Peryodiko, also a lawyer by profession, is now the online station's legal eagle. "Sobrang natuwa ako sa konsepto ng Pinoytuner (I was so happy with the concept of Pinoytuner) because it was about pushing Pinoy culture and talent, leveling the playing field between 'indie' and 'signed.'"
"We're going for a minimum of 60% Pinoy playlist."
DigRadio's playlist is secure in more ways than one. For instance, the legal aspect of playing the music online is covered. "Everything is above-board and licensed," says Dancel. "We talk to the collecting agencies, the labels, artist management."
On another level, the website infrastructure itself is secure. According to Pinoytuner's resident tech guru Ali Gonzales, the site disallows users to illegally download the songs. The site also provides enough bandwidth to let more listeners to tune in all at once. (The first time BrewRATS—that crazy Tado & Erning show—aired, the site had 8,000 listeners).
"We have a check-and-balance process with our IT guys," says Reyes. "There's practically something new everyday as far as site development is concerned. The important thing is we have our own engine to do it. Not to detract from whatever anyone else is doing, but it's easy to build a site. It's more difficult if you have your own system and infrastructure."
Incidentally Pinoytuner and DigRadio are still on the beta stage., despite having surfaced last February 14. "Marami kaming mga pangarap," emphasizes Vin. "But we take baby steps because we want to do it right."
Bungubung explains further, "We're doing it at the right time. If the ideas are workable we're gonna do it. We're really doing this for the love of the music, so we take it slowly. We want our lifespan to be longer than NU107's or the other radio stations out there.".
Some users may have had connection problems, which could easily be attributed to our own country's limited telecommunications infrastructure. But the general manager maintains that as far as international listeners are concerned, Pinoytuner has been efficient.
Some of the old NU107 favorite shows will be returning in one form or another via DigRadio, like Reyes' old show "In the Raw," which featured new and unsigned bands. That won't mean they will just air any demo recorded by every other band out there, as quality is important. "Since the platform is now the worldwide web, let's not put out something of questionable quality. I mean, that's fine...the 'pwede na yan' mentality, that's why the Pinoy is resilient. But we also have to remember that we have to be aspirational somehow."
For Vin, it's simple: "Ang labanan ngayon, pagalingan na. Kung ipapatugtog mo sa buong Pilipinas at sa buong mundo yan, kailangan nila galingan. Kung magibibigay ng CD na sintunado yung gitara, sintunado yung bokalista, we have to talk to the band and help them out."
The DigRadio jocks are also put in a new position not just as talking heads, but as curators. "The jocks make the playlist themselves," says Reyes. "We have a database of songs as we get new material, foreign and OPM. We put in whole albums. The DJ chooses the song to play. For example, we have an Eraserheads catalog. As much as the jock loves 'El Bimbo,' what else is there from the Eraserheads that you like? Go play it. What I ask the jocks to do is to research, watch the artist's new videos for example. It makes for a better team, I think."
Pinoytuner has other channels as well. There's the JAZZistas channel for jazz, TCMA for classical music, and in the future other genres featuring Pinoy talent will be featured. Former PULP music editor (and Pedicab guitarist) Jason Caballa has stepped in to be the site's resident literary meister, in charge of all the soon-to-be-unveiled written content. "We need a site that showcases honest reviews, showcases the music scene as it is. Walang palamuti. Walang PR-PR. Walang pauso."
No compromises. "This is not NU107," Reyes declares. "But we all recognize the spirit of what made it great at the beginning. The station may have made certain mistakes which made people question the integrity of what NU was supposed to be about, but the spirit...that's what we're tapping into. Less compromises. This is still a business, of course. We'll find a way to make money out of this, but it's not number one in the business objective. It's about making things right."
49 comments