City Quezon City Frequency 104.3 MHz | Branding 104.3 FM2 | |
Broadcast area Metro Manila, and surrounding areas Slogan Your Hit Back Music Nation! First air date December 18, 1979 (as DWIM)
May 1986 (as DWBR Business Radio)
February 2, 2017 (as FM2) | ||
DWBR (104.3 FM), broadcasting as FM2, is a radio station with a classic hits format in the Metro Manila area, owned and operated by the government of the Philippines through the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) under the Presidential Communications Office. Its studios and transmitter are located at 4th Floor, Philippine Information Agency Building, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. It operates daily from 6 am to 12 mn.
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1979 - 1986: DWIM
DWBR started in 1979 as DWIM (under at 103.5 MHz FM, which is now called 103.5 K-Lite, owned by Advanced Media Broadcasting System, Inc.), headquartered at the Philcomcen Tower in Pasig (before moved to the Broadcast Plaza (now ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center) in Bohol Avenue, and then later moved again to its present location at Media Center Building in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City) serving music and news daily from 5 AM to midnight. Newscasters around that time were Jess Decolongan, Don Lee, and Bong Lapira. Other voices of DWIM included Babs Peña and Manny Freires.
Since being DWIM, the station has 3 major 15-minute newscasts at 7 AM, noon, and 7 PM. At the top of every hour other than the mentioned hours, there is a 5-minute news bulletin, which includes business reports around the times when the Philippine Stock Exchange is open.
1986 - 2017: Business Radio
It became DWBR (and moved to the current frequency at 104.3 MHz) in 1986, after the People Power Revolution. The station held the tagline: Weaving Beautiful Rhythms. It played old standards music, from the big band era to the Broadway era, playing songs from the 40s to 70s.
In early 1990s, it adopted the brand Business Radio, albeit retaining its music format. Since that time, it covered the latest business stories and issues in the Philippines with its coverage of the Philippine stock market. It also aired various talk programs that discusses relevant matters concerning business, the environment.
It was managed by its active manager Ms. Ma. Julita "Maju" E. Ramos. Regular newscasters include Bon Vibar, Cheryl Buenaventura-Ayuste, Rouella Santos, Alel Auxillos, Shirly Semic, and Edwin Santos. Other voices heard on the station are Manny Carvajal, Fred Patrick, Camille Victoria, Dean Bernardo, and George Boone.
In 2014, Broadcaster's Bureau, a weekday morning show, was replaced with Fresh, which played a mix of retro & current music hosted by veteran DJ George Boone.
Business Radio used to operate from 6 am to 10 pm daily, similar its sister stations DZSR and DZRM.
2017 - present: FM2
In January 2017, PBS announced that Business Radio will change its name to FM2, effective February 2, 2017. Prior to this announcement, Rizal "Bong" Aportadera, Jr. (Sonny B) was appointed by PCO Sec. Martin Andanar as the Director of PBS in July 2016. A month later, Carlo Jose Villo (Carlo José) was then appointed by Aportadera as the agency's Deputy Director and head of the new FM division. Villo serves as the program director for 104.3 FM, as well as its recently acquired 87.5 FM.
On January 15, 2017, Business Radio quietly signed off for the last time and went off the air for a week. On January 24, 2017, the station went on air for test broadcast playing the 80's and the 90's music along with pre-recorded teasers carrying the New Republic tagline. Sonny B, Carlo José and George Boone had their warm-up 3 days after its test broadcast.
On February 2, 2017, past 5:30am, DWBR signed on as FM2. At that time, it extended its broadcast time by two hours, broadcasting until midnight. FM2 plays music from the 80's and the 90's with a commercial-free, less talk and more music type of programming.