DZRJ AM

1963 - 1986: 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.

Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm

The daily Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm radio show, which was hosted by Bob Lopez-Pozas ("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 demos 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 record 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 RJ 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 the United Kingdom. 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.

Sometime between 1979 and 1980 DZRJ-AM moved to the current frequency of 810 kHz in response to the frequency adjustments owing to the adoption of the current 9 kHz spacing on AM radio stations in the Philippines, replacing the 10 kHz AM radio spacing which was used from 1922 up to that time.

1986 - 2010: Radyo Bandido

At the height of the People Power Revolution in late February 1986 that ousted dictator President Ferdinand Marcos, newscaster June Keithley and Fr. James Reuter, S.J. commandeered the DZRJ station, which they renamed Radyo Bandido. This was after the facilities and transmitter of Keithley's home network, the Church-owned Radio Veritas, were bombed by the Marcos-loyal Armed Forces of the Philippines. Radyo Bandido broadcasts opened with former President Ramón Magsaysay's political jingle Mambo Magsaysay (composed by Raúl Manglapus), because it was also the theme music of the disabled Radio Veritas and thus enabled Keithley to clandestinely identify herself to listening protesters. For her role in providing both information and morale to protesters during the Revolution, Keithley was awarded the Medal of the Legion of Honor by President Cory Aquino after the fall of the Marcos regime.

To honour the station's key role in the 1986 Revolution, DZRJ AM was officially rebranded Radyo Bandido, and switching to a public service format. Meanwhile, the music format revived on FM as RJ 100.3, then later, RJ Underground Radio 105.9 (now Retro 105.9 DCG FM), as well as their flagship TV network RJTV 29. DZRJ is known for some veteran broadcasters such as Johnny Midnight and Art Borjal. Since 2004, it began airing news from the BBC World Service and the Voice of America. The PBA Games on Radio was moved to DZRJ-AM from DZSR in 2009. UAAP on Radio started on DZRJ-AM in 2010. Of note as well is DZRJ-AM's role during EDSA II in 2001 which removed President Joseph Estrada.

2010 - 2015: 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. On 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-language broadcasts with the slogan The Voice of the Philippines as a test broadcast, with its official launch on October 4, 2010. DZRJ is the only English-language AM station in Mega Manila. Its format consisted of news in English from the Philippine Star, the Voice of America and the BBC World Service, Lifestyle, Sports and Public Service. In September 2015, the same time the station launched the newest morning show The New Bandidos.

2015 - present: 8TriMedia Era

On October 4, 2015, 8TriMedia Broadcasting Network, a media firm owned by rice trader Jojo Soliman and veteran radio broadcaster Kaye Dacer (formerly from DZMM), bought part of the station's time for its programs, which were aired on DWBL before, along with new programs. Aside from that, 8Trimedia on DZRJ programs are already started broadcasting via TeleRadyo format exclusively for Cablelink subscribers, which it can be seen on Channel 7 as 8TriTV.

Current personalities