Philippine Broadcasting Service

History

On May 8, 1933, the United States-sponsored Insular Government established and operated radio station DZFM (then KZFM) in the Philippines on the frequency of 710 kilohertz with a power of 10,000 watts through the United States Information Service. In September 1946, two months after the Philippines became an independent country from the U.S.A., KZFM was turned over to the Philippine government. With the transfer was born the Philippine Broadcasting Service, PBS the second broadcasting organization after Manila Broadcasting Company.

The station was first operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs until it was transferred to the Radio Broadcasting Board (RBB) which was created by President Manuel Quezon on September 3, 1937. Meanwhile, in the same year, an international telecommunications conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, reassigned the letter "D" to replace the former "K" as the initial call letter for all radio stations in the Philippines. In January 1942, the RBB was abolished to give way to the establishment of the Philippine Information Council (PIC) which then assumed the function of the RBB, including the operation of DZFM. In turn, the PIC was abolished on July 1, 1952, and since then, until the creation of the Department of Public Information (DPI) in 1959, DZFM and the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) had been operated under the Office of the President.

Over the years hence, the PBS had acquired 13 more radio stations, one TV station which it time-shared with two other organizations, and changed its name to Bureau of Broadcast Services.

At the same time that the BB was blazing a broadcasting trail now known as "network broadcasting", another government organization was building up its broadcast capability to rival, or in some instances, to complement, that of the BB. The National Media Production Center, NMPC, had acquired the facilities of the Voice of America in Malolos, Bulacan in 1965 and steadily brought the old complex up to standards by a steady overhaul, fine-tuning, and outright replacement of outmoded equipment and machines. The NMPC operated the Voice of the Philippines, VOP, on both medium wave-918 kHz and shortwave 9.810 mHz transmissions. In 1975, the NMPC obtained DWIM-FM. With this new station and some provincial stations that came under its wings earlier, the NMPC was a network and effectively covered a wide range of the Philippine listenership.

Public broadcasting in the Philippines was thus represented by the BB and the NMPC and catered to the educational and cultural needs of its audiences while endeavoring to keep it entertained with fare from indigenous material. Public service features were the keystone of its programs.

The BB and the NMPC were brought under one administrative roof in 1980 when the Office of Media Affairs was created to provide a loose union for both networks within the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center along Bohol (now Sgt. Esguerra) Avenue in Quezon City. It was not an ideal situation, to say the least, since, as there had been no clear guidelines on the proper implementation of their respective operational strategies, the BB and the NMPC often squabbled, to the detriment of public broadcasting goals.

After the EDSA Revolution, the Office of Media Affairs was abolished, followed by the NMPC, and finally, the BB. Under Executive Order No. 297, President Corazon Aquino established the Bureau of Broadcast Services (BBS) and reinstated PBS as the network were under the Office of the Press Secretary.

During Aquino administration, PBS transferred its office from ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center complex to PIA/Media Center Building in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

During his first State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte will pass a law merging PBS with its TV counterpart, People's Television Network into the "People's Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)".

Radyo ng Bayan's platform

Radio ng Bayan is situated at 738 kHz on the AM band with a power of 50 kW, and operates 20 hours daily from 4 am to 12 mn under the Philippine Broadcasting Service - Bureau of Broadcast Services (PBS-BBS), Presidential Communications Office. As the government's flagship radio station it serves as a medium of development communication, a conduit between the government and the people, aiming to mobilize all sectors of society towards development and nationalism. Live government news is aired here.