Radio Mindanao Network

History

Sometime in 1948, Don Henry R. Canoy, together with Robin Cui and Vicente Rivera, set up two home-built tube radio receivers bought from Fideng Palacio of Puntod and placed them in an abandoned chicken poultry house situated at the corner of Velez and del Pilar streets in Cagayan de Oro for the purpose of listening to radio broadcasts from Manila. Canoy and friends ended up listening to radio broadcasts at night when reception was better. Eventually, the friends were all convinced to build a radio transmitter of their own. The group managed to assemble a 30-Watt radio transmitter from surplus parts bought at Raon Street in Quiapo, Manila. Henry Canoy broke the airwaves as a Pirate radio station in 1949, declaring "This is Cagayan de Oro calling...". Because the broadcast was not authorized by the Radio Control Office (RCO), it did not contain call letters.

In 1950 Canoy, at the insistence of his brother, lawyer Reuben R. Canoy, decided to establish a more powerful radio station and applied for a congressional franchise in Manila to support its lawful operation. In 1951, he set up the fledging station in partnership with Robin Cui, Max Suniel, Oscar Neri and Andres Bacal as equity partners with P10,000 in capital. on 23 June 1952 he was granted a permit to maintain and operate the radio broadcasting station.

Using the Radio Amateur's Handbook as their guide and also with surplus parts bought from Raon in Quiapo, Manila, they built their own 500-watt AM transmitter with the assistance from Far East Broadcasting Company engineers, American Dick Rowland and Byrd Bruneimer. The transmitter was transported to Mindanao aboard the boat MV Snug Hitch. With only a telescopic steel pole as antenna borrowed from the Bureau of Telecom, the improvised horizontal radio antenna was mounted by the team which include Ongkoy Padero, former vice president for engineering of CEPALCO, attaching one end of a copper wire to the pole and the other end to a 30 meters coconut tree a block away . While their first “transmitter building” was financed with a P5,000 “duck farm” loan from the Philippine National Bank. The Radio Control Office (RCO) headed by Mr Jose Viado, assigned the station a broadcast frequency of 1560 kHz.

On July 4, 1952, it went on air for test broadcast the second time coinciding with the birthday of his mother. It officially started broadcasting on August 28, 1952, also coinciding with the town fiesta of San Agustin, the patron saint of Cagayan de Oro archdiocese. Listeners anticipated the first words they would hear on radio and were greeted the station ID and the following words: “You are tuned to Station DXCC, broadcasting with a power of 500 watts on 1560 kHz from Cagayan de Oro’s ” Gateway to Mindanao!” and every hour thereafter. The stations first live broadcast coincides with its opening and the program involves the airing of a 3-hour “Anejo Rum” show from Plaza Divisoria, a central park in downtown Cagayan de Oro, for which Canoy billed La Tondena executive Hugo Chan Hong the sum of P500 as payment for the radio coverage. The Radio signal was able to reach Del Monte Pacific plantation in Bukidnon 30 kilometres (19 mi) away and as far as Australia through ham radio operations which managed to call back. (RMN The Henry R. Canoy Story,ISBN ?, Copyright 1997)

In 1954, Henry R. Canoy visited the United States under an observation grant. Instead of going to the giant networks and other big cities, he opted to be taken to a small town of Greeley, Colorado, and he came upon a station that was doing exactly what DXCC was already trying to do in Mindanao. Its broadcast fare was peppered with farm prices, market and road conditions, weather warnings and personal messages. He came back with the blueprint for DXCC, which is entertainment, information and most of all education to the public.

The success of its broadcasting concept enabled DXCC to expand to Iligan, then to Butuan and Davao. By 1957, the station with a coconut tree for an antenna had given birth to four others. And so the string of community stations became Radio Mindanao Network (RMN).

In 1962, RMN's approach to broadcasting drew the interest of another visionary business leader, the late Andres Soriano Sr. of San Miguel Corporation who eventually bought the majority shares of RMN and brought the radio network to Manila, the first provincial station to do so. "The Sound of the City" concept was born with the establishment of DZHP in Metro Manila. Its format was strictly music and news. RMN joined forces with the Philippine Herald and Inter-Island Broadcasting Corporation to form the powerful first tri-media organization. That association gave RMN at the forefront of broadcast journalism and public service. Other "Sound of the City" stations soon followed in Iloilo in 1962 (DYRI), Cebu in 1963 (DYHP), DZHB in Baguio and DXHP in Cagayan de Oro in 1968.

In 1968, RMN made a "first" in Philippine radio history by initiating the national newscasts via microwave. Fast, direct and crystal clear network newscasts emanating from the Tri-Media News Central in Manila brought the events as they happened in all parts of the country via stations DZHP in Manila, DZHB in Baguio, DYHP in Cebu, DXVM in Cagayan de Oro and DXDC in Davao.

From 1969 to 1970 three more community stations emerged - DXRS in Surigao and DZHN in Naga. In early 1972, station DXHP in Cagayan de Oro was transferred to Bislig, Surigao del Sur. By 1972, RMN had twelve (12) AM stations under its wings.

In 1973, with a constitutional limitation prohibiting the ownership of media by non-Filipinos or corporations not 100% Filipino owned, Henry Canoy's group brought out the Soriano-San Miguel group holdings in RMN.

In 1975, the call letters of the Manila flagship station, DZHP was changed to DWXL. Together with this, English programming gave way to Filipino. RMN's AM stations were broadcasting in three major dialects, Filipino, Cebuano and Ilonggo. Noted columnist Teodoro Valencia joined RMN as its Chairman of the Board. Under his guidance RMN was able to secure a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines to finance its massive expansion and development program. A Cebuano drama production center based in DYHP-Cebu was established and subsequently followed by an Ilonggo drama production center based in DYHB-Bacolod.

In 1978, RMN's major expansion program was launched which include the upgrading of the technical facilities of its existing stations and the establishment of additional AM and FM stations. Among the stations that were added to the roster of RMN stations were: DXVM-FM in Cagayan de Oro, DXXL-FM in Davao, DYXL-FM in Cebu, DWKC-FM in Metro Manila & DXKR-AM in Marbel, South Cotabato. DWHB-FM in Baguio opened in 1980. DXDR-AM in Dipolog & DXPR in Pagadian was added in 1981.

RMN also increased its coverage by entering into tie-up arrangements with smaller networks. Under this scheme, RMN provided programming, marketing, technical and management expertise where these small stations would be found wanting. This gave birth to a new name for these stations under the RMN umbrella - Radio Mindanao Network, Inc. and Associates.

In 1985, the programming of all RMN FM stations were also re-oriented to cater to a younger pop music audience. This was in line with the network's philosophy of positioning to be No.1 in listenership ratings.To give more emphasis to the emerging FM station market, RMN also divided its operations into two Operating Divisions, AM and FM. During the early 90s, DYHP in Cebu was also aired their programs via satellite thru the stations DYHD in Tagbilaran, DYRR in Ormoc, DYWC in Dumaguete, DYRS in San Carlos, DXDR in Dipolog and DXRS in Surigao.

In 1990, RMN undertook another major expansion program which entailed the addition of seven FM radio stations. A permit for RMN's first TV station located in Cagayan de Oro City was also granted.

In April 18,1991, President Corazon Aquino signed into law Republic Act 6980 entitled "An Act Renewing the Franchise Granted to Radio Mindanao Network, Inc. under Republic Act Numbered Thirty-One Hundred Twenty-Two to another Twenty-Five (25) years from the date of approval of this Act". This was the first broadcast franchise approved under President Aquino's term of office.

On August 28, 1991, TV-8, RMN's first television station went on the air in Cagayan de Oro City. RMN-TV 8 was then an affiliate of the then newly established Associated Broadcasting Company from 1992 to 1995. Thirty nine years after its start, RMN was now venturing into television. In December 1991, RMN was also granted a permit to operate a UHF television station in Metro Manila (which was led to officially started two years later, on October 31, 1993; the frequency was now used by Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, Inc. (thru Globe Telecom's then-subsidiary Altimax Broadcasting Company)).

In 1998, it went global by establishing the first Philippine radio station to conquer the United States airwaves through WRMN in New York City.

In June 2007, RMN fm station DWKC 93.9 in Manila was the first commercial station in the country to broadcast with HD Radio technology. It broadcast in three HD Radio digital audio channels along with its pre-existing analog signal. The operation of its facility was in high-level combined hybrid mode with an existing 35 kW analog transmitter, a new Nautel 1 kW HD Radio transmitter, with the digital exciter, importer and exporter providing the digital signal component.

History

The pioneer radio broadcasting station in Mindanao was dxMC-AM founded in 1949 and owned by Guillermo Torres of the University of Mindanao in Davao City. It later became UM Broadcasting Network. The second, dxAW, was established by Alfred James Wills, a retired US Army Signal Corps officer (The dxAW calls were used by the TV station in Davao (which is now known as DXAS-TV Channel 4) owned by ABS-CBN from 1967 to 1972.) There were four others that operated in Butuan, Surigao, Pagadian and Ozamiz. DxCC-AM is the 7th legally operating radio station having been founded in 1952.