DWRT-FM

1976–2006: The first 99.5 RT[edit]

Trans-Radio Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1971 by Emilio Tuason after he acquired the AM radio franchise (980 kHz) of Transit Broadcasting Corporation, owned by the Vergara family. Under Trans-Radio, the AM station adopted the call sign DZTR-AM “Radyo Pilipino” (which is not in any way related to the eponymous AM radio network owned by the Radio Corporation of the Philippines). In 1976, Trans-Radio acquired an FM radio franchise (99.5 MHz) and took the call sign DWRT-FM.^[1] It began broadcasting on September 6, 1976, as "99.5 RT", which was the first Top 40 station in the Philippines. The station was initially located at 10 Doña Natividad Building on Quezon Avenue (near the Welcome Rotonda) in Quezon City. After the building caught fire two years later, it transferred to Suite 608 of the Pacific Bank Building (now known as Security Bank Centre) at 6776 Ayala Avenue in Makati. Tuason also became one of the station's deejays (his on-air names^[2] were "J.W. Christian" and "E.T.") until personal problems forced his retirement from the station in 1987. Mike Pedero, who was also one of its DJs, took care of the programming until he left the station for RK96 Real Radio in 1980.^[3]


99.5 RT grew in popularity by introducing new British and American acts into its audience. One of the most notable examples of this was in the early 1980s, when RT broke into the song "More to Lose" by the obscure English new wave duo, Seona Dancing. The station kept listeners guessing the identity of the song by announcing the title as "Medium" and done by the artist "Fade," two words which were descriptions of the song: medium tempo with an ending that faded out.^[4]


From 1983 to 1986, RT was one of the FM stations that delivered news on the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr. as well as his funeral, the Snap Elections of 1986 between Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino, and the People Power Revolution.


On October 11, 1985, rival station Kiss FM 101.1 (now 101.1 Yes FM) was launched with most of the RT jocks manning that station. It toppled RT in the ratings and the latter's revenues dropped. A few months later in February 1986 after the EDSA Revolution, RT was reformatted as the Red Hot Radio. It played only new wave music similar to WXB 102 (now 102.7 Star FM), albeit more commercial. This proved to be unsuccessful, leading to the station reverting to its original format a year later. In 1989, it switched to a modern rock format. After a few years, it reverted to its original format once more and recovered.^[5]