My Television Journey 1.0

by | Jul 15, 2024 | Media

Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime (Chinese proverb).” I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog, always favoring the road less traveled, unpopular issues, unknown personalities, the ones that others chose to ignore, didn’t want to touch, wasn’t cool enough. It was a requirement in one of my master’s classes at UP-IMC to do an internship and I chose PTV-4, the People’s Television. That was the start of my television journey. It had a colorful history (one of ABS-CBN’s TV channel, sequestered and used by President Ferdinand E. Marcos when Martial Law was declared, and finally recaptured by rebels during the EDSA Revolution (People Power Revolution). But it was not fully equipped and resourced by the time I arrived as an intern. The place had been ransacked, equipment stolen, and there was even a story floating around, that an entire OB van disappeared from the motor pool. I was always excited to come to the station, riding a jeepney or bus, all the way to Broadcast Plaza in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. That was the only time I was nearest to the present day TV studios of ABS-CBN, aside from the visits, later on to their radio stations as required by my job in the music industry.

I have fond memories of my TV internship: production offices that were extremely hot (no aircon because a fire broke-out in the building), late night taping (that’s when I first met Maan Hontiveros, talk show host and real EDSA Revolution hero, who later on became my boss at Warner Music Philippines), up and down the labyrinth, the maze, that was Broadcast Plaza, walking through dark, unlighted hallways, among many other value-laden experiences. And that was only inside the complex. I remember colleagues endearingly call Channel 4 as “channel poor.” We were literally poor and lacking not only in high-tech, sophisticated equipment, but even simple things like camera cables. We were out in the field covering a Philippine Air Force event at Villamor Air Base and our cables didn’t work properly. Being the intern, I was tasked to source it out. Not knowing anyone but feeling an affinity with government employees, I bravely approached the crew from Radio-TV Malacanang, who lent us the needed cables. That incident was my introduction to RTVM wherein I will find myself eventually doing projects from presidents FVR, Erap and PGMA.

When I started my internship, PTV-4 was one of the official 1988 Summer Olympics station in the Philippines (the other one was RPN-9). With that affiliation came the hope that the station will have its studios and facilities updated with high-tech and sophisticated equipment. Sadly I didn’t get to see how that panned out because I had to end my internship having met the required number of hours. It was only many years later, when I started doing some board-work with the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) at the Visayas Avenue main office of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), when I visited PTV-4 which transferred to its new studios and facilities at the back of the PIA Building. I was really impressed with the transformation. The people whom I knew told me that after I left, the station did get the much needed boost in terms of equipment, staff, benefits, etc.

My last and final encounter with PTV-4 was when I became a writer/production staff of Kaya Natin ‘To with Ruth Abao-Espinosa as host. The show started with the station and later on moved to IBC-13 wherein I became the show’s director, but that’s another story. We normally taped our continuity spiel at the network’s studios, sometimes after Ruth’s work as newscaster of the midday report, at times after the nightly newscast at around 10 p.m. Those were the only times the studio was available. The cold blast from the aircon while we were taping, reminded me of the hot days and nights I’ve spent as an intern at the old PTV-4. Through the years PTV-4 had to fight for sales, ad revenues. It is no longer purely a non-commercial entity, it’s a hybrid. In the beginning, the government didn’t allot any financial help to the station. This was later on amended, allowing the government to infuse funds but not that much really. The station still had to go after TV commercials for it’s operations.

I valued my internship times because it opened my eyes to the power and possibilities that television can do to people, events, issues, institutions, religion. I saw why it was necessary, important, and crucial, that government should also have a TV station, with a mandate to serve the people, not focusing too much at the ratings game but focusing more on producing quality and informative programmes. It broadened my knowledge and understanding of media literacy, development communication, and propaganda. I began to see and realize why and how groups of people, the government included, would like to espouse, propagate, and perpetuate a certain way of life, using the power and influence of television. I became fascinated and enamored with political economy as one of the major perspectives of media studies.

Through the years I moved and worked from one station/network to another: PTV-4, RPN-9, IBC-13, GMA-7, UNTV-37. I was never an employee, always an independent contractor coming in to do a job, a project. I chose that path, it was a conscious effort, an independence that I cherished. I never had the chance to work for ABS-CBN. The nearest I got was volunteering for the 1969 presidential elections and finding myself riding in a jeep with the networks provincial Radyo Patrol reporters, going from different polling booths, to gather news and information. It was the 2nd time that the Marcos-Lopez tandem was going to the polls. They were very successful in the 1965 presidential elections. Back in the day, Philippine politics always had that hidden, invisible agenda, a theory perhaps, that at least one candidate must come from outside Manila or Luzon. Marcos was from the Ilocos region (Luzon) and Fernando Lopez was from Iloilo (Visayas). Fernando and his brother Eugenio Sr. owned ABS-CBN, Manila Chronicle, Meralco, among many other businesses. In 1965, Lopez for vice-president wasn’t the popular choice. He was 3rd in popularity behind Rafael Salas (Western Visayas) and Emmanuel Pelaez (Mindanao). But come 1969, he was the choice of Marcos to again be his vice-president. The Marcos-Lopez tandem went against Sergio Osmena Jr. (president) and Genaro Magsaysay (vice-president). It was a strong team, proven track records, efficient political machinery, and media clout and influence. I could still remember one of the campaign jingles playing on the radio sang to the tune of my native Zamboanga (No Te Vayas).

TV stations and networks will always have an agenda. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a commercial or non-commercial entity. A commercial one would like to maintain it’s top ratings to generate more sales and ad revenues, utterly relying and at the mercy of sponsors. A non-commercial one would like to disseminate it’s masters message to as wide a demographics as possible, not worrying too much on sales and ad revenues. Will the two agendas collide? Or can they co-exist in one station/network? The present day television landscape in the Philippines will, might give you a clue.

Many thanks for staying on and reading until the end!