MANILA, Philippines—For every setback, an opportunity.
In the next few months, radio station RJ UR 105.9 FM will sign off and leave the frequency it has been leasing since 2007.
THE FACE of UR radio: RJ Jacinto II shows his father, Ramon Jacinto, how to listen to the new UR Faceradio on Facebook. The station will have a grand launch on May 28.
But the good news is, it won’t go the way of NU 107, whose owner junked his station’s rock music format in favor of the more profitable chopsuey-pop-with-comedian-jocks trend that has swept a majority of Metro Manila’s FM stations.
Although 105.9 FM will soon have another tenant, RJ UR and its classic-modern-Pinoy rock programming won’t exactly be homeless. In fact, it is going where everybody is — on Facebook.
Currently on test broadcast, the station, now known as UR Faceradio, has opened its own page on the most popular social networking site whose users, at present, total more than 600 million worldwide.
“I think we’re the first radio station in the Philippines to broadcast direct on Facebook,” said UR’s 25-year-old president Ramon “RJ” Jacinto II in an exclusive interview with the Inquirer recently.
“We’ve been thinking how to keep the music playing and at the same time gather Pinoy musicians here and around the world in one portal. This is it,” he pointed out.
RJ II — whose father Ramon Jacinto opened UR more than three years ago to accommodate hip dzRJ listeners alienated by RJ FM 100.3’s oldies format — said that UR’s migration to Facebook allows listeners to see the DJ at the booth as well. He added that it will be interactive on real time very soon.
UR Faceradio will have a grand launch on May 28 with six simultaneous concerts on live streaming.
“We want everyone to know that the music is still alive and is now accessible to more people, worldwide,” said RJ II.
There are limitations, of course, since not everyone in the Philippines has a computer at home yet. And UR Faceradio can’t be heard in the car, unless one has a laptop or iPad with speakers.
But things look very promising: There are currently 22 million Facebook users in the country.
“The downside is we’re no longer on conventional radio. But the upside is we’re online,” said RJ senior – chairman of the Rajah Broadcasting Network whose first radio station, DZRJ-AM, started operating in his home’s backyard in the 1960s. “The world is now UR’s backyard,” he quipped.
‘Chosen 7’
Jack Daniel’s “JD Set” talent search series presented its “Chosen 7” bands during its finals night held recently at Whitespace in Makati.
From the original 13 bands that made it to the elimination round, the Chosen 7 were Blue Boy Bites Back, Kelevra, Jack Versus the Crab, Mr. Bones and the Boneyard Circus, Paramita, Playphonics and Stories of Now.
They played original songs as well as covers.
Urbandub, which will represent Jack Daniel’s at the coming SEAsian Music Festival, also performed at Whitespace.
The Chosen 7 will go on a seven-month-long tour nationwide.
(Log on to www.facebook.com/JackDanielsTheJDSetPhilippines.)
Why Loggins still matters
There are two coming concerts happening one after the other at the same venue: Kenny Loggins on May 22 and Maroon 5 on May 23, both at the SMX Convention Center beside Mall of Asia in Pasay.
We’ll discuss Maroon 5 soon; in the meantime here are some significant facts that should make Loggins’ gig worth checking out:
He was earning $100 a week as an obscure songwriter when he met former Buffalo Springfield producer and Poco member Jim Messina, then working as staff producer at CBS Records.
Loggins was supposed to record his debut solo album with Messina as producer. That album came to be known as “Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In” – featuring “Danny’s Song” and “House At Pooh Corner.” Thus was born an accidental duo that became one of the most popular folk-rock-country acts worldwide.
Going solo in 1976, Loggins explored jazz, rock and pop. The result: the albums “Celebrate Me Home,” “Nightwatch” (which included the hit “Whenever I Call You Friend” with Stevie Nicks), “Keep The Fire” (“This Is It,”) and 1982’s High Adventure (“Don’t Fight It” with Steve Perry and “Heart To Heart”).
In 1980 Loggins won the best male pop vocal Grammy for “This Is It.”
As a songwriter he collaborated with his long-time friend Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers on the 1979 Grammy-winning song of the year, “What A Fool Believes.”
Loggins also dabbled in movie theme songs, including “I’m Alright” (from “Caddyshack”), “Footloose,” “Danger Zone” (“Top Gun”), and “Nobody’s Fool” (“Caddyshack II”).
He didn’t stop recording studio albums, like 1985’s “Vox Humana,” 1988’s “Back to Avalon,” 1991’s “Leap of Faith” (featuring “Conviction of the Heart,” a song Al Gore called “the unofficial anthem of the environmental movement”), 1997’s “The Unimaginable Life” and 2003’s “It’s About Time.”
In 2005 he reunited with Messina. Their “Sittin’ In Again” tour was followed by another road show in 2009.
IN TOP form: Jazz singer Jacqui Magno performs every Wednesday at the new Merk’s Place on Pasay Road. Jamming on the conga at left is lawyer Ferdie Topacio.
Jamming with Jacqui
Jacqui Magno was in top form, apparently aging with elegance and style during a recent gig at the new Merk’s Place, 2nd floor Colbella Bldg., 910 Pasay Road, Makati (across Greenbelt Residences).
Jamming with her that night was the irrepressible lawyer Ferdie Topacio, who mixes his deep knowledge of jazz with rollicking humor.
Turned out that it’s actually a regular show every Wednesday dubbed “Jammin’ with Jacqui.”