DWAL

DWAL (95.9 FM), broadcasting as 95.9 Radyo Totoo, is a news/talk radio station owned and operated by the Radyo Bayanihan System, the media arm of the Archdiocese of Lipa. The station's studio is located at Studio 2, 2nd floor, St. Francis de Sales Broadcast Center, Barangay 7, C. Tirona Street, Batangas City, with its transmitter site located at Barangay Santo Domingo, Batangas City, sharing with its sister station. It operates Mondays to Saturdays from 4:30 AM to 10:00 PM (PST), and on Sundays and special coverage days from 4:30 AM to 6:30 PM.
Exception to the regular broadcast time is every Maundy Thursday to Good Friday when the station operates on simulcast with 99.1 Spirit FM from 4:30 AM to 8:00 PM, Black Saturday when it airs on simulcast from 4:30 AM to 8:00 AM and 5:30 PM to 12:00 MN, and annually during "Misa de Gallo" days (December 16–24) from 4:00 AM to 6:30 PM.
The station is the first news and talk FM station in the Philippines owned and operated by the Catholic church and it is similar to the country's first news and talk station on FM band Radyo5 92.3 News FM Manila owned and operated by TV5 which debuted November 2010.
History.
Overview.
DWAL is a station that brings news, information and evangelization. Pioneer personalities of the FM station were Fr. Nonie Dolor, Lita Aguila-Bicol and Renzo Luna (Renz Belda, also a reporter for DZRH). More personalities added up through the years up to the present. DWAL-FM carries the slogan Evangelization Radio that later evolved into News and Evangelization Radio. Father Ildefonso Dimaano served as its pioneer station manager, starting from its launch in 2009. Fr. Nonie Dolor replaced him from 2011 until April 2016. His position was succeeded by Fr. Jayson Alcaraz until July 31, 2017 when Dimaano returned for a second term as station manager.
1969-2001: AM era.
DWAL-FM was inaugurated in 1969 as DWAM-AM (1080 kHz), with Calero Road, Batangas City as its first studios. It is one of the frequencies directly owned by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. However, with the declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 under Ferdinand Marcos, the station was closed under strict censorship imposed under Proclamation No. 1081. After complying with the papers needed for resumption of broadcasts, DWAM-AM returned on air by October that same year. By the middle of the 70s, the station moved successively to Hilltop, Kumintang Ibaba and settled at the now-demolished Basilica Site until it ceased operations.
DWAM, through the years, provided listeners with religious broadcasting, news, music and oftentimes, religious drama. Its notable roster of personalities during the 70's included Lita Aguila-Bicol, Bert Cabual, Fr. Nonie Dolor, Oscar Adelfo de Villa, Rene Beraña and Avis Magtaas; Bicol and Dolor would later team up to reestablish the station at 95.9 FM in 2009 while Cabual rejoined in 2011 after years of overseas work in London. It was also in this period that 1080 kHz enjoyed the distinction of being the sole AM station in the market until Batangas Capitol operated Radyo Balisong (now known as DZBR Bible Radio 531, owned by the evangelical group Cathedral of Praise) opened shop in 1981.
In the 90s, influx of population and development of the city started off, but the potent of provincial AM stations started to dwindle as FM stations like GV 99.9 and Bay Radio (now Brigada News FM) started to air in the city in 1996 and 1998, respectively. On May 8, 1999, 99.1 Spirit FM was established to cater the younger generation with music.
2002-2008: Halt of Operations.
Due to the antiquity of the facilities of the AM station, DWAM-AM ceased operations in mid-2002. Efforts of establishing another one took years. The first permit of operations expired in 2004 before full supply of materials was commenced. It was in this time also that two choices were decided, whether to revive the station in the same frequency band or to migrate to an FM frequency as an "AM on FM format", a concept that was eight to ten years ahead of being a prospective national medium. Ultimately, all efforts of reestablishment fell off.
2009-2014: Transfer to FM.
In mid-2009, a new station on the frequency of 95.9 MHz started to air, later to be unveiled as ALFM 95.9 Radyo Totoo with its first slogan " Makipanalig, Makiugnay at Makidasal". Test broadcasts began as early as February 2009 under the tentative callsign DZAL with its frequency acquired by Radyo Bayanihan System from the distinct Bayanihan Broadcasting Corporation that served as licensees for Catholic Media Network radio stations in Quezon Province and Baler, Aurora. However, the calls were already taken by a now-dormant AM station in Bicol, hence the callsign DWAL was given instead to get the greenlight at launch. Furthermore, on its first months of broadcast, the station was severely handicapped on its northern broadcast fringe by Radyo Natin Calamba that was then broadcasting on the same frequency. The issue was settled later with the Calamba station moving to 106.3 FM in 2010. It was also on that same year that DWAL-FM first revamped its imaging campaign by carrying the Evangelization Radio tagline.
Since 2010, ALFM has been a training ground for students taking up Mass Communication, AB Communication and Journalism in their pursuit for work in the media industry after graduation. These OJTs work as news gatherers and field reporters during their tenure. One of their notable call-ups from the on-the-job intern to the regular reporters pool was Minerva Padua, who worked with the station from 2012-15.
2015-present: Major Changes.
On May 21, 2015, ALFM and Spirit FM went off-air to give way to its transfer from the Basilica Site to its new broadcast complex at the Balmes Building at C. Tirona Street. It returned broadcasting four days later. The old studio has since been demolished and converted to a parish mortuary.
With the retirements of Fr. Nonie Dolor and Lita Aguila-Bicol in April 2016, the station gradually shifted to a more news-intensive format that was completed on May 2017 with old station plugs voiced by Aguila-Bicol being replaced by new ones recorded by Spirit FM's DJ Joseph, and revising its slogan to cater more news as Ang Inyong News and Evangelization Radio.
In January 2018, the Balmes Building was officially renamed the St. Francis de Sales Broadcast Center, culminating a lengthy rehabilitation of both stations' respective studios for improved service to their online and 95.9's cable TV audience.
Coinciding with the station's 9th year on air, new imaging bumpers and programming were launched, starting with the retirement of the "Evangelization Radio" tagline and unveiling of the slogan Katiwala Mo sa Serbisyo at Tunay na Balita "(Your Trusted for Service and Truthful News)". Its news operation also added Carissa Hornilla (Spirit FM's DJ Dominique) as co-anchor.
On October 6, 2018, the station went to its first 24 hour operation during the arrival of the relic of St. Padre Pio to the country.
On May 24, 2019 the station kicked-off its year-long celebration of its first decade on air, alongside its sister outlet's 20th anniversary, and Radyo Bayanihan System's 50th year in operation, with the Archdiocesan Youth Commission's July 13 outreach activity held under its conjunction. The station also unveiled its new ID, voiced by Catholic Media Network national office anchor Cecille Roxas.
Cable television carriage.
For the 2016 Philippine local and national elections, the station's online streaming started its simulcast over the Batangas provincial arm of the MyCATV cable system through its Community Channel (via Channel 8) after a lease-access deal was struck by the management with the TV simulcast becoming permanent a month later. On May 2, 2018, MyCATV's analog cable service was discontinued upon completion of the firm's full digitalization, migrating the simulcast and the Community Channel to channel 123. On December 2018, MyCATV rebranded as Asian Vision.
Under the deal, the station's morning news-talk programs from 7:00-10:30 am on weekdays and Sundays, and 7:00-11:00 on Saturdays are simulcast as a leased-access "TeleRadyo" format.
News operation.
Currently, DWAL-FM provides 19 hours per week of news-oriented programming, a cumulative of 17 and a half hours of news blocks on weekdays and their flagship one and a half hour weekly recap "Aksyon at Repleksyon" on Saturdays.
History.
Upon reestablishment of the station in 2009, the news organization consisted solely of three people. It was founded by former DWAM 1080 kHz mainstays Fr. Nonie Dolor and Lita Aguila-Bicol, and DZRH provincial reporter Renz Belda who uses the name Renzo Luna as a compromise of working for two stations. Initially, there were no field reporters until the 2010 presidential elections when they hired their first, and youngest reporter (at age 16), Ethel Robles.
The pool of reporters was further established by hiring former comic cartoonist Onofre Tenorio under the radio name Kakang Bising and freelance DJ Samuel Barral in 2011. Minerva Padua became their first call-up from their regular trainees pool in 2012.
However, the original pool of reporters would not last as by 2016, Robles left the news department to take a role at the Archdiocesan Youth Commission. Barral would later run twice unsuccessfully for a councilor's seat at Rosario, Batangas before leaving for good that same year. Padua left the station to work at the Department of Agriculture. Kakang Bising would remain as the sole reporter until Jam Sayat and Jajo Culla were hired by the station in May 2017; the latter left three months later to return to his vocational studies.
From 2009 until Fr. Nonie Dolor's retirement, the station had a cumulative 24 hours per week of news content until the local morning news block was cut down by an hour.