DWFM

DWFM (92.3 FM), broadcasting as Radyo5 92.3 News FM, is a radio station owned by the Nation Broadcasting Corporation and operated by TV5 Network. It serves as the flagship station of the Radyo5 network, one of the assets of News5. The station's studio is located in TV5 Media Center, Reliance cor. Sheridan Sts., Brgy. Buayang Bato, Mandaluyong, while its transmitter is located in Block 3, Emerald Hills, Sumulong Highway, Antipolo. The station operates daily from 4:00 AM to 12:00 MN.
History.
1973–1998: MRS.
DWFM signed on in 1973 as Manila's third FM station, and the Nation Broadcasting Corporation's first FM station. DWFM began as "MRS 92.3Most Requested Song", airing a format consisting of adult top 40 and easy listening music. The station is known for playing the most requested song every hour. DWFM quickly became the top-rated FM station in Manila, and held this title for most of its existence. The success of DWFM led NBC to establish other FM stations using a similar format, including Cebu's DYNC in 1975, and Davao's DXFM.
Its first station building was in the Jacinta Building 1 in Pasay Road (near the Ayala Center complex) and later moved to the NBC Tower/Jacinta Building 2 in EDSA, Guadalupe, Makati.
1998–2007: Joey.
In September 1998, NBC was acquired by MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., a broadcasting company owned by the PLDT's Beneficial Trust Fund from the consortium of the Yabut family and then House Speaker Manny Villar. With the new ownership, DWFM's format would be changed in November 1998 to become a smooth jazz station, "Joey @ Rhythms 92.3" (later shortened in August 2005 to "923 Joey"). Radio executive Francis Lumen assumed the position of president and CEO bringing with him his previous 10 years of managing Citylite 88.3 (now Jam 88.3). Joey went on to target the higher echelon crowd - mostly embassy officials and Disc Jocks who were displaced by the departure of Citylite 88.3 in 2003, with a mix of jazz fusion, pop jazz and crossover sound, with a little more of the European jazz flavor. The station also featured new-age music during the Paschal Triduum of the annual Holy Week during that era, which is dubbed as "Take 20".
The jazz format would also be implemented on all of NBC's other FM stations, who used other female names for their branding. DWFM's call letters were also changed to DZRU-FM for the period.
It was also during this period that NBC entered into a joint venture with MTV Asia for an MTV Philippines feed via NBC's UHF Network (Channel 41).
In 2004, the Rhythms tag was dropped in favor of 923 Joey (pronounced as "nine-two-three"), with the station slogan "It's a Groove Thing". In January 2007, DZRU-FM was taken over by new management, led by radio executives Raymund Miranda and Al Torres (currently as a voiceover for GMA Network, GTV, Heart of Asia Channel, and I Heart Movies currently based in Canada), along with sales executive Amy Victa. Together with the new team, the butterfly was dropped from the logo and the official call letters were returned to DWFM, the original call letters of the station.
2007–2009: XFM.
On Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007, DWFM resumed broadcasting as 92.3 xFM, Before playing the very first song under its new format, the station played the legal ID: "This is xFM. The New Equation for Good Music", now focusing on downtempo, trip hop and house music (and later expanding to include indie pop and easy listeningstaples of the station during the MRS era.) Additionally, the station also reverted its call letters back to DWFM. From August 2007 until the end of xFM's first iteration, easy listening tracks, which were a staple during the station's existence as 923 Joey, made its way again to the supposedly electronica-and-indie station's playlist, which led to the scrapping of the groundbreaking format in January 2008. "re-birth" was instituted on February 2008 with the adoption of a very popular Adult Contemporary format "Smooth Jazz", thus reverting it to the same format as it had before (as 923 Joey). 92.3 xFM has been re-branded into XFM 92.3 and adopted the slogans "Light N Up!" and "Light N Up Manila!" xFM 92.3 follows the likes of smooth jazz stations such as KNUA, KTWV and other stations that target the adult listeners. Coupled with R & B and contemporary pop favorites, xFM 92.3 mixes current smooth jazz selections and old memorable jazz favorites. xFM 92.3 has metamorphosed to become a light, vibrant and relaxing station to listen to in Metro Manila.
In its run as a smooth jazz station, xFM used the following slogans:
2009–2010: U92.
On October 1, 2009, DWFM switched formats again, becoming the contemporary hit radio station "U92", with the youth-oriented slogan "Cool To Be U". At that time its studios moved from NBC Tower/Jacinta Building 2 in EDSA, Guadalupe, Makati to Silver City Mall in Pasig. U92 is manned by a group led by Francis Lumen, president of All Youth Channels (AYC), which runs the now-defunct MTV Philippines. Lumen is a former NBC radio executive and Raven Broadcasting Corporation president. The station is labeled as a radio affiliate of MTV Philippines. The on-air personalities are a mix of former and current MTV Philippines VJ's, celebrities and career radio people. The new CHR format was also tightly cross-promoted and shared talent with the television channel MTV Philippines, which had been broadcast by NBC's stations until mid-2007 when All Youth Channels took over the MTV franchise in the country and converted it to a cable-only service. On October 1, 2010, U92 transitioned to a fully automated station, eight months after MTV Philippines shut down on February 15, which signified another branding to the station.
2010–present: Radyo5.
On November 8, 2010, after almost a month of test broadcast, DWFM made another first in the history of FM radio broadcasting in the Philippines, as the station flipped from a struggling CHR format, to a groundbreaking all-news radio as "Radyo5 92.3 News FM"; becoming the flagship station for a new radio network operated in conjunction with the news department of TV5 (which PLDT media subsidiary MediaQuest recently acquired a majority stake of in earlier in the year). At that time the station's studios moved again from Silver City Mall in Pasig to TV5 Studio Complex in Novaliches, Quezon City. The move came as part of a plan to expand TV5's news operation in order to become more competitive with the other major networks, which also included the launch of a news network on NBC's television stations, AksyonTV (which also simulcasts some of its programming until its shutdown in 2019). Most of the personalities are former anchors and reporters from different AM-radio stations in Mega Manila including Neil Ocampo, Laila Chikadora, Cheryl Cosim, Cristy Fermin (from DZMM), Raffy Tulfo, Nina Taduran, Ruel Otieco, JV Arcena (from DZXL), Arnell Ignacio, Shalala (from DZBB), Izza Reniva-Cruz (from Veritas 846), Zony Esguerra (from DZME) and TV5 news anchors Erwin Tulfo and Martin Andanar.
In less than six months under the new format, Radyo5 ranked as the fourth most listened to FM stations in Metro Manila. In March 2012, the Radio Research Council ranked Radyo5 as the number 1 news radio station in the market in a survey of motorists. Afterwards, in 2013, Radyo5 was declared again by the PSRC Car Coincidental Survey as the most preferred & listened FM station for public utility vehicles including Jeepney's, taxis and FX.
On December 23, 2013, Radyo5 studios (including News5) moved from the TV5 Studio Complex in Novaliches, Quezon City to their new home at TV5 Media Center in Reliance, Mandaluyong.
In 2017, series of budget cuts were imposed by TV5's management. Among those affected were Radyo5's overnight operations. The network changed broadcast times twice until February 16, 2018, when they made a stable daily 20 hour run (4:00 am until midnight), adding music content during early morning and late-night (except during radio coverage of doubleheader PBA game days).
One PH.
After the shutdown of AksyonTV on January 13, 2019, the programs of Radyo5 began to air in a Cignal-exclusive "teleradyo" channel, One PH, which was initially launched on February 18 and officially launched on July 31. Coinciding with the said launch, Radyo5 was added with new studios and programs, and re-extended its weekday broadcast hours.
Starting August and September 2019, selected Radyo5 and One PH programs ("Morning Calls", "One Balita", "One Balita Pilipinas", "Wag Po!" and "Turbo Time with Mike and Lindy") begin its airing on either simulcast or delayed basis on The 5 Network as part of programming revamp spearheaded by TV5 Network's new CEO Jane Basas.
On March 17, 2020, Radyo5 along with One PH, temporarily suspended its regular programming as an effect of the Luzon-wide "enhanced community quarantine" against COVID-19. The radio station aired the special edition of "One News Now" and automated music throughout the day. However, regular programs resumed after a few months.
In December 2020, Cignal TV and Philstar Media Group took over the operations and programming of Radyo Singko respectively. With this development, some of the station's programs aired their respective final episodes during the final weeks of December 2020. On January 1, 2021, One PH's programming (except for overnight slots) have been integrated to the programming schedule of Radyo Singko.