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Philippine Daily Inquirer launches new AM station


July 17th, 2009 - 12:40 UTC

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has started test broadcasting its new AM station, with a former president of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcasters sa Pilipinas, Ciro Songco, as chief operating officer. The AM station on 990 kHz was acquired, apparently last year, from the Trans Radio Broadcasting Corp.

According to the grapevine, Inq.net president Paolo Prieto wants to eventually transform the station into an all-news station, competing with industry leaders DZMM, DZRH, and DZXL. Previously known as DWRT, or Rock 990, the station has since been renamed DZLQ.

The plan apparently is to integrate the operations of the Inquirer newspaper with the 24/7 website operations, using a common reporting staff. In other words, the Inquirer reporters will not only write for the daily but will also have to submit regular updates to the website and even report live on radio.

For still unclear reasons, the Inquirer kept the radio venture even from the top editors until lately. The radio venture was not even listed in the agenda of the last stockholders’ meeting in April. According to the grapevine, the acquisition was done by a third party, most likely through Songco, for fear that the pending application for a congressional franchise and regulatory approval from the National Telecommunications Commission would suffer a hitch, given the Inquirer’s anti-administration bent and frequent congressional attacks.

(Source: Manila Standard Today)

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