The social relevance of Church-owned radio

Radyo Veritas

Operating at a loss seems to be a dominant theme in the existence of Church-owned radio stations. For Radyo Veritas, it has been a continuing struggle. After the 1986 Edsa Revolution, Church leaders and even newly installed President Aquino again called for “people power”—this time, to help replace and rehabilitate the equipment that Marcos forces destroyed at the Radio Veritas transmission site during the uprising. Private efforts raised a total of P20 million. The German government donated P60 million worth of equipment, including a new 250-kilowatt transmitter (RVA since 1969, 1995)

This was not the end of Radio Veritas’ problems. The two divisions of Radio Veritas—Overseas (Radio Veritas Asia) and Domestic Service (Radio Veritas Philippines)—were getting deeper into financial dire straits. With less and less foreign funding coming in and the cost of maintaining the station rising, management had to make a decision. If the two divisions were independent of each other, Radio Veritas would run more efficiently. The Domestic and Overseas Services had to split up.

“Effectively, we were terminated,” says Henry Omaga Diaz, who was a news editor with the Domestic Service by that time. The wholesale termination made it to the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer as 26 “EDSA heroes”—three of whom were union officers, and four members of the policy board—were kicked out of the station on the fifth anniversary of the People Power Revolution.

What burst the collective bubble of the Domestic Services Staff was the announcement that Radio Veritas would reopen as a commercial station. Diaz says they met with Jaime Cardinal Sin to try to get him to change his mind. He recalls that they told the cardinal during the meeting, “Palagay po namin, nasa ibang level na ang Veritas. Bahagi na ito ng history, at iba ang role ng Veritas na dapat gampanan sa industriya (In our opinion, Veritas has already attained a different level. It’s part of history, and it has a different role to fulfill in the industry).”

But it was a matter of the survival, says Fr. Manuel Bongayan, SVD, who was managing the Domestic Service at the time. He explains, “Radio Veritas Philippines was not included in the foreign funding (of Radio Veritas Asia), so we had to support ourselves.” This meant relying mainly on advertisers for income. So they formed a new company that would manage Radio Veritas Philippines as a commercial station.

The new Radio Veritas Philippines went on the air on May 1, 1991 as ZNN Veritas, managed by Radio Veritas Global Broadcasting, Inc. Although the Archdiocese of Manila was still the majority stockholder, the new corporation had businessmen on its board of directors. The station went full blast with its operations, even hiring big names in the broadcast industry, such as Rey Langit, Louie Beltran, and Dong Puno. Optimistic that they could muster the same listenership they enjoyed at the height of their popularity, the station set out to compete head on with the more successful radio stations.

Maybe it was the negative publicity brought on by the termination of the employees. Or maybe their role as the radio station to listen to had been fulfilled at Edsa. For whatever reason, the strategy of airing secular programs and going against the other stations wasn’t working. ZNN Veritas simply could not command the audience that the other stations could. And without an audience, the advertisers weren’t biting. The station was not earning enough to meet operational expenses. “It was a beautiful vision, but it did not come true,” says Bongayan.

Since then, Radyo Veritas has gone from ZNN Veritas to Veritas 846 “Radyo Totoo.” It now occupies the old Paramount Theater on a cramped and busy intersection of Quezon City—a far cry from the quiet, sprawling five-hectare property in Fairview, which it used to share with what is now called Radio Veritas Asia. The station needs some P2 to P3 million monthly to operate, says Bongayan. “Every year, we are (in deficit) by P5 to P6 million,” he says. “If (we were) only after the money, walang problema ang Veritas (Veritas wouldn’t have a problem),” he explains. But because Catholic radio stations don’t accept advertisers or block-timers that go against the teachings of the Church, they must “suffer the consequences,” Bongayan says. Condom brands and gambling organizations, though eager to place their ads with the station, he says, are a big no. For example, the advertisements of Pagcor, which can be heard on many other commercial stations, are not allowed on Radyo Veritas.

After about a year since reopening, the station started retrenching employees. From a high of 120 employees when they resumed operations in 1991, they are now maintaining a lean staff of around 25.

They have recently changed its programming strategy. Instead of trying to compete directly with secular stations, the station is now sticking to religious programs, such as novenas, the rosary, and discussions on faith-related issues. The decision was based on the “blue ocean” strategy of creating and cultivating your own market (“Blue Ocean Strategy,” 2007). “What we are doing now is to really just let these Catholics appreciate their own faith through evangelization,” Bongayan says.

Whether this new strategy will pay off remains to be seen.

One response to “The social relevance of Church-owned radio”

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