Retro Jam!

      Before calling it a day, I'm going to write just one entry for tonight while an electric fan is cooling my legs away from flesh-eating mosquitoes, the radio here downstairs is on frequency that's currently playing nonstop dance hits from 20 years ago while I'm struggling myself between typing my blog and brushing my teeth.

Wait a sec (Trying to finish brushing before going anywhere).............

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah!

      I felt myself so attach to my laptop that there's never a day that my are glued to the LCD screen of the Mac Powerbook G4 instead of our Phillips plasma TV (missing out from my fave shows on television). My usual onlline destinations are 1)Multiply, 2)Yahoo! Mail, 3)Facebook, 4)Pinoy Exchange.com, 5)Youtube and more recently 6)Plurk.

    But whenever I get bored or that there's nothing new on the abovementioned sites, I'd go blogsurfing and read blogs written by other people. If it's not the blogs, it's usuallys ome vintage archived websites with historical value (due to me being a history geek). there's this one particular vintage website that I found quite interesting.

        It's an old Manila Bulletin article from its Youth and Campus section dated February 2004 (I'd be around 13 years that time and was nearing the end of my freshman year in high school). the article is an interview made by the author with former WLS-FM ( the old Campus Radio 97.1) disc jockey Joe Spinner regarding its student radio program, Campus Aircheck.

Reading this old article made me reminisce how the old LS-FM sounded like during its run as Campus Radio. Even though I'm much of a TV junkie, I also had my share of exposures from radio, growing up listening to at least 3 recognizable stations: WRR 101.9, Campus Radio, and Kool 106. Somehow, a radio counterpart to my TV preferences of watching ABS-CBN, GMA, and ABC (with some pinches of RPN, RJ and IBC then). When Kool went out of commission, only RR and LS were left (although I listened more to RR out of my then-network loyalty until it wen to commercial oblivion).

I was completely oblivious to what was going to happen to LS until only a few days past Valentine's Day 2007 when I saw a ticker airing on DZOE-TV saying something about a new station on 97.1, Barangay LS. Surprised that LS as Campus Radio bowed out of the competition and was replaced to one whose format is the tried-and-tested MASA Hot Adult Contemporary format. Nothing against 'masa stations' like Love and Yes!, it's just that we already have too much of a good thing that it's turning out to be worse. For LS's case, it's more of a downgrade if you ask me.

What really made LS-FM stand out back then is that it's all about the music that its target demo, the youth (preferably high school and college students), could easily identify with. Its programming is similar to those in other English-language stations like Magic and RT although I observed that the music they play is somehow different (due to a lack of a better term) as well as it is a less-talk station. I can't really describe it but the important thing is that it was truly living up to its name, "Campus".

 I was able to familiarized myself with the names of most of the DJ's there like John Hendrix, Joe Spinner, Triggerman, Jimmy Jam and Braggy (they each have their own set of ID stingers calling out their names).  Add to that are some of their well-known programs like Top 20 at 12, Infopop, FrontdotCenter, Campus Flyer and their top-of-the-hour news bulletin.

As for their Campus Aircheck program, I'd get envious whenever I hear students becoming student DJ's on LS as part of their training as Aircheckers. Although the thought of becoming one myself never occur to me but I guess it would have been a good opportunity if given. I remember back in high school, there were these two airchecker guys from La Salle around 4 to 5pm about to sign themselves off as I listened from my school service/carpool's radio whenever I'm being fetched home from school. I missed that opportunty when auditions were called in during the summer albeit the Aircheck program were now being conducted in DWRT-FM's former incarnation, Campus 99.5.

I also remember 2 summers ago, I spent two months listening to their morning programs before Top 20 (first with John Hendrix and with Joe Spinner after) and would often catch Sandwhich's song "Sugod" being played more than twice within the hour hehehe.

"Sayang" is the best way to describe the demise of Campus Radio. Its listeners displaced and went on to listen to other youth-targetint stations like RX and NU. There was a glimmer of hope when the old Campus DJ's returned on air but in a different station carrying LS's old format, but that died out a couple of weeks before my birthday before it was replaced by another old brand, RT (who successfully moved back its target market from the youth/student population to the general 18-28 youth demographic).

Even though I'm not really an RT baby then, I gave this one a chance and somehow I'm liking it (most especially during weekends). But the void left by Campus would still be there, and unless someone is brave enough to fill it up, it woul remain as such.

Weird, after reading that article, it made me appreciate the good ol' days even more as much as I appreciate the things that really shaped, not just me, but to other people as well when we were all growing up. These somehow made an impact on us so I guess, it's our turn to return the favor :D

End!