PINAS FM: Until recently, a radio station operating in Metro Manila and beamed nationwide played nothing but Original Pilipino Music throughout the day DWDM-FM, previously known as 95.5 Pinas FM, had been the best thing that happened to OPM in recent years. It went one step higher than that Presidential Decree issued by former President Ferdinand Marcos which required the mandatory airing of 4 OPM songs every hour, on the hour, on all radio stations nationwide back in the late 1970s.
The order was later reinstated by President Corazon Aquino in 1987 through Presidential Decree 255 with more or less the same specifications.
Such directive during and after martial law signaled the subsequent flowering of OPM.
It saw through the rise of singers like Rico Puno, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Anthony Castelo, Kuh Ledesma, Didith Reyes, Imelda Papin, Hajji Alejandro, Freddie Aguilar, Hot Dog, VST & Company, The Apo, who flooded the airwaves with hit songs one after the other.
Mamang Sorbetero. Dito Ba. Balatkayo. Bakit. Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika. Bongga Ka ‘Day. Pers Lab.
They are just some of the popular songs of that era, a more contemporary golden age in Philippine music.
The music created by bands like VST, Hotdog and Cinderella, was known collectively as Manila Sound. It was also around this time that the term Original Pilipino Music or OPM came about.
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EAGLE FM: Sadly, Pinas FM, the radio network that believed in an all-OPM format, is gone.
The station has been reformatted to Eagle FM, yet still providing a great boost to OPM. Alongside old and new Pinoy songs, foreign hits, including standards, have been added to the playlist, giving the station a larger mass appeal.
Station 95.5 was formally launched in May 2011 as the flag ship FM station of Eagle Broadcasting Corporation. Until recently, it was the first, and only all-OPM radio station, on the FM band.
During its 10-year run, it was able to prove that contrary to popular claims by some radio stations in the past, there’s more than enough OPM music to spin on air, if they’d only care to stop, look and listen.
True enough, Pinas FM had been instrumental in the making of many contemporary Pinoy hits.
We thank Pinas FM in its noble goal to promote Filipino music, to help it rise above the influence of foreign music and pave the way for OPM to be appreciated globally.
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DEMAND FOR OPM: In the beginning, Pinas-FM’s format was not completely OPM, only about 50 percent.
Interestingly, demand for OPM songs rose in keeping with the drive and direction of the station.
Their efforts bore fruit so that by July 2014, the station took on a full-blown OPM programing.
The pro-Filipino slant attracted Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mangaawit (OPM) which assigned Pinas-FM as its official radio station.
The support rendered by the station to emerging Filipino artists and songwriters has been more than laudable, motivating them to create, compose new songs.
The station ran a weekly Top 40 OPM Hits, formerly hosted by Raymond Stone. Hope Eagle FM continues doing this very healthy effort to promote OPM.
Eagle-FM broadcasts from EBC Building, 25 Central Avenue, Quezon City.