Article by JERUEL N. ROA
If there's any factor that would earn the Radio Philippines Network (RPN) the sobriquet "The Leader," hands down it would be its Domestic Satellite (DOMSAT) facilities.
Through DOMSAT, RPN is ahead of the rest of the television networks by being able to simulcast in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for about seven hours daily.
While other networks, all based in the nation's capital, have to ship their taped programs to their provincial stations for delayed viewing, RPN gets to its provincial stations at once.
The modern facility responsible for this is a satellite owned by Indonesia and leased to the Philippines initially for five years. DOMSAT is owned by three companies: the Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS), RPN's mother company; the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT); and the Philippine government.
Its mother earth station is located in Antipolo. Its eight receiving areas around the country are in Tuguegarao, Palawan, Bacolod, Davao, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, and Cebu.
In Cebu, DOMSAT-facilitated programs are transmitted to its Channel 9 station's translator. The Cebu translator is a product of Filipino ingenuity, being locally-made and costing a mere ₱120,000.
"DOMSAT was supposed to run only for an hour daily for news and public affairs," explains RPN-9 Cebu station manager Frank Jalandoon. "But realizing the need of televiewers from Batanes down to Marawi, we discussed it with the top executives and decided to have DOMSAT programming for five hours every evening starting January 16, 1980," he adds.
"We are now on our second year of DOMSAT and I think we have reached our objective. What is being seen in Manila should also be seen by the people of Surigao or Butuan. Before, it took two weeks for Manila tapes to reach Cebu, in Davao, three weeks, in Iriga, four. Now, we have eliminated that problem. Ngayon, para bang napagbigyan natin ang mga taga-probinsya," he points out.
RPN-9 Cebu signs on at 6:30 in the morning and gets its first DOMSAT feed at 7:00 for a 30-minute newscast in Pilipino. After this, a 15-minute Cebuano edition of the news is aired and for another 15 minutes, a canned musical program is shown before the machines and equipment are given a 90-minute rest. Then Channel 9 goes back to its regular non-stop telecast for the day.
At 11:55 in the morning, Channel 9 Cebu, as in other RPN stations around the country, receives another DOMSAT feed, this time for the hour and a half noontime show, Eat Bulaga!. From 1:30 to 5:30 P.M., all shows shown are taped. Then at 5:30 up to 10:30 P.M., its uninterrupted DOMSAT programming highlighted by the popular NewsWatch hosted by Harry Gasser and Ninez Cacho-Olivares.
DOMSAT has affected local programming, but not adversely.
Said Frank Jalandoon: "Naturally, it has affected local programming. But on the other end, we have to develop the slots for local programs. That is our target. In Manila, daytime programs have 50 to 60% viewership. I think we can reach that also. Right now, we are reaching 40% in the daytime."
"At the moment, we have local programs but supported by independent producers like Galactica which comes up with two live programs. And of course, there are our public affairs programs. Another thing we've been planning to do is to revive the local programs. To do this, we need sophisticated equipment, which will prove to be expensive. A studio camera alone costs ₱400,000. To have good production, the investment has to be tremendous, costing millions of pesos."
"If you will try to sustain this kind of program by only using backpack cameras, quality-wise, it's not really comparable to the shows produced in Manila. So, our plan really is to support Cebu and we've discussed these matters with Manila people and they know that Cebu is the priority," Jalandoon added.
Channel 9 Cebu has given importance to the talk show. "The talk show is one of the important aspects of our plan. A public affairs program should be considered in this kind of business. In image-building, it's public affairs which really count aside from the news," Jalandoon said.
It had a program, Free to Choose, aired 11:00 to 11:45 A.M. daily but it encountered the problem of high production expense. "You have to shoot outside and that would need a mobile unit, automatic editing machines."
Advertising is the least of RPN-9 Cebu's worries. "The bulk of the business is still Manila, it's 85% while 15% is local. But for local clients to come in, we have really to develop the local programming." It has produced 12 moving local commercials.
Channel 9 Cebu has a radio station, DYKC, which is a drama-music station. It airs 13 30-minute soap operas which are replayed to seven RPN radio stations in Mindanao.
As one way of cutting costs, RPN Cebu's radio and television operations are combined, especially in administration. There are seven departments, namely: radio department of engineering, production, sales, technical engineering on television, security, and news and public affairs all manned by 28 regular employees and three contractual workers.
Station manager Frank Jalandoon says that his personnel are among, if not the best, there are in Cebu.
RPN-9 Cebu started operations on October 30, 1971, a branch of Channel 9 in Manila, the first colored station operating during those days.
It is situated in a one-hectare lot in Maguikay, Mandaue City.
Among its objectives are: to entertain the public, serve the community, to make money in order to give proper benefits to its employees, and in order to improve its facilities.
As Jalandoon revealed: "The business cycle of the television (industry) is the improvement of the equipment, adoption of more modern ideas coming in so that you can adequately serve the public, educate, and form public opinion. And mind you, RPN-9 is really trying to invest. Since we are not only contented in being ‘The Leader,' expect more innovations from RPN-9 next year."
Frank Jalandoon assumed station managership of RPN-9 Cebu on March 1974.
A student of mining in the ‘60s, his interest shifted to electronics in his search for greener pastures. He had worked as a salesman for Amon Trading and Aboitiz Marketing and worked with PLDT before devoting his time fully for KBS.
A native of Bacolod City, Jalandoon is at present a member of the Katilingban Hiligaynon sa Cebu, Rotary Club of Mandaue-North, the Knights of Columbus, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas-Cebu Chapter.
In most of the organizations he is with, he serves as public relations officer.
