President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signing of Republic Act No. 12311 , renewing the broadcast franchise of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13) for another 25 years, until 2050 , gives the country’s state-run network a rare and long-awaited reprieve. For a broadcaster that has spent years lingering in obscurity, operating on the margins of public consciousness and government attention, this new franchise is more than a technical extension — it is a lifeline. Whether it becomes a fresh beginning or just another round of stagnation depends on what comes next. Survival, Not Success The most immediate takeaway from the renewal is simple: their fear of getting shut down was averted . IBC, part of the Integrated State Media (ISM) portfolio alongside People's Television (PTV) and Radyo Pilipinas, faced an uncertain future. Its franchise under Republic Act 8954 was due to expire last month. Without renewal, it would have been forced to go dark, leaving hundreds of employ...
After 19 years on the air, Boys Night Out on Magic 89.9 ended quietly — no farewell, no montage, no goodbyes. Just gone. They took away their last celebration. To me, it felt like a sign of what’s been happening to traditional broadcast radio since 2020: industrial damage, slow decline, and political intervention. Podcasts and Spotify ate its lunch, but censorship nailed the coffin shut. The final straw? Management, particularly Sarge, forbade discussion of the news, including the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court. Tin Gamboa confirmed it on Threads, screenshots, and all. From there, it spread to Reddit and beyond. But before her receipts, I had already published something that broke wide open — a blog post that became my most-read entry in twelve years. Stumped in August That month, I didn’t even know what to write. I was poking at side stories on television: why PMPC is catching up on Star Awards for TV, or why Malou Choa Fagar becam...