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IT
was the late character actor Rod Navarro who once
said that he became a radio commentator because he
wants his two cents to be worth more than just playing
music and telling the time.
Well,
Gang Badoy pretty much had the same idea. The founder
of Rock Ed Philippines, a non-government organization
of “volunteers working to provide venues and
events for alternative education via music, the arts,
poetry, sports, photography, fashion, graphic design,
literature, new approaches to science, film, cultural
studies, theatre, dance, and any other way except
being in a classroom” recently took her case
to Navarro’s domain—the airwaves and is
now very much at home with it.
Since
early this year, Gang has been producing and co-hosting
together with Radioactive Sago Project’s Lourd
De Veyra Rock Ed Radio, an hour-long talk show dubbed
as “your alternative social studies class on
FM radio” every Sunday at rock station, NU107.
Yes, FM radio, the frequency that has “no static
at all” that Steely Dan once paid tribute to.
“My
main goal for producing Rock Ed Radio is simple. I
just want to give young people or at least NU107 listeners
regardless of age something else to talk about other
than computer games, the comeback of skinny jeans,
Tim Yap or the latest Kris Aquino episode,”
declares Gang. “There are many heavily relevant
issues and topics that need to be made known in the
FM zone. Many of these civic issues are discussed
on the AM band, topics that revolve around our culture,
politics, economics, the environment, civic strife,
over-all unrest, malcontent, non-involvement. Pero!
Hindi naman nakikinig sa AM ang mga bata o ang mga
rakero siguro, ewan ko lang.”
Your
homework for tonight
For
the effervescent Gang, there is a need for Rock Ed
Radio as aside from the civic issues she has enumerated
above, there are many positive things going on in
the country that most of us hardly pay attention to.
“The less-media-celebrated athletes, the NGOs,
the political movements, the grassroots action, madami!,”
she exclaims. “There are so many things that
we of the spoiled non-involved sector need to explore
and dissect. So I thought we needed to bring the relevant
discussion to FM. And in the process, we need to take
a different attitude towards it.”
To
understand the “different attitude” of
Rock Ed Radio, it’s important to know who Gang
Badoy is and where she is coming from. A lecturer
on Media Education at the Ateneo De Manila who also
writes and directs documentaries for the United Nations
Development Programme, she describes herself as “nothing
seriously extraordinary except that I know I don’t
enjoy boredom, feeling hopeless, or getting frustrated
with the politicians.”
“So
I did something about it. I suppose para malabanan
ko yung tatlo, nagbuo ako ng NGO, binuo ko ang Rock
Ed Philippines. Okey naman. Sa dami ng ginagawang
project, bihira akong bored. At dahil sa responses
ng mga mababait na musicians at sa dami ng mga tumutulong
at nakikilahok, hindi na din ako feeling hopeless.”
“The
idea for Rock Ed Radio been in the offing for quite
sometime since all parties involved to get it started
were busy doing other things. Cris Hermosisima of
NU107 was constantly busy, Lourd and I, the same,”
she recalls. “Sometime immediately after last
year’s rock awards, Cris had some downtime and
the three of us had a chance to sit down and talk
about what it could possibly be. It isn’t exactly
patterned on any radio show but I preferred to design
it to be interesting and educational enough to be
assigned as homework for some college undergrad classes
like Socio 101, Anthro 101, History 101, Pol Sci 101
and maybe Psych 101 as well as maybe for the Social
Studies classes of Juniors and Seniors in High School.”
The
show, as Gang would put it, is structured in such
a way “na para lang kwentuhan pero structured
dahil may set topic or parang Open Forum pero hindi
nakaka-antok.” What the show is definitely not
as Gang animatedly stresses is that it’s neither
Howard Stern nor Mo Twister nor even Boy Abunda.
“I
always enjoyed the Howard Stern show,” she admits.
“I like the relaxed aplomb, although masyado
ata silang controversial, parang madaming efforts
napupunta sa paghahanap ng guest o topic na controversial,
nakakatamad naman yon. Madami at mataas ang ratings
ng mga chismis o shock radio Mo Twister type. Hindi
naman namin mapapalitan yun dahil tiyak mas interesting
talaga ang makinig sa chismis o sikreto ng mga artista
o kung sino ang na-one-night-stand nila pero pumalag
man lang tayo. Maski ibang weight class, sabak! Not
without a fight. I just want to get a small percentage
of those listeners, let’s just let the young
Filipino hear something else on talk radio.”
Chemistry
lessons
And
so far, it seems to be working. Despite the fact that
it’s aired on a prime time slot on a Sunday
when most people prefer to watch TV or just go to
sleep early, Rock Ed Radio has attracted a following
solid enough to keep it on the air. The very engaging
episodes with such tongue-in-cheek titles like Addictions
(what people are addicted to), Inaykupo (a Mother’s
Day special), Plagia-rock (music plagiarism where
this writer was one of the guests), Rock The Rehas
(life in Philippine jails), Everbody Happy! Everybody
Gay! (gay pride) and Sus Ginoo! (the Pinoy “gentleman”)
may have something to do with it as also the regular
audience participation that starts with listeners
posting questions and comments on the show’s
website at rockedradio.blogspot.com.
“My
favorite episode so far is the one on Addictions.”
Says Gang. “It was very entertaining to figure
out that many of our so-called obstacles or problems
in life can be understood and resolved if we just
figure out the answer to the question ‘What
am I addicted to?’ I particularly like that
episode because the guests were answering in the context
of their personal conditions and addictions to anything,
hindi lagi drugs) that we had the chance to reflect
on the collective addictions we have as a society.”
More
than the guests and the listeners, it’s the
uncanny but surprisingly good chemistry of Gang and
Lourd that keeps the show informative and yet, entertaining.
They’re not exactly Chico and Delamar or any
other “he said, she said” type of radio
couple out there. But this dynamic duo has a way of
keeping things on an even keel.
“Since
the show is designed to be an alternative Social Studies
class on air, I suppose Lourd and I, being both teachers
were a decent choice—well, okay maybe not decent,”
Gang quips. “Siguro they assumed Lourd and I
don’t go to church on Sundays? Well, maybe it’s
because we’ve both been at the core of Rock
Ed so it makes sense.”
Not
another brick on the wall
Ah,
yes, Rock Ed Philippines, the NGO. Does the former
actually benefit from the radio show’s existence?
Gang responds with a resounding “fantastically!”
“The
show complements the objectives of Rock Ed tremendously,”
she beams. “It saves us plane tickets, for one.
Rock Ed Radio is heard in Iloilo, Davao, and other
provinces where it gets the advocacy of nation-involvement
out there. It encourages participation from the young
and that’s really our mission through a widespread
throwing of the net of ideas on the hows and wherefores
of volunteerism. We get to reach an extensive number
of students through the radio show and on a weekly
basis, too.”
Gang
is so pumped up about Rock Ed Radio that she has so
many things planned in the pipeline for it. “Gusto
ko magka-portion yung show na ‘Know Your Government
Official’ where I can read out a job description
of people in government,” Gang enthuses. “Mga
ano ba ang trabaho ng Ombudsman? o kaya Solicitor
General? Bokal, Konsehal at iba pa? Many of us don’t
know the real roles of people in these positions,
so we don’t know what to require of them. Ah
basta. gusto ko more educational ng kaunti.”
“I
also want to expand the conversation between unlikely
people. Hindi magka-away ha, kasi sadya naman minsan
ang mga ganon. Iwan natin yung mga ganun sa The Buzz.
Ayokong mag imbita ng mga magka-away kasi baka in
the end hindi constructive yon, maski na mag-rate
kami ng todo – aba okey yun ah. Teka tanong
ko si Lourd.” ?
Rock
ED Radio airs every Sunday (Philippine time) from
8 to 9PM on NU107FM. Listen to it live by logging
on to www.dagupan.com/radio. |
