On July 26, 1986, Citylite 88.3 was inaugurated with DWFR as its callsign. It was owned by Francisco Ravina, along with 7 Board members at the launch of the station, namely Gerry Geronimo, Steve Salonga, Alex Limjuco, Kit Ravina, Francis Lumen, Bong Sierra and Mike Pedero, who was also the program director at the time. Initially a Soft AC station, it played a smooth jazz track every hour. After several months, more jazz tracks were played than usual. In October 1988, it changed its call letters to DWCT, and became a fully fledged smooth jazz station, playing smooth jazz, contemporary pieces and rhythm and blues. The original staff consisted of only 7 radio personalities namely: Pancho Alvarez 6am to 10am, Pinky Aseron 10am to 2 PM, Mike Taylor 2pm to 6 pm, Ramon Cruz 6PM to 10 PM and J.Zorrilla 10pm to 2AM. The other 2 personalities were Eya Perdigon and Wickette who handled the daily news broadcasts. It was the forerunner of R&B, contemporary music and Jazz after an absence of the genre for over 10 years. 105.1 Crossover and Kiss Jazz 101.1 just followed suit after the success of the station with the A and B crowd. It was also the official radio station of CNN and Asia Business News and was also affiliated with the American expats in the country. In October 1996, Citylite 88.3 launched on the internet with its live streaming on the old website. After 2 years, Raven Broadcasting Corporation was acquired by the Vera family while Francis Lumen switched to Joey @ Rhythms 92.3. From March 2001 to June 2003, it was known as Smooth Jazz Citylite 88.3. On June 30, 2003, after 15 years on DWCT-FM, Citylite 88.3 bid farewell. It played Eumir Deodato’s “Love Island” on the program “Smooth Classic Sunday” with DJ Harry as its swansong before finally signing off.
Jam 88.3 (2003–present)
On July 1, 2003, Raven Broadcasting Corporation rebranded the station as Jam 88.3 with a Modern AC format to cater to a larger more advertiser-friendly audience. It was then managed by Ronaldo Sulit, who was also responsible for managing sister station Wave 89.1. In 2007, after Sulit left his duties, Eric Perpetua took over the management. The station began shifted its format to a lite alternative/pop after the demise of 103.5 K-Lite in December a year ago. In 2011, Jam gradually shifted its format to alternative/modern rock, even after the demise of the two defunct rock stations NU 107 and UR 105.9. Last September 11, 2012, it was relaunched as The New Jam, adding indie music to its format and launched a few new programs. Since 2013, the station became the home of playing songs from local and unsigned Filipino independent artists/bands through its supplemental program Fresh Filter. Some indie acts became popular such as Autotelic, Bullet Dumas, Yolanda Moon and others. The program ended in March 2017 and was replaced by Locals Only, a program similar to Fresh Filter.
