Nation Broadcasting Corporation
Nation Broadcasting Corporation is a Filipino radio and TV network established in 1963. As of December 2013, NBC is a subsidiary of MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. under the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund. NBC operates television and radio stations with airtime being leased by affiliate 5 and is located in the TV5 Media Center, Reliance cor. Sheridan Sts., Mandaluyong City.
History
Radio
NBC was established by Abelardo Yabut, Sr. in 1963, coinciding with the launch of the network's pioneer AM station in Zamboanga City, using a surplus transmitter that he bought from Deeco Electronics in Manila; and the station ironically had the last three letters of the alphabet as the call letters, thus DXYZ was born ― but it was a foreboding of bigger things to come. With already the string of 10 AM stations in provincial areas at that time; in 1973, Yabut put up DWFM 92.3 in Manila ― his first entry to the nation's capital, and the third FM station to establish in the same area. Two years later in 1975, under his tutelage, NBC brought the first FM station in Cebu City DYNC 101.9 ; and also in the same year, when the network pioneered FM broadcasting in Davao City with the inauguration of DXFM 101.9.In 1987, NBC acquired DWXX 1026 AM from Hypersonic Broadcasting Center and it was reformatted as DZAM Radyo 1026: Ating Maasahan, which featured news, commentaries, and well-balanced mix of entertainment and music programming. In 1998, DZAM changed its call letters to DZAR, and reformatted into a news and talk based station.
NBC also pioneered in many ways as the first network to broadcast 24 hours a day outside of Metro Manila. It was the first network to bridge the archipelago with the utilization of satellite broadcasting, and continues to cover the live games of the Philippine Amateur Basketball League and the Philippine Basketball Association. In 1996, NBC has grown to become a nationwide network of AM & FM stations: 16 AM stations and 15 FM stations in 20 cities.
In 1998, NBC became the only FM radio network in the Philippines consisting of member-stations named after their respective markets.
DZAR was the first to launch in 1998 through its nationwide transmission. At that time, DZAR 1026 and other NBC AM stations were rebranded as Angel Radyo. In 2005, The Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy and the Swara Sug Media Corporation acquired all NBC AM stations and rebranded it as Sonshine Radio.
In 1973, DWFM was established as the first FM station during the martial law era. MRS 92.3 is a music, ballad and pop-formatted FM station, which played listeners' most requested songs. When PLDT media subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. bought NBC from the consortium led by the Yabut family and real estate magnate Manny Villar in 1998, the station became Joey @ Rhythms 92.3 in 1998 to 2005 and 923 Joey, enriched FM broadcasting and marketing, from 2005 to 2007.
Aside from DWFM in Manila which they carrying retro, jazz and R&B format in 1998, other NBC regional stations reformatted into different kinds of music formats and rebranded into different kinds of names of a person which they represents their respective target markets; Tony @ Rhythms 101.1 Zamboanga plays classic hits from the 50s and 60s, Rocky @ Rhythms 98.3 Iligan plays rock music, and the remaining NBC stations consists of Baguio, Cabanatuan, San Pablo, Laguna, Naga, Legazpi, Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Cotabato carries contemporary hit radio format, playing pop music and latest hits.
On 8 April 2007, XFM began after 923 Joey was signed off on 4 April, just before Holy week. XFM featured ambient, chill, down-tempo, electronica, house, lounge, trip-hop and indie music on radio until its ground-breaking format in February 2008.
In October 2009, the Manila, Cebu and Davao stations discontinued their Smooth AC format. The Manila station became U92, in partnership with All Youth Channels. It became the first CHR-formatted station focused on MTV Philippines broadcasting from a state-of-the-art studio at Silver City Mall, Frontera Verde Complex, Pasig City. The Cebu and Davao stations became WAV FM, in partnership with AudioWAV, a Makati City-based multinational instore radio company known for producing customized music and messaging for large chains across Southeast Asia and North America. The other provincial stations retained their formats. On September 30, 2010, U92 shut down following the dissolution of MTV Philippines in February.
On October 1, 2010, NBC, in partnership with its affiliate ABC Development Corporation, took over the management of 92.3 FM. As part of TV5's expansion, the station will become Radyo5 92.3 News FM, the first news/talk station on FM band. On November 8, it had its debut at 12:30 am and its first day of broadcasting began at 4 am. Beginning February 21, 2011, Radyo5 is scheduled to broadcast nationwide through its provincial relay stations on AM and FM. However, due to budget cuts from TV5, only 6 provincial stations remains operational and others like Radyo5 94.3 News FM San Pablo are closed down.
Television
Nation Broadcasting Corporation is a commercial UHF television station owned by First Pacific conglomerate and headed by Manuel Pangilinan, who is also the chairman of the telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.The name was unfamiliar to many Filipinos. NBC TV 41 used to be MTV Philippines. MTV is a cable TV network which was originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. MTV later became an outlet for a variety of material aimed at adolescents and young adults.
After six years of partnership in the Philippines, MTV Channel 41 has gone off the air after a multi-year deal with All Youth Channel. This follows the dissolution of the partnership with NBC. MTV Philippines became a defunct channel in February 2010. It was inactive until October 2010 when it began test broadcasting as TV5 and when ABC Development Corporation took over the management of NBC stations. It then took over the blocktime of UHF Channel 41, which alternates programming ABC Development Corporation. It was simulcast with Radyo5 92.3 News FM for a few months when it debuted on November 8. TV5 was scheduled to set up the first free-to-air interactive-radio-on-TV channel with a format similar to DZMM TeleRadyo and RHTV in the first quarter of 2011. It was set to broadcast after its initial simulcasting of 92.3 News FM if Associated Broadcasting Company introduced this UHF channel. It plans to initialize test broadcasts on various cable and satellite operators nationwide.
On February 21, 2011, AksyonTV launched as TV5 introduced the new UHF channel. AksyonTV was launched at exactly 4 am, airing its first program, Andar ng Mga Balita, hosted by Martin Andanar, which was a simulcast of the morning news program on Radyo5 News FM of the same title.
After 8 years as news channel, AksyonTV is announced to be rebranded as 5 Plus on January 13, 2019, with its programs consisting of mostly sports from ESPN5 and serving as a complementary channel for The 5 Network.
On March 8, 2020, the channel was relaunched when One Sports took over its channel space, making it available on free TV and other pay television operators. Meanwhile, its original satellite channel counterpart of One Sports was rebranded as One Sports+.