DWRT (99.5 FM), on-air as 99.5 Play FM (stylized as PL>Y), is a 24-hour radio station owned and operated by Real Radio Network Inc. It is one of the partner stations of Tiger 22 Media. Its studio is located at Unit 906-B, Paragon Plaza Building, EDSA corner Reliance St., Mandaluyong, and its transmitter is located at Palos Verdes, Antipolo.
History
1976–2006: The first 99.5 RT
Trans-Radio Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1971 by Emilio Tuason after he acquired the AM radio franchise (980 kHz) of Transit Broadcasting Corporation, owned by the Vergara family. Under Trans-Radio, the AM station adopted the call sign DZTR-AM “Radyo Pilipino” (which is not anyway related to the eponymous AM radio network owned by the Radio Corporation of the Philippines). In 1976, Trans-Radio acquired an FM radio franchise (99.5 MHz) and adopted the call sign DWRT-FM. It began broadcasting on September 6, 1976, as "99.5 RT", which was the first Top 40 station in the Philippines. The station was initially located at 10 Doña Natividad Building at Quezon Avenue (near the Welcome Rotonda) in Quezon City. After the building caught fire two years later, it transferred to Suite 608 of the Pacific Bank Building (now known as Security Bank Centre) at 6776 Ayala Avenue in Makati. Tuason also became one of the station's deejays (his on-air names were "J.W. Christian" and "E.T.") until personal problems forced his retirement from the station in 1987. Mike Pedero, who was also one of its deejays, took care of the programming until he left the station for RK96 Real Radio in 1980.
99.5 RT became famous for playing the hits months ahead of most other music stations because its programming philosophy did not pander to the masses nor cater to the lowest common denominator. It brought the latest American and British hits to the local audience as soon as they were released by the artists. One of the most notable examples of this was in the early 1980s when RT broke in the song "More to Lose" by the obscure English new wave duo, Seona Dancing. The station kept listeners guessing the identity of the song by announcing the title as "Medium" and done by the artist "Fade", two words which were actually descriptions of the song: medium tempo with an ending that faded out.
From 1983 to 1986, RT was one of the FM stations that delivered news on the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr. as well as his funeral, the Snap Elections of 1986 between Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino and the People Power Revolution.
On October 11, 1985, rival station Kiss FM 101.1 (now 101.1 Yes The Best) was launched with most of the RT jocks manning that station. It toppled RT in the ratings and the latter's revenues dropped. A few months later in February 1986 after the EDSA Revolution, RT reformatted as the Red Hot Radio. It played only new wave music similar to WXB 102 (now 102.7 Star FM), albeit more commercial. This proved to be unsuccessful, leading to the station reverting to its original format a year later. In 1989, it switched to a modern rock format. After a few years, it reverted back to its original format once more and regained its success.
Programming
Over the years, RT became popular with different slogans such as "The Sound Of The City" (197677), "Your Radio Music Authority" (197879), "The Rhythm Of The City" (19801996; 20082012), "Red Hot Radio" (19861988), "Your Maximum Music Authority" (19881996), "Source For The Best Hits" (19961998) and "Your Music Authority" (19982001), from 2001 to December 18, 2006, before it was rebranded, 99.5 RT's slogan was "The Most Hit Music".
RT was also home to some of America's popular hit countdown shows like American Top 40 and the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. In the early 1980s (specifically 198384), RT also ventured into the music-video business. As one of the pioneer music video shows in the Philippines, Rhythm Of The City which aired on Monday at 7:30pm on then government-owned MBS-4 (now known as PTV-4), showcased then ground-breaking videos from artists such as Men At Work, Naked Eyes, Real Life, Michael Jackson, and some of the best acts in North America during a time when then-fledgling MTV had not yet established its presence in the Asian region.
It is also known for its oldies show, 24K Friday playing the hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
It was the first radio station in the Philippines to have ventured into having a home on the Internet, launching its first bulletin board in 1995.