ABS-CBN - History

History

ABS-CBN traces its history to the first Philippine television station DZAQ-TV, owned by Bolinao Electronics Corporation later renamed Alto Broadcasting System.

James Lindenberg, owner of BEC, was the first to apply for a license to the Philippine Congress to establish a television station in 1949. His request was granted on 14 June 1950. Because of the strict import controls and the lack of raw materials needed to open a TV station during those days, Lindenberg branched to radio broadcasting instead.

Judge Antonio Quirino, brother of then President Elpidio Quirino, also tried to apply for a license to Congress, but was denied. He later bought stocks from BEC and later gained the controlling stock and renamed the company from BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS).

DZAQ-TV began commercial television operations on 23 October 1953, the first fully licensed commercial television station in the Philippines. The first program that aired was a garden party at the Quirino residence in Sitio Alto, San Juan. After the premiere telecast, the station followed a four-hour a day schedule, from six to ten in the evening.

In 1955, Manila Chronicle owner Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and then Vice President Fernando Lopez acquired a radio-TV franchise from Congress and immediately established Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) in 1956. On 24 February 1957 Lopez invited Judge Quirino to his house for breakfast and ABS was bought under a contract written on a table napkin. The corporate name was reverted to Bolinao Electronics Corporation immediately after the purchase of ABS.

With the establishment of DZXL-TV 9 of CBN in 1956, the Lopez brothers controlled both television channels in the archipelago, and thus expansion of operations began. The monopoly in television was broken in 1961, when DZBB-TV 7 was established by the Republic Broadcasting System (now GMA Network, Inc.) (RBS), owned by Robert Stewart, on the same year when it launched the nation's first regional and provincial television station in Cebu City on July 24.

In 1967, the company was renamed ABS–CBN Broadcasting Corporation. This company became the formal merger of the two stations DZAQ-TV 3 (ABS) and DZXL-TV 9 (CBN).

In 1966, ABS-CBN became the first TV network to broadcast certain shows in color and by 18 December 1968, ABS-CBN opened its present day Broadcast Center complex in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City; it was then the most advanced broadcasting facility of its kind during its time in Asia. Full color broadcasts began in 1971 on ABS-CBN 2 with the availability of more color television sets around Manila and neighboring municipalities and cities.

In 1969, DZAQ-TV transferred to channel 2, while its sister station DZXL-TV transferred to channel 4. This was in response to frequency adjustments, so that the television station of the Kanlaon Broadcasting System (now Radio Philippines Network) can occupy the Channel 9 frequency.

When then President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972, the station was forced to shut down. The company was seized from the Lopezes and its newly built Broadcast Center became the home of state-run TV stations Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Channel 2, with call sign changed to DWWX-TV), Government Television (GTV Channel 4, with call sign changed to DWGT-TV and later renamed MBS-4), Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS Channel 9) and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC Channel 13).

The long hibernation of the station ended on February 1986. As the EDSA revolt broke out and the dictator's grip on power crumbled, the reformists in the military saw that TV would be a vital asset for victory. Thus, at 10 AM on February 24, they attacked and took the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center that was then the home of MBS-4.

When Marcos was deposed, the network was sequestered and returned Channel 2 to the Lopezes but not Channel 4. On 14 September 1986, ABS-CBN went back on the air, broadcasting from what used to be their main garage at Broadcast Center in the pre-Martial Law days. Back then they had to share space in the building that was rightfully their own, which was then occupied for the most part by the government TV station Channel 4. Cash was low and resources stretched to the limit, with offices being made to double as dressing rooms and basics such as chairs, tables and phones in short supply.

In late 1986, the network was faltering, ranking last among the five stations and suffering heavy losses. Eugenio "Geny" Lopez Jr. by early 1987 brought in programming whiz and ABS-CBN veteran Freddie Garcia, then working for GMA Network, and set him loose to work his magic touch.

Six months later on March 1, 1987, Channel 2 was relaunched with the live musical special, "The Star Network: Ang Pagbabalik Ng Bituin" (The Return of the Star). In 1988, ABS-CBN was topping the Mega Manila ratings, a position it had never relinquished for 16 years.

Later that year, it launched nationwide domestic satellite programming and by 1994, expanded its operations worldwide. In 1999, Channel 2 launched its 120-kilowatt Millennium Transmitter, resulting in improved signal quality throughout Mega Manila.

In 2005, ABS-CBN re-upgraded its transmitter into a very high capacity of 346.2 kilowatts resulting on a much clearer signal in Metro Manila.