DWAM

Facade of the former DWAM - 99.1 Spirit FM prior to transfer of studio. The building has since been demolished.(Basilica Minore of the Infant Jesus and Immaculate Conception of Batangas City).

DWAM-FM,^[1] operating as 99.1 Spirit FM, is a music FM station owned by Archdiocese of Lipa, and operated by the Radyo Bayanihan System, a local affiliate of the Catholic Media Network. The station's studio is located at the 2nd floor, St. Francis de Sales Broadcast Center, Barangay 7 C. Tirona St. Batangas City, while the transmitter is located at Brgy. Sto. Domingo, Batangas City, Philippines; both sharing facilities with its religious sister station, ALFM 95.9 Radyo Totoo. It operates 24 hours a day except on Saturdays by signing off at 11:00 PM, on Sundays when it broadcasts from 4:45 AM to 11:00 PM and annually during the Easter Triduum where it simulcasts ALFM 95.9's special program lineup.

Since March 19, 2018, the station has also been available via satellite through its select program grids being simulcast on CMN Radio, replacing the latter's in-house music automation.

History

DWAM-FM was formally launched on May 8, 1999 at its inaugural facilities at Paharang West, Batangas City as an all-disco station under inaugural station manager Fr. Mike Samaniego and its first on-air talent DJ Joseph, who previously started out in the Lucena City radio market and had stints in Sydney, Australia mostly targeting the Filipino community. Months after, Fr. Nonie Dolor, known by his radio name The Niteowl, joined the roster after declining talks by GV 99.9 to jump ship while he was still on AM radio. He would remain with Spirit FM as Sunday jock until stepping down in late 2014 to concentrate on 95.9 FM.

The station took the callsign of its AM sister at 1080 kHz and has been designated such even after it shut down in 2002.

Spirit FM later transferred to the now-demolished Basilica Site broadcast complex but kept its Paharang transmitter intact. They later inaugurated the tradition of their annual DJ hunts that launched careers of notable staff such as Ricky, Raynuts, Diego and Kris, who were well-received by listeners.

In May 2009, the Paharang transmitter was decommissioned in favor of merging transmission facilities with its revived sister station on 95.9 at Barangay Santo Domingo.

On May 21, 2015, both stations moved to the newly-purchased Balmes Building. The Basilica Site broadcast complex was later demolished and converted to a parish mortuary. In February 2017, Spirit FM went 24/7 after years of broadcasting 18 hours daily. However, it later cut its round the clock 24-hour broadcasts to weekdays, signing-off at 11 pm on Saturdays and reverting to 18 hour broadcasts on Sundays.

On March 19, 2018, select program grids of the station began to be simulcast via satellite on CMN Radio.

Ratings

Since 2001, the station became the perennial ratings leader until March 1, 2015 when Brigada News FM briefly led the Batangas-Lipa radio market. At the September 2017 ratings sweep, 99.1 Spirit FM regained the leadership with a 47% listenership share.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to DWAM.