DZFE

Beginnings

DZFE was the second radio station established by American missionaries, who founded the first station (DZAS) of Far East Broadcasting Company in 1948. FEBC’s mission of bringing “Christ to the World by Radio” was first directed toward China. However, in 1954, FEBC stepped forward to answer a government bid for the establishment of a classical music station.

On June 1, 1954, DZFE marked its inaugural broadcast. At that time, it aired from 6pm to 8pm, playing motets and chorales from Strauss II, Rimsky-Korsakov, Filipino musical (My Nipa Hut), and Bach, at a frequency of 1030 kilocycles. DZFE continued its association with classical music into the age of FM radio in the 1970s. In 1972, following the government restriction to one AM station per network, DZFE went off air. However, in response to appeals from the public, it returned to the airwaves, this time on FM.

Recent challenges

In 1997, then managed by Ma. Teresa “Rexey” Domingo, DZFE transferred its studios from the FEBC Compound in Karuhatan, Valenzuela, moving "closer to its listeners" by setting up its office and studio at Cityland 10 Tower 1 in Makati City.

The new millennium brought a new set of challenges. Dan Andrew Cura assumed management of the station in 2000, leaving to take on other responsibilities within the FEBC network in 2002, when the reins of the station were taken up by Maribel Fernandez. The withdrawal of foreign subsidies following 9/11, in addition to other fiscal difficulties, spurred a decision to reduce the broadcast by 40% in 2003. (The station has had to resort periodically to this self-preserving measure: In 1976, DZFE cut broadcast to a mere six hours, from 4PM to midnight. In 1986, DZFE was off the air from noon to 6PM.)

The management of the station was entrusted to current station manager Tiffany Liong-Gabuya in 2004; she assumed full management of the station in 2005. That year, owing to the proliferation of tall buildings around its Makati antenna, DZFE transferred its transmitting facilities to a leased site in Crestview Subd., Antipolo City, Rizal (which is a sharing the same site of commercial stations UNTV-37 and NU 107 (now 107.5 Wish FM) all owned by Progressive Broadcasting Corporation), and downgraded its transmitting power from 20 kW to 5 kW, in order to control power costs; thus resulting to its limited coverage area.

Renaissance

From this point, a new dawn of sorts began. In 2006, DZFE reclaimed 10 hours of the broadcast week, restoring quality programming to the 10PM to midnight block. In June 2008, it extended its broadcast back to 18 hours a day, 6 days a week. In January 2010, DZFE completed its return to a daily 18-hour broadcasts.

There was also significant progress in the fight to regain signal strength. In April 2009, DZFE finally began broadcast from a newly purchased Nautel NV20 transmitter, which is entirely funded by donations from local and foreign FEBC supporters, and is the first of its kind in the Philippines.

The long quest for better signal strength was finally realized in June and July of 2012 with the relocation of the DZFE office, studio and transmitting facilities to Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Off air for a few days from June 21 for the move, the station began broadcasting on July 2 from the 46th floor of One Corporate Center. (The relocation was part of a larger migration that involved the transfer of FEBC’s main offices and the office and studio of its Manila AM station, 702 DZAS, to Pasig from Valenzuela City.) After the transfer, the 10 kW transmitting power finally doubled to 20 kW.

One year after the move, in June 2013, and after years of working through several backroom issues, DZFE’s broadcast became available outside the Greater Metro Manila area through online streaming. In September 2013, DZFE expanded its schedule to a 21-hour-a-day daily broadcast, the longest schedule DZFE has maintained in its history.