Top pop station hosts street party

AT THE FIRST-EVER street party

organized by Monster Radio RX

93.1 Friday night, no one was

prouder than Chingay

Calderon-Barreiro, the lovely wife

of RX big boss and Audiovisual Communicators, Inc. president

Chito Barreiro.

Chingay proved she is indeed the ''strength behind the

Monster'' by taking great pains in mounting the event, with the

help of Oxygen, the young garment line which also launched its

latest casual wear during the street party.

''Pawis at dugo ko ito,'' said Chingay, who helps in the

marketing aspect of RX.

No wonder she also went to great lengths to invite her friends

to the party. Too bad that one unscrupulous soul ran away with

Chingay's cash of some P15,000, taken from her bag. But the

overwhelming success of the event apparently compensated for

Chingay's ''misfortune'' that night, so that she didn't have time to

sulk.

''Pero mamaya na lang kami iiyak ni Chito,'' Chingay told us.

The party lasted till the wee hours, but Chingay looked hardly

pooped. At way past 3 a.m., she was still busy entertaining the

guests, chatting with them, offering them drinks and even

dancing with some at Insomnia, the party's ''headquarters.''

Also present were RX program director Louie Dizon, news and

features director Raffy Reyes and station Divine Pascual, who

came in her artistic, avant-garde Halloween makeup.

Chito said it cost them around P200,000 to mount the street

party. They had to secure permits from the Nakpil, Orosa Bar

Association and also pay a certain maintenance fee, Manila city

hall and also the barangay for security within the area.

It would be doubly expensive and difficult for RX to do a live

remote airing, so Chito said they merely gave occasional radio

feeds to their listeners.

Monster Radio's popular ''Morning Rush'' trio, Trish, Fran and

Boom, were there to bring the excitement to the radio audience

through the live feeds.

With this kind of innovative gigs, RX only proves it is not ''the

first creative pop station'' for nothing.

''We constantly cook up ways to give our listeners the best in

local radio programming,'' Chito said. ''RX is a pop station that

cares for its audience. It is a station that believes in the potential

of Philippine radio and believes in its audience and it has put its

money and talent where its mouth is. This is something that we

have been doing all these years.

''The success of a commercial station can be measured in its

viability as a commercial venture, while remaining true to its

programming vision and being of genuine relevance and service

to the community it exists for.''

The street party couldn't have come at a better time, after RX

recently romped off with three trophies at the KBP Golden Dove

Awards, including the much-coveted best FM station plum

which RX won for the second consecutive year. No other FM

station has duplicated that award except RX, which also won

the best developmental plug for its ''Millennium'' and best

musical variety for its concert series. RX is also the only pop

station ever to win the best FM plum.

Then, too, RX marked its 16th year in radio broadcasting last

August, when international balladeer David Pomeranz was one

of the special guests during their party at Shangri-La Manila's

Zu.

Gary not joining protest rally

MANILA Genesis Entertainment, the management company of

pop idol Gary Valenciano, informs the public that contrary to

what has been printed in other newspapers, Gary will not be

present at the protest rally against anti-pornography on Nov. 8.

Genesis points out Gary was never invited to the rally. He is

aware of the proliferation of unwholesome materials lately and

subscribes to the need for an anti-pornography drive, but he

has not given his consent to any person of group to lead such a

campaign.

Gary's management company regrets the unauthorized use of

the singer's name and image even for such a laudable concern,

since this may set an unwanted precedent.

VRB fights piracy in provinces

THE VIDEOGRAM Regulatory Board (VRB) filed closure

proceedings against the Sinagtala Global Network and Color

Cable (Channel 21) in Pangasinan in connection with the several

airings of the film ''Sutla,'' between Oct. 4 to 14.

The VRB recommended to the National Telecommunications

Commission (NTC) the closing down of the cable TV stations

for video piracy under P.D. 1987. The VRB action was in

response to a complaint lodged by Solar Films, producer of

''Sutla.''

The VRB and NTC held a dialog with the two leading cable TV

associations, where the two government agencies aired the

warning that video piracy over cable TV especially will be dealt

with swiftly and firmly by the government.

Video piracy and pornography over cable TV especially in the

provincial areas is reportedly widespread. Many theaters in the

provinces were closed because of the proliferation of cable TV

airing of films that have not been shown in local theaters.

Provincial revenues of local film producers and distributors of

foreign films have dropped 100 percent over the last five years

mainly due to film piracy.

Video piracy has so alarmed the government, prompting the

VRB to enter into tactical alliances with mayors all over the

country via the League of Municipalities of the Philippines and

the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ensure a sustained,

all-out effort against video piracy nationwide.