I. Golden Era – Overview

The “Golden Era” is characterized by the creation and dominance of several media conglomerates owned by prominent families and the subsequent creation of the “media oligarchy”, the confluence of technological advances and cultural changes which contributed to the proliferation of radio and television, the emergence of advertising, as well as the creation of “the freest press in Asia”.

MEDIA OLIGARCHY

The era saw several wealthy families with prominent businesses owning a combination of radio stations, television stations and newspapers. This resulted in the creation of the “media oligarchy”, where a relatively small number of people controlled the majority of the media. The most prominent ones are summarized in the table below.

RADIO STATIONS	TELEVISION STATIONS	NEWSPAPERS AND PRINT MEDIA	OWNED BY	NOTES
DZTM, DZMT, DZWS	ABC – 5 (Associated Broadcasting Company)	The Manila Times	Roces family	Today’s TV5
DZAQ, DZBC, DZXL	ABS-CBN (from merger of Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) -formerly Channels 3 and 9, then Channels 2 and 4	The Manila Chronicle	Lopez family	Today’s ABS-CBN -1959 merger of the first two television channels in the country.
DZRH	MBC-11 (Manila Broadcasting Company)	The Evening News	Elizalde family
DZTV	IBC – 13 (Interisland Broadcasting Corporation)	The Philippine Herald	Soriano family
DZBB	RBS-7 (Republic Broadcasting System)	–	Robert Stewart	Today’s GMA
DZKB	RPN-9 (Radio Philippines Network)	–	Roberto Benedicto	Today’s Solar News

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

Radiowealth advert

In 1955, Radiowealth, a local company, began its assembly operations of Motorola television sets. By 1967, Radiowealth was producing 19-, 21- and 25-inch models of color TV sets. With this, the Philippines became the third country in the world with color television. The effect of a local company selling television sets at relatively attainable prices resulted in many middle class families obtaining television sets and tuning in.